An unmissable event for players in the naval defense field, the DGA, in collaboration with the University of Toulon, the French Navy and TVT innovation, organized, on June 13, the 6th edition of i-Naval, in the presence by François de Canson, vice-president of the Region in charge of economic attractiveness.
Gathered at the Palais Neptune in Toulon, local elected officials, military authorities, industrialists and academic leaders, nearly 500 guests gathered around the theme chosen this year “ innovate today to protect tomorrow “. With the same objective: Promote innovations, at the cutting edge of new technology, and likely to be used in operational conditions, around pitches and demonstrations.
TECHNOLOGICAL MATURITY
During this event, François de Canson awarded the Regional Innovation Prize to doctor Carlesi for the company IADYS and its pollution control robot Méduse Jellyfish-bot.
“ You’ve seen the demonstrations. You saw the potential for innovation. It was therefore not easy to choose a winner. I thank all the companies and researchers who participated in this event. For this innovation prize, we have chosen a project combining strong technological maturity, prospects for development and new operational capabilities. A project knowing how to reconcile economic development and respect for the environment.
Already more than a hundred robots are at work in our ports, including Saint-Tropez which is already equipped with this innovation.
You were touched by the subject of marine pollution during a trip to the Mediterranean, in Sicily. Thank you for your commitment to making our coastlines and ports ever more attractive and preserved spaces. I congratulate you on behalf of Renaud Muselier, president of the Region, and present you with this prize “.
In the current context where maritime spaces are becoming increasingly important and threats are evolving rapidly, providing the French Navy with the most modern and efficient equipment is essential. Thus, capturing all innovations (civil and military) developed by all types of industrial or academic players and integrating them, as soon as possible, into arms programs provides our forces with the best guarantee of maintaining their operational superiority.
NATIONAL INTERESTS
“ This came from a particular feeling, mixing history and prospective, with a single aim: Defend our national interests. France has entered a war economy and we need a much stronger European defense industry. We need to get out of certain dependencies that have set in (…). We have changed paradigm, the European Union and NATO present a new face and new desires in terms of defense. Rest assured that the defense economy is at the heart of my concerns. We need to secure our locations, support their development and enrich our Industrial and Defense Technology Base. “.
The vice-president of the Region added: “ Your expertise is valuable and your influence is unparalleled. It’s up to us to be at your side. Also, drones, AI, innovations in a growth ecology, all of what was presented to us is at the heart of the Defense strategy of the Southern Region. I Naval is one of the keystones of promoting the Defense economy in the region (…). The naval sector, like those in aeronautics and space, is a sector of French excellence, both in terms of its skills, its extreme structuring and its competitiveness. It benefits, upstream of the sector, from particularly cutting-edge research “.
However, there are challenges that the sector must respond to, in particular the strong dependence on exports and unbridled international competition, the environmental questioning of this sector and its necessary decarbonization, the essential work on the attractiveness of professions .
“ Challenges for which you will find the region at your side to carry your disruptive innovations within a dual sector in transformation, support your ecological transition and respond to environmental challenges or to have a workforce trained in your professions. The sector must capitalize on its strengths to further improve its performance. Capitalize on its major asset, which has been confirmed in recent years, its double duality. The coexistence of military and civil activities within the companies that make up the sector, as well as the duality between marine and underwater activities, are the keys to the dynamism and resilience of the actors. This specificity must absolutely be preserved », concluded, firmly, François de Canson.
