French companies have a major asset: a pool of engineers among the best in the world. However, a glass ceiling still exists between the teams designing the products of tomorrow and the leaders defining the major strategic directions.
“A company is supposed to undertake. The issue behind this word is to design a new product or service,” explains Frédéric Arnoux.
The main challenge is to reconnect these two worlds that sometimes misunderstand each other.
“Breaking the glass ceiling means recreating a common language and a shared ambition,” analyzes Frédéric Arnoux.
France has over a million active engineers, but this expertise is still insufficiently represented in decision-making bodies. For Frédéric Arnoux, technical profiles need to be placed at the heart of business strategy.
“We are a country of engineers, and we forget to remind ourselves of that every morning,” he emphasizes.
To support companies, Stim works around three levers. The first is to help leaders define a clear ambition for their future.
“We will teach leaders to want and to define what they want to build tomorrow,” explains Frédéric Arnoux.
This vision then allows design teams to imagine new categories of products or services.
The third lever is based on creating small autonomous teams capable of experimenting quickly, testing hypotheses, and reducing uncertainties.
“What matters is not necessarily the number of people, but the intensity with which we create,” he asserts.
According to him, France has all the necessary ingredients to regain a major place in industrial innovation. It has high-level engineers, strong creativity, and the ability to design new models.
“We could bring a form of French touch back to the center of designing the industries of tomorrow,” concludes Frédéric Arnoux.
