The “Tour de France of our industries” started on September 12 in Lyon. Born from a partnership between Bpifrance, La French Fab and OPCO 2I, the inter-industrial skills operator, this initiative aims to promote the industry and its professions among young people. Julien Noronha, executive director in charge of Communications at Bpifrance, explains to us the challenges of this Tour de France on four wheels.
In what context does the “Tour de France of our industries” take place?
France displays a very strong ambition for reindustrialization as part of the France 2030 plan. The share of industry in GDP must increase from 9.5 to 12%[1]. However, companies lack talent: more than 60,000 positions are to be filled in the sector. And as around a hundred industrial sites open each year, France needs 600,000 additional people to be trained in the next five years. Bpifrance takes up the challenge of making young people want to join the industry and train in its professions. To do this, we must change their perception of the sector!
How to attract young people to a growing industry?
The best way to make young people understand what the industry is is to show it to them. This is the whole purpose of the “Tour de France of our industries”, carried out with the inter-industrial skills operator OPCO 2i and the community of industrialists in motion La French Fab. We have joined forces to create a “French team” in the service of reindustrialization.
Concretely, a bus will travel to the twelve main cities in France by the end of December. At each stage, he will take young people on board to show them around an industrial site: in the morning for middle school students, at lunchtime for high school students and in the afternoon for students. It’s fascinating to see young people’s perceptions change in the space of a day: they often arrive with a dated image of the industry. In a short time, they understand that an entrepreneur needs engineers to digitize his production chain, marketing graduates to develop his communication or even employees trained in the issues of ecological and energy transition. However, engineering, marketing and CSR are subjects that interest them.
Rights Reserved
What do you say to young people to convince them to join the industrial sector?
The industrial environment is made for them if they are looking for companies where they can carry out real transformation projects, if they want a growing environment that offers career progression opportunities, if they are looking for companies located in the heart of our beautiful regions… We are creating a new modern, innovative, green and attractive industry. In addition, by joining this sector, they can take part in the collective effort which wants to put France back at the center of global industry.
What other initiatives have been put in place as part of the “Tour de France of our industries”?
We organize events for industrialists, so that they can exchange ideas with each other and so that we can support them in recruiting young people. The Ministry of National Education has also proposed to all educational establishments along the route of the “Tour de France of our industries” to open their doors to industrialists, who can thus come and present their activities and their professions.
[1] 9.5% in 2022 (source: https://www.strategie.gouv.fr/sites/strategie.gouv.fr/files/atoms/files/fs-2024-dt-mission-industrie.pdf).
Related News :