France - Industrie du Futur

The cross-cutting “Industrie du Futur” (Industry of the Future(IdF)) programme was launched by the French government in April2015.It aims to support companies to deploy digital technologies,to transform companies and business models as well as to modernise production practices.

IdF targets selected priority markets and comprises five pillars, respectively cutting-edge technologies, business transformation, training, international cooperation and promotion of IdF.The programme is backed by the government and make up the second phase of the French strategy “La Nouvelle France Industrielle”(New Industrial France (NFI)),which was launched by the governmentinSeptember2013. IdF has launched the platform“Alliance Industrie du Futur”(Industry of the Future Alliance (IdFA)) in order to secure coordination and dialogue and to bring together industry and digital technology stakeholders from public and private sectors.

IdF has offered a more focused and needs-oriented mechanism compared to its NFI predecessor. While it draws on government support,the involvement of industry, technology and research stakeholders as well as trade unions has been key in finding a common ground and in launching a network structure to support digital transformation.

Such a platform was missing prior to IdF, which also restricted effective coordination and management during the early stages. The measurement and use of indicators for evaluating the progress with transformation at company-level represents another challenge.