The successes keep coming for Météo France International (MFI), the company based in Toulouse which designs and deploys cutting-edge information systems for foreign weather services. After signing a contract last September 37 M€ with the General Directorate of Civil Aviation of Kuwaitthis time it is in Angola that MFI has just won a major contract. The agreement was concluded with theInamet (Instituto nacional de meteorologia e geofísica for national institute of meteorology and geophysics) on January 17, 2025 in Paris, on the occasion of a visit by the Angolan president to France.
Created in 2002, the subsidiary of Météo France develops turnkey solutions including basic technical infrastructures, observation networks as well as an integrated system for processing and analyzing data and producing alerts for the general public and economic players. The SME, which employs 85 employees for a turnover of 25 M€ in 2024, carried out at 99% exporthas already carried out projects in 116 countries around the world.
Also read
Meteo France International signs a €37 million contract with the General Directorate of Civil Aviation of Kuwait
The main objectives of these missions are to ensure better protection of property and people in a context of global climate change and the increase in severe weather phenomena, but also the service development for the benefit of weather-sensitive sectors deemed priorities, such as agriculture and food security, water, energy and health. This is precisely the case in Angola.
A new contract for a record amount
This is not the first contract that MFI has signed with this Portuguese-speaking West African country. The company is indeed working on establishment of the Angolan national meteorological service Since 2019. Following a successful first stage, the agreement which has just been signed corresponds to the second phase of the project, called ANGOMET.
This new market amounting to 85 M€ (compared to €60 million for the first tranche) extends over four years. It concerns the development, in conjunction with the Angolan authorities, of new capabilities “particularly in terms of infrastructure, observation network, information system, alert and user services, and increasing the skills of Inamet teams”, specifies MFI in a press release dated January 17, 2025.
A capacity extended to sensitive economic sectors
This new phase should allow Inamet to have a more efficient population alert system, in particular thanks to the integration ofartificial intelligence of concepts such as theImpact-Based Forecast. Impact-based forecasts allow authorities toanticipate the effects of a weather event and therefore to carry out targeted early actions.
-Particularly sensitive economic sectors such asagriculturethe aerial navigationTHE maritime activitiesthe defense or the health should benefit from these increased capacities. The capital of Angola, Luandahit in recent years by torrential rains and deadly floods, should also benefit from a specific system to better deal with these severe phenomena.
A wider spectrum of activities
This strengthening of Angolan information resources is intended to be in line with the UN global action plan, EW4All, Early Warnings for All. Launched in 2022, this plan aims to generalize early warning systems on a planetary scale. It provides for targeted investments estimated at 3,1 Mds$ under five years. MFI intends to capitalize on its experience in complex projects to respond to this call from the UN and broaden your spectrum of activity towards the civil security needs.
“This involves extending projects to strengthen weather services to the upstream aspects of preparation (identification of vulnerabilities and action plan) and to the downstream aspects of massive dissemination of alerts, accompanied by early actions on the ground, adapted depending on the situation »specifies Jean-Sébastien Casescommercial director and vice-president of MFI. And to add: “The complexity of implementing such projects requires a single conductor to be able to be implemented on time”.
A role in some ways tailor-made for the Toulouse SME which highlights its particular business model based on DBO type contracts (design build operate to design, build and manage) in which it alone designs, builds and manages the installations concerned. In this context, it supports its clients at each stage of the project : search for financing and support in financial engineering, public-private partnerships (PPP), design, deployment, integration, training, technical support, operation, etc.
“Faced with increasingly extreme weather conditions linked to climate change, Meteo France International is ready to generalize early warning systems and respond to the call launched by the UN”concludes Patrick Bénichou, president and founder of MFI.
