of Innovation for a Brighter Future - Altran

o f I n n ov a t i o n f or a B r i g h t e r F u t u r e

years

Innovation is not just about having a great idea. An idea, no matter how great, is merely the starting point of a journey towards innovation. At Altran, innovation is our “raison d’être” but more importantly, it is how we bring excellence to life. It is the reason why we are innovation makers.

years

of Innovation for a Brighter Fu t u r e

2/3

Who invented what?

4/9

Key dates

10/11

Who said what?

12/23

Transport Revolution

24/25

Cambridge Consultants: over 50 years of innovative product development

26/27

When was it invented?

28/35

Reinventing Energy

36/37

Tomorrow’s innovations will have to be responsible

38/39

True or false?

40/45

Healthcare: the New Challenges

46/47

The Altran Foundation: innovative support to innovation

48/53

From Telephone to Telecoms: the ICT Revolution

54/55

Users and designer at the core of the innovation process

56/57

Dreams for the future

58/59

A joint interview of Philippe Salle and Alexis Kniazeff

i

nnovation Makers While Innovation helps shed light on the future, Altran’s 30-year anniversary is an opportunity for us to look back with pride on our past achievements. Looking forward and looking back are in fact two sides of the same coin. Indeed, as the aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once said, “the past paves the way for the future”; it is a reminder of where we come from and the road we have travelled and keeps us in touch with the heritage left by those who came before. This book has been written so that we can share our passion for innovation, honour those who helped build Altran’s reputation and international stature, and reminds us that it is up to us to write the next chapters of the story. As we do so, we must be fully alert to the challenges ahead – the proliferation of mega-cities, the rolling-out of networks connecting things and people, the need to innovate responsibly and sustainably – to manage complexity and prepare our societies for the post-oil era. The list is far from complete, and covers only a few of the many fields that Altran’s teams work in to serve our clients. These are the people I think of when I open this book. Without the creativity and expertise of our consultants and engineers and the trust and daring of our clients, this story could never have been told. We are not merely heirs to a legacy but also active participants. Innovation: we create it, we develop it, we live it. We are “Innovation Makers”! Philippe Salle

Chairman and Chief Executive of the Altran Group

1

Anaesthetics

The neon light

The Egyptians learned how to numb pain around 2000 BC. Egyptian doctors compressed both carotid arteries at the same time, causing patients to lose consciousness as the brain was deprived of its normal flow of blood.

The French chemist Georges Claude discovered the noble gases (helium, argon, krypton, xenon, radon and neon) in the course of his experiments. He ran electric currents through tubes containing noble gases at low pressure and in 1920 discovered that neon produced an intense orange glow when a weak current was passed through it. Later, advertising agent Jacques Fonsèque (France) understood the potential of the discovery and he and Georges Claude used the new lights for signage.

Spectacles with magnifying lenses were being used to correct poor vision as early as the late 13th century. Since the art of cutting and polishing lenses was already known, this paved the way for the invention of the telescope and microscope. Around 1590, Dutch lens makers Zacharias Jansen and his father Hans experimented using combinations of several lenses. From then on, microscopes used two lenses. Later on, Galileo (Italy) was to perfect the device by adding a focusing system.

Scottish businessman Robert Anderson made the first electric car in 1834. Other people including Davenport and Davidson developed similar models around 1842. In 1881, the Parisian engineer Charles Jeantaud equipped a horse-drawn carriage with an electric motor. However, the first fully electric vehicle was General Motors’ EV1 built in 1996.

The electric car

what invented

Who

The microscope

In 1952, while John W. Hetrick (USA) was driving in Pennsylvania with his wife and daughter sitting next to him in the front, he was forced to brake suddenly to avoid an obstacle. Both he and his wife instinctively put out their arms to protect the child. This incident inspired the invention of the airbag.

The German engine designer Karl Benz was the first to add a second gear to his car, and, upon a suggestion from his wife, invented the lever for changing gear in 1889. This enabled Benz to improve both the speed and efficiency of the car.

Suspension bridges built of vegetable fibre have been used for thousands of years in Asia, Africa and South America. The Chinese are thought to have been the first to replace these fragile materials with iron chains, around 100 AD. Today, cables are used instead of chains. The first suspension bridge built using this method was the Saint-Antoine bridge in Geneva in 1823.

X-ray imaging

Composite materials

The black box

The German physicist Röntgen discovered that X-rays, which have a very short wavelength (10-11 m to 10-8 m), were able to pass through materials such as paper, cardboard and fabrics, and produce a fluroescence that could form images on special plates. He then experimented with human tissues and realised that the rays could pass through skin and muscle, but not bone. Röntgen was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1901.

A composite is an assembly of at least two different materials that do not mix but do adhere together very strongly, to form a new material with properties that neither of its constituent materials possesses. Among the first composites were the bows used by the Mongols around 2000 BC. Much later, in 1823, the Scottish scientist Charles Macintosh created waterproof cloth by coating a cotton fabric with rubber. In 1892, the French engineer, François Hennebique patented reinforced concrete, using steel to strengthen the concrete moulded around it.

The idea of the “black box” was the brainchild of Australian aeronautics researcher David Warren, in 1953. He was given the job of studying the crash of the first jet engine passenger plane and was convinced that recording flight data during the minutes before a crash would provide crucial information and so make it possible to prevent future crashes.

The airbag

The gear box

The suspension bridge

30 Years of Innovation for a Brighter Future

1982-1986

A new line of business

In 1982, Alexis Kniazeff and Hubert Martigny, experts in high-profile recruitment, create CGS Informatique, the forerunner of the Altran Group and introduce “technology consulting”, a new concept which was to expand through time. The idea was to supply industry with high-profile engineers and consultants skilled in new technologies. Success was immediate, initially in the space industry. At the time, there was a general shortage of experienced engineers who could meet the needs of the vast amount of major new programmes both in civilian segments (Ariane 5, Airbus A320, the Atlantic high-speed train, Meteor, the first mobile phones, D2Mac Packets, GSM Super Phoenix, MOX, nuclear waste processing), and the military sector (the Leclerc tank, nuclear aircraft carriers, anti-aircraft frigates, the European combat aircraft). The company continued to grow at an average of 30% a year over the next 20 years.

1982

86

82

Altran develops functionalities for the Airbus A320 that rapidly become essential

Altran designs and develops pilot assistance data display functions for the A320 cockpit. The heart of the project involved highly complex on-board computers providing pilots with functions that were to become indispensable in the event of an accident, in particular an automatic pilot, fuel injection, engine management, and in-flight maintenance.

4


Stock market listing

1987-1991

20 October 1987: CGS Informatique becomes Altran Technologies and is admitted to the unlisted securities market on the Paris stock exchange. Positioned as a technology consulting firm, Altran clearly distinguishes itself from IT service suppliers. In 1988 alone, Altran grew by 68%, and in the five-year period from 1985 to 1990, it expanded tenfold. Between 1990 and 1991, the Gulf War provoked a downturn in the global economy, shrinking Altran’s growth to 4% in 1992. To withstand the crisis, Altran diversified by developing new business lines in industries such as automotive, aeronautics, and energy, often by introducing technologies developed for the space sector.

“Our aim was to create a services company that operated like the Internet with non-stop interconnection and cross-fertilising links between companies to build a permanent network for people, projects and skills.” Hubert Martigny

1987

91

Co-founder of Altran

89

Acquisition of Ségur Informatique

87

Railways: the communication network for high-speed trains

Altran developed the local on-board network for high-speed trains, enabling the link-up between France’s high-speed rail system with other European networks and systems. In addition, Altran helped define the architecture for the first on-board computer system for the Atlantic high-speed train, providing the driver with real-time monitoring of any disruption that may occur along the route.

(computer simulation and structure for the Aerospace sector) and first growth operations in France.

Automotive: Altran makes electric cars smarter

Altran designed the central control unit for an electric vehicle, providing the driver with information on the vehicle’s autonomy, heating control and instant power shut-down in the event of a violent impact, and so on. The same year, Altran optimised the energy and acoustic performances of GT car engines.

90/91 The Gulf War

Altran managed to hold on to its market share in the defence sector, consolidate its work with the French atomic energy authority (CEA), and win several aeronautics contracts, including the certification of the CFM 56-5 engine for the Boeing 737 (lifespan, manufacturing process control, design tools and maintenance).

5

Pierre Dreux

1992-2000

“Altran Conseil was the SOS emergency service for technology companies – the ‘Red Adair’ of complex technological situations. We had a real commando mind-set and never turned down any request.”

Double-digit growth

>>> 30 Years of Innovation for a Brighter Future

Europe becomes a single market and Altran sets up its first operations abroad. Positioned as a supplier of the finest engineers across a broad range of technologies, Altran enables companies to rise to the challenge in domains that were previously outsourced to consulting firms. Growth gathers pace: 16% in 1993, almost doubling to 28% in 1994 then rising to 36% in 1995, with sales of over one billion French Francs (€150M). The company’s share price quadrupled between 1994 and 1998, and then tripled in just one year. In 2000, growth stood at 40% and Altran gained a foothold in the USA and Brazil.

1992

Founder of Altran Conseil

00 95

92

Creation of Altran Conseil

Working directly with the chief executives and senior management of its clients, Altran Conseil carried out several missions notably in automotive components, nuclear technology and consumer electronics.

93

The beginning of European expansion

Belgium (1993), Spain (1994), Italy, Sweden and Switzerland (1995), Germany and the UK (1996). By 1997, Altran was doing business in ten countries.

Transport: door-to-door precision for the Paris Meteor metro

Altran developed the servo control and positioning functions for the Meteor’s on-board autopilot, ensuring that the driverless Parisian metro train stopped at the right spot in each station.

Space: Altran develops the attitude control system (ACS) for Ariane 5

This system optimised the flight position of satellites on launch vehicles, particularly their tilt relative to Earth. The aim was to carry the heaviest possible loads as far as possible into space.

6


96

Creation of the Altran Management Institute (IMA)

The IMA provided Altran with a structure where it could formalise and share its innovative practices. It also acts as a laboratory for exploring new management concepts.

Creation of the Altran Foundation for Innovation Year after year, the Foundation’s work demonstrates that technology is indeed for the benefit of all.

Despite the crisis, innovation forges ahead

2001-2005

“Altran is a school of entrepreneurship. The managers are business leaders who oversee the entire value chain.” Alexis Kniazeff

Co-founder of Altran

The explosion of the dot-com bubble in 2001, together with the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Enron’s November 2001 collapse – the biggest corporate failure in American history, sent the global economy into a tailspin. As of April 2002, the Altran share started to slide and the financial sector expressed doubt about whether Altran could honour its purchasing contracts. The acquisition of Arthur D. Little in 2002 only added to these concerns.

2002

05 02

98

Telecoms: Altran builds a network in Portugal

Altran brought together a FrancoPortuguese team of architects and engineers to locate, negotiate and design 400 sites to house transmission relays for a new dual GSM/DCS 1800 network for a Portuguese operator.

Altran is listed on the monthly settlement market Altran then had 6,118 consultants working for 70 different companies in 12 countries.

99

Energy: Altran gives coal a new lease of life

Altran created a model of a pulverised-coal power plant, comprising heat exchangers, boiler, steam turbine, feedwater system, and control mechanisms. The aim was to find out how the unit behaved during transitory operating situations such as start-up, load fluctuation and equipment breakdown.

2000

Altran begins expansion in North and South America

The acquisition of Cambridge Consultants Ltd

from Arthur D. Little added a new centre of excellence specialised in product development, patent leverage, and start-up creation.

Partnership with Renault F1

lasted eight years, during which Renault F1 won both the manufacturers’ and drivers’ FIA world championship titles in 2005 and 2006. In 2010, Renault Sport F1 built an engine that helped the Red Bull Racing team win the world championship.

Altran joins forces with Harvard Shool of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Professor David Edwards

to design a teaching course on creativity, engineering and innovation. The course was delivered in 2003-2004 at the Plateau de Saclay (France) technology cluster, with the support of Paris-Île-de-France Capitale économique.

7

2006-2012

Looking forward

>>> 30 Years of Innovation for a Brighter Future

...

Altran reorganises and restructures, taking stock of existing offerings, rationalising the brand portfolio, and rebuilding its business into five main industries (Automotive, Infrastructure and Transportation; Aeronautics, Space, Defence and Rail; Energy, Industry and Life Sciences; Financial Services and Public Sector; Telecoms and Media) and four transversal solutions (Product Lifecycle Management (PLM); Embedded and Critical Systems (ECS); Mechanical Engineering (ME); and Information Systems (IS)). This new organisation addressed the need to create structures that encouraged interaction and sharing right across the Altran Group. Altran gains footholds in China and Korea.

2006

12

2002

05 04

First developments in Asia Creation of Altran Pr[i]me,

which specialises in managing and supervising large-scale innovation projects.

03

Altran joins the Solar Impulse project

Energy: international benchmark for power grids

Following the 14 August 2003 blackout that hit some 50 million people in the North-eastern region of the US and in Canada, Con Edison New York commissioned Altran to oversee the setting up of an international benchmark for electricity grids in high-density cities.

Creation of the Altran Innovation Awards,

an in-house competition to honour excellence and reward Altran’s consultants.

8


05

Information technology: all PC functions soon on a single chip

Altran advised an optics manufacturer on the viability of chemical etching on sensitive resins using ultra-violet light. The process delivered a 50 nanometre level of detail, compared to the 130 level with the first prototypes. This meant it could produce even smaller integrated circuits. In the future, chips would be able to house a complete system – processor, memory, modem and cards – in one square cm.

Chairman and Chief Executive of the Altran Group

12 09

Creation of Altran Research

to strengthen the Group’s positioning in Innovation Consulting. Altran Research focuses on three areas that are crucial for addressing complexity: designing tools to assess the sustainability of solutions; discovering and demonstrating innovative concepts; and conducting methodological research on innovative organisations and practices and improving their performance.

Automotive: strategic partner of PSA Peugeot Citroën

As part of its 2012 Performance Plan, PSA Peugeot Citroën selected Altran as its strategic partner for product and process design. The car manufacturer is looking to Altran to provide comprehensive engineering solutions that go far beyond the scope of conventional outsourcing contracts. This partnership is part of a strategy for enhanced operational efficiency, international growth, faster innovation and responsible development.

In 2012, Altran is established in more than 20 countries throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia.

Philippe Salle

? In how many countries is Altran established?

“As global leader in innovation and high‐tech engineering consulting, Altran accompanies its clients in the creation and development of their new products and services. We invent solutions to complex problems, bring our clients’ projects to life, and enhance their performance through technology and innovation.”

9

02  We must dare or else resign to everything  03 

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants 

04  To create is to live twice 

05  Greatness is a road leading to the unknown  06  The value of an idea lies in the using of it 

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“

01  Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new 

07  If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse  08  It is not about predicting the future but making it possible 

09  Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower 

10  It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change  11  Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. But make sure you don’t make the same mistake twice  12  In this unstable, turbulent environment, one thing remains constant: change 

? what Who said

l k j

b

c

Steve JOBS (a) Charles de GAULLE (b) Isaac NEWTON (c) Albert CAMUS (d) TITE-LIvE (e) Thomas EDISON (f) Henry FORD (g) Antoine de SAINT-EXUPéRY (h) Albert EINSTEIN (i) Charles DARWIN (j) Akio MORITA (k) DALAï-LAMA (l)

i

h

01i • 02e • 03c • 04d • 05b • 06f • 07g • 08h • 09a • 10j• 11k • 12l

a

d e f g

Transport

Revolution The automobile enters a new era

Aircraft: the transport champion in a globalised world The space industry at a key moment in its development The train: a key player in intra-European transport In partnership with Quimera, Altran takes the brakes off electric travel and transport

12


Mobility is a crucial concern in the global economy, both for the individual driver and for people using collective transport (rail and air travel). Although these modes of transport may be in competition, they are all cogs in the same intermodal system. The goal is to interconnect these modes of transport to make travel easy, fluid, seamless and safe, while paying attention to economic and environmental issues. From an economic viewpoint, all transport-related industries are confronted with the same issues and challenges related to globalisation, privatisation and the growing importance of emerging countries. Altran helps them to position themselves along the new global value chain and offer innovative products tailored to the budgetary constraints and needs of new markets. Environmentally speaking, they must reduce their carbon footprint and improve their energy efficiency to stay ahead of dwindling fuel resources. This means they have to innovate in such areas as energy sources and management (biofuels electric aircraft and hybrid trains), engines and materials (composites) and in the way their structures are designed. Ultimately, the critical focus for the transport industry is passenger comfort and safety, not only on planes and in trains, but also in space, a new tourist market set to develop in the upcoming years. To meet these challenges, Altran’s teams offer players in the transportation industry a fresh and creative perspective, cultivated from the group’s expertise in a wide range of technologies and ability to interconnect them. Altran helps its clients address the challenges they face and, together, build a connected world both on Earth and in the skies above.

13

Transport

Revolution

“

The automobile enters a new era Once regarded as an iconic symbol of our consumer society and a “vehicle” for demonstrating power and individual freedom, the car started undergoing a transformation in the 1980s due to the convergence of four distinct factors. Firstly, with the raising of awareness to the environment and climate change, the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and the Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997 and applied in 2005, resulted in the creation of an international regulatory body for the market. The second factor concerns the sustained rise in petrol prices driven by the oil crisis and declining reserves. In addition, regarding the subject of demographics, with increased urbanisation commuters are spending more time in their cars. Finally, growing demand to meet individual needs has given rise to increased market segmentation, a greater choice of models and personalised vehicles offering connectivity and a wide range of services. These factors have prompted innovation in three areas, namely: fuel consumption – optimising engine performance and developing “clean” electric and hybrid cars; enhancing assisted driving – by using integrated radar and cameras; and connectivity – growing access to Bluetooth, GPS, and the Internet, makes it possible to drive and stay in touch. In this, connectivity is as much about telecommunications, as it is about cars.

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The long period of association between Altran and the Renault F1 team was hallmarked by considerable success, beginning off the track and culminated on it. As a significant partner to the team, Altran provided a complete range of engineering services, from onsite support for the design and engineering offices to offsite analytical consultancy across a broad range of engineering disciplines. Altran was a great partner to work with and its engineers and consultants became an integral and vital part of the team.” Bob Bell, Technical Director of the Renault F1 team from 2003 to 2010

2002-2010

Altran combines satellite and telecom technologies to solve F1 problems

When Renault F1 director Christian Contzen set out to try to model the performance of an F1 engine in 2002 by acquiring data about the car’s racing performance and then developing test benches to assess its reliability, he was aware that the automotive industry could not provide him with the answers. However, he also knew that the space, oil and telecommunications sectors were encountering the same problems. Altran proved him right. Indeed, Altran met the first challenge by applying its expertise in modelling the thermal performance of electric motors for satellites to F1 engines. When it came to acquiring data faster, one of our telecoms engineers came up with the solution, and our expertise in aeronautics led to the development of a dedicated test bench for F1 engines.

This eight-year partnership saw two successive triumphs with Renault winning the manufacturer’s and the driver’s FIA world championship titles in 2005 and 2006 with Fernando Alonso behind the wheel. In 2010, Renault Sport F1 helped the Red Bull Racing team build their engine to win the world championship.

14


Following two oil crises, the electric car received a lot of attention in the early 1980s, particularly from EDF and Ademe, France’s energy management and environment agency. Although, at that time, the future looked bright for the fuel-cell automobile, externally charged electric cars have now become the leading solution. Moreover, hybrids have developed rapidly since Toyota took a gamble on this technology when it launched the Prius around 2005. Altran has also contributed through its involvement in designing brake energy recovery and automatic “stop and start” systems. A kinetic energy recovery system known as KERS has also been installed in Formula 1 cars to recover energy released by braking for later use under acceleration. This system minimises energy consumption and as such polluting emissions.

How does Altran run a project?

The savoir-faire of our consultants is automatically enhanced with each project. Technology and our methodology form a tandem that moves freely between the different sectors. Altran’s ability to capitalise on its technological expertise enables it to gradually acquire complete command of a subject and begin to take responsibility for major projects in that particular field. For Claude-Emmanuel Boisson, the Group’s former Scientific Director, and Jean-Luc Hozé, Executive Director of the PLM solution: “Our leading projects in the automobile industry (Just 2, F1, etc.) are powerful motivators inspiring all of our consultants to give their best”.

And tomorrow…

Reducing energy consumption

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“JUST”… a dream come true

Developed by Altran Pr[i]me, JUST is a concept car that focuses on the functions drivers need, and which make the car both environmentally and user friendly. In line with Altran’s multi-sectorial positioning, JUST drew on the construction industry as a source of inspiration for its insulation system and seats, the sports sector for its technical fabrics and the fencer-mask windscreen, and the Solar Impulse project for its power supply systems. A second version of JUST, designed for dynamic carpooling, features embedded systems, and a dedicated architecture (three diagonally-positioned seats). It has a bamboo-based biomaterial structure and an electric powertrain. In addition, connectivity gives drivers access to carpooling communities and the possibility of seeing the vehicles available in augmented reality.

15

Transport

How many specialists does Altran have in the aeronautics, aerospace, defence and railways sector?

Revolution

Aircraft: the transportation champion in a globalised world

? 16


Despite safety constraints and environmental considerations, the aviation industry is doing extremely well. In the next 20 years, 20,000 new aircraft will come into service, doubling the size of the world’s fleet, and some 200 new airports will be built.

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Helping Asia build up its market

Moving into the 21st century signified a major change for the aviation industry. Once centred on Europe and the USA, the market has now taken on a global dimension, driven largely by the fast-growing economies of Asia and the Gulf countries. Fifteen years from now, these regions will be on a par with Europe and the US in terms of air traffic numbers.

The first challenge is geographical, as an entire supply chain needs to be established in Asia, requiring aerostructures, equipment and engines on the one hand, and airport infrastructure and maintenance centres on the other. Altran has fixed a target to employ 2,000 engineers in India and 1,000 in China by 2015 to support growth in all sectors in these countries. There is also a second commercial challenge involved since establishing an aeronautics business in Asia will involve technology transfers. Moreover, there is the possibility that further out, new players will emerge to challenge the current duopoly held by the two major airplane makers.

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Airbus A350 and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner); to increase aircraft capacity to reduce consumption per passenger mile (as with the A380, which carries twice as many passengers as the A340 for roughly the same fuel consumption); and to meet the tighter safety constraints that higher passenger numbers impose.

iFacts: a new tool for safe airspace over Britain

As an Airbus partner since the construction of the A320, which first took to the skies in 1987, Altran has helped the European aircraft manufacturer rise to the challenge of the high-capacity A380 and provided support for all of its flight programmes. Altran was involved at an early stage in defining the aircraft’s flight physics and performance (design, weight, mass distribution and aerodynamics), and also participated in designing the aerostructures, as well as the navigation, oxygen and power generation systems, and the landing gear. In addition, the company helped Airbus’ suppliers reach the technological maturity required to certify their processes and products, notably with regard to developing composite materials. Altran was also involved in production engineering.

Altran is currently involved in Airbus’ programme for its future medium-capacity, long-haul A350 eXtra Wide Body aircraft, which will use composites for some components. In addition, since 2009, Altran has been in charge of two programmes for Aerolia, a 100% subsidiary of EADS and France’s leading aerostructure manufacturer; one as research subcontractor in charge of the design and sizing of the nose, and the other to develop the water circuit and fire extinction and cooling systems for the on-board kitchen facilities. Entrusted to Altran Germany, the latter programme ranges from 3D design to installation plans and production of the certification application files.

And tomorrow…

A380, A350: Altran and Airbus look ahead

Altran is helping the British air traffic control authority NATS to modernise its air traffic management (ATM) system. Rocketing air traffic levels are raising issues concerning safety and environmental protection, and it is essential to cut waiting time to ensure the sustainable management of airport approach areas. During the 2012 summer Olympic Games, the iFacts project provided NATS with an automatic control system which includes many new parameters, and updates data every two minutes. The iFacts project lasted three years and involved around one hundred consultants.

The connected aircraft: an economic and technical challenge

Airplanes are currently one of the few places in the world where it is difficult to stay connected to the Internet. Yet connectivity facilitates real-time communication between plane and ground, optimises synergies, enables the automation of maintenance procedures, and can also provide new passenger services. Although this is all possible from a technical point of view, communication is still very costly. Real practical solutions now exist for more efficient satellite-relay management, as well as Wimax WiFi relays in the cabin and on the ground. Other low-cost technologies such as long-distance Bluetooth, loss-free data compression and alternative technologies are opening up new service opportunities. All of these options will offer new business opportunities for operators, improved passenger services (vOD, e-commerce, HD Internet) and better decision tools for pilots and ground staff.

Altran has an expert network of 3,000 ASD-R specialists, making it a key player in this sector.

Reducing the environmental footprint per passenger mile

The third challenge is both environmental and economic. Although, according to Globometer, aviation accounts for only 8% of today’s world oil consumption, the drive to reduce the impact and cost of fuel is stimulating innovation in four directions, namely to improve engine yield, as with the A320 Neo which cuts fuel consumption by 15%; to reduce aircraft weight by increasing the use of composite materials (the

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?

Transport

Revolution

How long has Altran been a partner on the Ariane programme? More than 10, 15 or 20 years?

The space industry at a key moment in its development

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1960

In 1960, President Kennedy referred to a “New Frontier”, beyond which lie “uncharted areas of science and space”. In 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon, and, in 1973, the European Space Agency initiated the Ariane programme. Altran soon became involved and played a key role in the Ariane 5 launch vehicle, which was sent into orbit for the first time in 1996.

Targeting low-cost access to space

Although the European space industry has long been protected against shrinking budgets, it is now exposed to budget tightening trends as well as cost-cutting pressure notably from Russia, China and India. For these major emerging countries, having a presence in the space industry is not only important for image and trade purposes but also serves as a military deterrent. Pressure to cut costs is also being exerted by NASA which has outsourced the design of new launch systems capable of substantially reducing satellite-launching costs to private firms such as SpaceX. However, cutting costs by 30% will require ground-breaking technological innovation and adopting a new business model in the satellite launch market.

New offerings for new markets

In addition, demand is slowing in the Telecoms and Defence sectors – the industry’s core markets in the developed countries. This means that the space sector needs to diversify both its business and its markets. Although space tourism is still in its infancy, there is interest from other markets: the insurance industry for land data analysis, and major municipalities for security management purposes. Altran’s role is to help the sector create intelligible offerings for these potential new customers by enhancing their traditional product offering with the addition of a services component that incorporates new technology solutions.

Towards sustainable space management

The space industry has also become eco-aware. After decades of unlimited expansion, the time has come to focus on sustainable space-management, recovering faulty and obsolete satellites, and cleaning up the 180 tonnes of litter scattered throughout space (including 2,500 dead satellites and the upper stages of 1,900 launch vehicles, according to the NGO “Robin des Bois”). The key issue here is safety, both for satellites in orbit that could be hit by flying debris, and for the Earth which is exposed to the risk of falling space debris that is not only uncontrollable but sometimes radioactive.

Altran, a key player in the Ariane 5 programme

Altran has played a central role in the Ariane programme since the early 1990s, providing a number of key technological skills to the main partners, including Arianespace, Aerospatiale, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the French Space Agency (CNES). Altran has been involved in developing the on-board satellite guidance and attitude control systems; simulating the overall performance of the launcher; computing the thermal and vibrational aspects of the main cryotechnic stage and developing the forward skirt of the launcher. The Group also supplied ESA with project management services to monitor the use of government funds. Altran continues to provide assistance to the Ariane 5 programme, which completed its 48th consecutive successful launch in May 2012.

Making work outside the international space station safer

The European Space Agency (ESA) launched the Eurobot project to reduce the risks that astronauts have to face when carrying out extravehicular activities (EVA) around the international space station (ISS). Altran is involved in developing the control system that will enable the Eurobot to move automatically within its environment.

Space janitor

Altran designs and assesses software intelligence, system architecture and mechanical architecture in relation to environmental issues for cars, tanks and rockets. The next step is to apply these methods to a device capable of cleaning up space debris and protecting satellites. This is well within reach particularly given Altran’s expertise in trajectory computing and navigational guidance, plus its solid experience dealing with devices subjected to extreme conditions.

Altran has been involved in the Ariane programme since the early 1990s.

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The space industry also relies on its core business to develop new products and services. For example, given its expertise in the field of composite materials, the space industry is involved in the production of blades for giant wind turbines. Drawing on its knowledge of military nuclear science and its expertise in complex-project management, the space industry is also involved in nuclear power plant decommissioning. There are numerous applications available since the conquest of space has been an extraordinary driving force for research and development. Such factors as vacuum constraints (extreme temperature fluctuation, as well as radiation, shock and high speed exposure) and the need to achieve full-proof reliability have served to stimulate the imagination of engineers.

And tomorrow…

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Inventing new products

 19

Transport

Revolution

Slower than aircraft and less flexible than the automobile, the train could, at one time, have been relegated to the museum of obsolete innovations. This seemed inevitable in the 1990s when the market share of the railways sector was shrinking and rail companies were accumulating debts and operating losses.

The train: a key player in intra-European transport

*

However, this crisis prompted Europe to develop an integration strategy: thanks to this and the development of high-speed rail networks both in France in 1981 and at the international level with the Eurostar in 1994 and Thalys in 1996, the train has since regained its place as a major transportation player. Increased urbanisation and the emergence of megacities have created several major advantages for the railways industry: short and medium journeys are cheaper and less environmentally damaging than air transport. Moreover, rail transport is nine times safer than road travel and is not perturbed by traffic conditions.

The train of the future – more frequent, safer and better integrated into passengers’ daily lives

To consolidate its position, however, the train must meet three challenges. The first of these concerns increased rail traffic flows; with the help of connectivity and innovative infrastructures, trains must provide seamless travelling solutions by guaranteeing passengers fluidity and regular connections. Passenger rights regarding information on delays and claims must be improved. Safety is another key challenge with the increasing number of intra-European lines. The third challenge is competition from other transport modes and emerging countries.

These challenges call for technological breakthroughs in energy sources and management (hybrid propulsion), materials (composites) and train structures. The rail sector will also have to provide an innovative services offering, for travel preparation as well as the journey itself. It will have to incorporate communication-based control systems for local lines and European rail traffic management systems (ERTMS) for trunk lines. Ultimately, only standardised industrial processes will be able to meet the challenge of competition from emerging countries.

2006: Altran finalises the Christian Lacroix seat in compliance with economic and environmental constraints

Altran Pr[i]me helped a railway equipment supplier to finalise production of the Christian Lacroix eco-design passenger seat, developed specifically for high-speed trains and whose structure was applied to all travel classes. Basing its approach on its corporate vision and the key differentiating factors the company has defined for itself, Altran sought technological solutions outside the rail sector. Creative brainstorming sessions involving all the concerned parties produced an innovative concept for a platform on a curved wood base. This can be completely dismantled thus lightening the structure by 30% and optimising logistics as well as the number of parts.

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Altran Pr[i]me played a key role in defining a cluster of multimedia services for travellers using the French regional rail network (TER). After identifying 1,300 ideas and designing a services scenario capable of meeting demand from customers and transport authorities alike, Altran Pr[i]me defined five innovative concepts: CommunauTER, the equivalent of the iDTGV high-speed train community concept for TER travellers; MooviTER, a carriage providing Wi-Fi access, LCD display, accessible electronic games tablets, pivoting seats, a lounge, a well-being “discovery” area, and a children’s play area, etc.; Agenda 2.0, which synchronises SNCF information with Outlook, Yahoo and Google agendas so that passengers can plan the optimal door-to-door itinerary by combining several modes of transportation; Find Your Way, a concept for people with reduced mobility which has been taken up by the SNCF’s R&D department; and Access IT, a train-to-land communication system for on-board Internet access.

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Maintaining speed whatever the weather

Altran is taking part in research to improve the reliability and performance consistency of high-speed trains, notably in extreme weather conditions. The company has carried out studies to model the complex phenomenon of wet snow accumulation in the bogies; trolleys under trains that hold the axles in place. After analysing the phenomenon, a simulation tool was built. Further research carried out with a technology centre resulted in the correlation of computer simulations based on results from bench tests and actual rail trials. The equipment thus developed will reduce the snow-accumulation phenomenon and improve the train’s ability to run on schedule in bad weather conditions.

And tomorrow…

Altran, co-creator of multimedia services for French state-owned rail company, SNCF

The Train of the future is on the way

Faster, safer, quieter, less polluting and less expensive, the train of the future will be able to address all market challenges. The first objective will be to meet customer demand in terms of comfort and safety. To achieve this, it will require innovative technologies ensuring high performance and minimal costs. Inspired by Japan’s Maglev magnetic levitation technology, the train of tomorrow could achieve running speeds of over 500km/h. Altran has indeed a full and active role to play in the design of the train of the future.

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Transport

When did Altran transform the Avenida de la Reina Maria Cristina in Barcelona into a racetrack for electric cars?

to be continued…

Revolution

?

22

In partnership with Quimera, Altran takes the brakes off electric travel and transport


Although electric cars have been receiving subsidies from the European Association for Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (AVERE) since its creation in 1978, progress has been relatively limited. The reasons for this are not only related to the multitude of technical problems that have to be solved to make EVs roadworthy. There are also psychological obstacles associated with the very image of the electric car. Overcoming these obstacles is one of the two goals of the AEGT (All Electric GT car) project launched by Quimera, an international R&D consortium focused on renewable energy comprising companies, universities and technology consulting companies such as Altran. Quimera is exploring new, viable and affordable electric travel solutions.

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An electric racing car to win public trust

The main thrust of Quimera’s work is to develop sustainability programmes for urban environments. The consortium believes that market scepticism is responsible for low demand for electric vehicles. According to Quimera chairman, Javier de Rocafort, “This is why we must first win the trust of the public by creating not just a concept but a high-performance car that is in sync with the original idea of motor racing.” This challenge has now been addressed with the AEGT-Evo1, which was launched on the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain in August 2011. Equipped with three UQM electric motors for a total energy power of 700hp, the AEGT-Evo1 is the most powerful electric car ever built. In its current configuration it can accelerate up to 100km/h in 3.5 seconds, with a top speed of 300km/h. Its latest-generation EIG lithium polymer batteries, made in South Korea, guarantee around half an hour of autonomy.

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Life-size lab

Altran, world technical partner of the Quimera consortium since 2010

Psychological hurdles apart, there are plenty of technical challenges, notably battery weight, integration and monitoring, electric-motor management and aerodynamic optimisation. The AEGT-Evo1 is a life-size laboratory designed to solve these problems. While the first prototype was intended to validate design concepts and test the vehicle’s main performance objectives, the second prototype, the AEGT-Evo2, has been designed specifically for competition purposes.

According to Altran Spain’s COO Alfonso Martinez, “Altran has acted as technical adviser and supervisor throughout the process and is currently preparing the next version of the car, for which we will be in charge of the design and engineering of the electrical transmission system. This notably concerns the batteries, engines, gear box as well as integrating the entire transmission system, and making necessary chassis changes.”

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More than just a car

The AEGT-Evo1 prototype is currently being developed with a view to creating a small racing-car series, for which Altran will be in charge of the engineering and development process. Quimera is also developing several other futuristic transport solutions: the Electric KTM X-Bow roadster for which Altran is developing the electric transmission system; the Electro-Solar Motorbike clad in photovoltaic cells; and the Electric Commercial Van, the first industry-compliant electric utility vehicle. In addition, Quimera is developing a vertical-axis Urban Wind Turbine (UWT) for small and medium-sized private and commercial buildings, designed to reduce costs and save energy. This revolutionary wind turbine has adopted the principle of the bladeless turbine invented by Nicolas Tesla back in 1913, which is indeed proof that the innovation process has deep roots in the technological culture of the past.

When the Group inaugurated the Altran centre of excellence for new automotive technologies in May 2012.

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 23

Cambridge Consultants:

over 50 years of innovative product

Cambridge Consultants was founded in 1960 by two Cambridge graduates – Tim Eiloart and David Southward – to “Put the brains of Cambridge University at the disposal of the problems of British industry”. Since the outset, the company has been a catalyst for what is indisputably the leading technology cluster in the UK and in Europe. Known as the “Cambridge Phenomenon”, the platform comprises some 1,000 firms which, directly and indirectly, promote the scientific, technological and human potential of the University, and combines this rich source of talents and skills with the experience and business acumen of entrepreneurs. Part of the Altran group since 2002, Cambridge Consultants has remained an independent and highly productive company and has its own business model.

New product development and innovation consulting

With 330 engineers in the UK and 20 in the US (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Cambridge Consultants combines expertise in cutting-edge technology expertise with commercial insight to create new growth opportunities for a clientele consisting mainly of major international corporations. For example, Philips has been a customer for over 30 years and Iridium Satellites for more than 12. Nearly 95% of its projects concern new-product development.

Patent licensing

In addition, Cambridge Consultants has built up a portfolio of patents which the company exploits through licensing, and by creating spin-off companies. 20 spin-offs have been created to date, employing 5,000 people altogether and with a total market capitalisation of €2 billion. The largest of these is Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR). Specialised in Bluetooth chip production, this company was founded in 1998 with a staff of ten. Listed on the stock exchange in 2004, CSR now employs 2,500 people and boasts a market capitalisation of €1 billion.

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development

October 2011,

Cambridge Consultants spins out Aveillant to get wind farms turning

With over 30 years’ experience in radar sensors, Cambridge Consultants has developed an effective solution based on its own holographic radar technology. On-site Holographic Radar Infill™ sensors can easily identify the different behaviour patterns

of aircraft and turbine blades and are thus able to distinguish between air-traffic and turbine activity. More importantly, by plugging the sensors into a primary radar system it is possible to see if the target turns, circles, hovers or lands within the vicinity of the wind farm. This provides air traffic controllers with a degree of accuracy that neither scanning radar nor predictive mitigation strategies can offer.

In October 2011, Cambridge Consultants created the Aveillant spin off with venture capital from DFJ Esprit and Aviation Investment Fund Co ltd, to provide airports with the Holographic Radar Infill™ for eliminating wind-farm interference and the subsequent risk to air-traffic safety and surveillance.



Prism 200 wins the Queen’s Award for Innovation

The world’s first wireless cardiac stimulation system (WiCS)



Around 40 wind farm projects – with a potential output of nearly 6GW of renewable energy – are currently frozen in the UK for aviation safety reasons. Because turbine blades create surrounding interference of nearly 7km it is almost impossible to detect an aircraft and track its path with the necessary degree of certainty. Air traffic control primary radars cannot distinguish between the plane and the turbine blades because the sampling period is too short and the blade-rotation interval too long.

In 2011, Cambridge Consultants won the UK Queen’s Award for Innovation, its second in three years, for its ground-breaking through-wall radar, Prism 200. This compact and portable piece of equipment uses advanced signal processing to distinguish moving people and objects in cluttered environments, as well as through doors, brick, blocks of stone and concrete walls. Prism 200 has been designed for delicate operations (notably anti-terrorist) where success requires having an extremely clear view of the situation. It has been deployed in over 67 countries around the world.

Cambridge Consultants has collaborated with start-up company EBR Systems to define the system architecture of the world’s first wireless pacing system: a pulse generator transmits an ultrasonic pulse to the implanted receiver, which converts the sonic energy into electrical energy to pace the left ventricle in synchronicity with the right. By eliminating the lead in the left side of the heart, the WiCS significantly reduces the time taken to carry out the complicated procedure and overcomes chances of lead failure and infection.

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invented When was it

3

1

?

The first mobile phone

The walkman

2

4

The first consumer GPS

France’s first commercial high-speed train

5

The first remote surgical operation

10

2 ///////// France’s first high-speed (TGV) train, which ran between Paris and Lyon, was inaugurated on 22 September 1981. The famous orange train clocked up a speed of 260km/h. 3 ///////// Motorola brought out the first mobile phone in 1983. The DynaTAC 8000 X sold for $4000, weighed 793.8g and had a battery with 30-minute calling autonomy.

9

4 ///////// GPS was launched as a US Army project in the 1960s. It was not until 1993 that the US government decided to put it on the market. At the time, the system was based on images from 28 earth-orbiting satellites. 5 ///////// The first remote operation ever performed was the Lindbergh operation on 7 September 2001 (named after aviator Charles Lindbergh, the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic). A surgical team based in New York (USA) successfully removed the gall bladder of a 68-year-old patient in Strasbourg (France), 6,000 kms away. 6 ///////// At the end of the last century, the most widely used mobile data storage device was the floppy disk, with a storage capacity of 1.44 Mo. In the early 2000s, two companies brought out versions of a new device based on rewritable flash memory: the USB flash drive; Singapore-based Trek Technology with its ThumbDrive and IBM with the DiskOnKey in December 2000. With capacity rising from 8 Mo to 16 and then 32, the ThumbDrive weighed 12g and had a storage capacity equivalent to 5, then 10, then 20 floppy disks. 7 ///////// The 802.11 (wavelength) standard was finalised in 1998 and in 1998, the name Wi-Fi was adopted. WiFi was first used by Apple under the name of Airport. Its use began to spread in June 2000 when a group in Seattle (USA) launched the first free community of computers communicating via Wi-Fi. 8 ///////// Shortly before the invention of the DVD, the CD was in its heyday. The first high-capacity CD models were marketed in 1993. However, companies were looking for a more efficient model. Sony and Philips introduced the MMCD format while Toshiba, Masushita and Time Warner promoted the SD. In 1995, they pooled their efforts, created the DVD and developed it through a consortium of ten corporations.

7

9 ///////// Ferdinand Porsche (Bohemia) designed the first hybrid car in 1900. The idea did not catch on, however, until much later when Toyota built its first hybrid in 1996, commercialising it as the Prius in 1997. In 2011, 821,100 Prius cars were sold worldwide. Dealers are expecting a 60% increase in sales for 2012.

8

1 ///////// In 1979, Sony chairman Akio Morita (Japan), a golfer and a music lover, asked his engineers to devise a small cassette player equipped with headphones. Six months later, on 1 July 1979, Sony rolled out its first Walkman, the TPS-L2.

The smart cane for the blind The hybrid car The DvD Wi-Fi

The USB flash drive

6

10 ///////// Launched in 2012, “BlindSpot” is a white cane for the visually impaired which has revolutionary digital functions including sensors to locate obstacles, not only at ground level but also at human height. It can also locate its owner’s friends at a distance. Anyone wanting to be identified by a friend who is visually impaired can download a special application which warns those who are visually impaired that a friend is nearby. The BlindSpot was invented by Selene Chew, a student at the National University of Singapore.

Reinventing

Energy

Safe, efficient power generation

Altran meets renewable energy challenges

Solar Impulse: Altran supports the Icarus of the 21st century

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When Altran invented innovation consulting in 1982, the second oil crisis had already put an end to the age of innocence in the energy sector and launched the war on waste. Inconceivable as it may have seemed a few years earlier, energy was no longer cheap, and the main focus was now on energy savings. However, a major step still has to be taken to ensure tight management of spiralling energy costs to maintain the balance of payments on the one hand and the urgent need to combat global warming on the other. It was not until 1997 that the participating countries at the Kyoto conference eventually managed to agree upon a plan to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For the developed countries, however, the Kyoto Protocol is too restrictive, whereas the emerging countries see it as an unacceptable brake on their development. The voluntary reduction of GHG emissions, therefore, still seems a distant goal. Nevertheless, the inevitable depletion of oil reserves is a very real stimulus to find alternative energy sources, in particular nuclear sources and renewable energies: notably wind, marine current power, photovoltaic, biomass, geothermal and hydraulic power.

29

Reinventing

Energy

How many consultants and clients does Altran have in the energy sector?

?

Safe, efficient power generation

30


Forty years after the first oil crisis, we are still producing most of our power in the same way, with the same problems regarding plant safety, geopolitical security for facilities, pipelines and grids; waste processing and nuclear plant decommissioning. However, new challenges with respect to energy efficiency are emerging requiring more efficient electricity transmission via smart grids, and the optimisation of energy usage with the development of cost-effective products and evaluation tools to assess performances of capital goods and homes.

Altran ensures the reliability of gas networks

Thousands of kilometres of buried gas pipes laid in the 1970s must now be inspected and upgraded to prevent leaks, without, however, shutting down the entire system. Altran has an exclusive technology for this type of work, developed originally for the most aggressive environment of all – nuclear power stations. This two-pronged solution involves robots that travel through the pipes to detect leaks and a polymer which, when applied to the pipe wall, becomes rock-hard as it cools. Using this method, Altran can extend the lifespan of a network by several decades.

Altran was commissioned to re-design to cost the pool storage of fuel rods at the La Hague plant in France. It also played a part in designing the Chernobyl (Ukraine) sarcophagus. Today, Altran sends experts in automation management & control and operation systems on missions to AREVA, EDF and the CEA. The Chinese authorities also called in Altran to check the control and operation systems at six Chinese nuclear power plants and to take part in the qualification of the Taishan (China) EPR (European Pressurised Reactor). The Group has also been commissioned to provide safety solutions for the planned EPR in the United Kingdom.

Flamanville EPR: Altran coordinates upstream and down

For the past four years, Altran has been working on the Flamanville EPR, the new-generation French nuclear reactor. EDF commissioned Altran to set up the “research-site liaison” unit to handle coordination between the prime contractor’s design office and all the trades on the site. The aim is to solve any problems arising on site as quickly as possible, in conjunction with EDF’s network of engineering and expertise centres. Altran also checks that all alterations to procedures or methods comply with the requirements of the nuclear safety authority.

ITER, one of the new century’s most innovative research projects

A pioneer of tomorrow’s technologies, Altran is assisting in project management at ITER, the experimental reactor now being built at the Cadarache (France) facility to develop power generation by nuclear fusion.

Forty industrial buildings are under construction at the site and ITER Organisation has commissioned Altran to supervise and validate each stage of the project, analyse requests for technical and contractual changes, manage the programme and consolidate monitoring indicators. This project calls on Altran’s international expertise in complex project management, technical and contractual management and quality management in all the technical fields concerned (electricity, civil engineering, nuclear engineering, mechanics, the environment and safety).

Assessing plant decommissioning costs

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Decommissioning nuclear plants at the end of their useful life is one of the industry’s key economic challenges. When the French government commissioned Altran to validate the amount set aside for decommissioning by the main operators, the Group proposed simulation and design-to-cost solutions. This mission called on the company’s expertise in dealing with complex projects and its ability to factor in all relevant parameters. Altran put together a team of its own systems engineers, mathematicians, nuclear computing engineers and decommissioning and waste processing experts to work on the project. The same methods, based on systems engineering and computation, serve to assess how far a power plant’s lifespan can be extended.

And tomorrow…

Cutting-edge expertise for nuclear power plant safety

Nuclear power beneath the waves?

Altran is involved in validation studies for a revolutionary project concerning a small undersea nuclear power plant, a type of plant that rates very highly in terms of safety and acceptability. Altran’s main role will be in underwater acoustics, a field in which it has cutting-edge expertise.

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In 2012, Altran has 2,500 consultants working in the energy sector (thermal, nuclear, wind, oil and gas, etc.) for 300 clients worldwide. 31

Reinventing

Energy

Altran meets renewable energy challenges Renewable energy offers obvious advantages. Because it is based on renewable natural resources, it ensures reliable energy flows favouring energy self-sufficiency, decentralised and clean production plants; assets which make this form of energy environmentally friendly.

are of a more cyclical nature – which means that yields are still low and costs high. The development of integrated distribution is still in the early stages, and there are technical difficulties in connecting remote, decentralised production units to national grids that need to be solved.

But what is the opinion of the million people who were forced to leave their homes to make way for the Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze River (China)? What do people living near giant wind farms think? And what about the impact of biofuels on food production?

Solutions must also be found for problems related to the construction and maintenance of offshore wind farms and solar farms in the desert. In addition, renewable energy facilities involve a number of different risks, such as accidents, the negative impact of wind turbines and recycling photovoltaic cells at the end of their useful lifespans. Making renewable energy possible – in other words feasible, desirable and in the public interest – is one of the major challenges that Altran is addressing today.

Renewable energy must rise to many challenges before becoming an economically viable and socially acceptable resource. Some forms of energy are structural – for example wind and solar energy are intermittent by nature. Others

Calculating loads on wind turbines

Gamesa, Europe’s second-largest wind turbine manufacturer, commissioned Altran to calculate its wind-turbine loads. The entire turbine structure operates under pressures that vary according to wind speed and the position of the blades. To predict the behaviour of the structure, it is necessary to assess the forces that will be applied to each component. Altran Spain has allocated an entire team to work on this mission for Gamesa.

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The questions facing large companies trying to break into the wind power market are: which products for which clients using which business plan? Only a consulting firm like Altran, with the ability to combine strategy and technology, can answer these questions. Altran advised the company to position itself on a single strategic wind-turbine component and to target customers worldwide. Altran was subsequently commissioned to conduct sales negotiations, supervise prototype, plant and tool production, as well as transport and construction, and to draw up a provisional business plan.

Cluster of renewable energy sources for Dutch island

The objective here was to produce energy without generating any greenhouse gas emissions for 1,200 people in 500 households and 85 business premises. After analysing and modelling wind, wave, tide, biomass, photovoltaic and geothermal systems, Altran came up with a cluster of solutions producing 10GWh, by different means depending on the application that would meet the domestic and professional needs of the islanders. Technological energy-saving solutions were also proposed.

PhotoV: towards genuinely sustainable photovoltaics

Photovoltaic can be renewed indefinitely, at least on a human scale. The fact that solar energy is present in virtually unlimited quantities, produces no CO2 or waste during its lifetime, suggests that it is the ultimate sustainable energy. To prove this hypothesis, however, it will be necessary to study the impact of solar panels throughout their lifecycle, taking into account all relevant criteria: toxicity, recyclability, energy efficiency, etc. – and all stakeholders involved, from solar-panel manufacturers to end-users, including people living near solar-panel installations.

*

However, there is no assessment tool that incorporates all these criteria for the time being. To address this problem, Altran is developing evaluation tools that factor in economic criteria (energy efficiency during use, investment costs, etc.), ecological criteria (recyclability at end-of-life and GHG emissions) and social criteria (acceptability, job creation, etc.). For each criterion at each stage of the lifecycle, Altran is developing an assessment model and weighting each criterion according to the stakeholders concerned. The aim is to achieve multi-criteria optimisation enabling the development of a relevant, sustainable assessment solution for the sector.

And tomorrow…

Supplying support for new supplier in the wind power sector

The right time for offshore wind power

The next few years will see the emergence of offshore wind turbines with a rotor diameter larger than that of an A380. They will be designed to run for 20 years in a highly aggressive environment. This will require an enormous effort in terms of research and development, considerable investment, extensive changes in electrical infrastructure and unflagging government support. Altran plans to provide the offshore wind turbine project with a dedicated international structure to address risk management and production cost optimisation.

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Reinventing

What key role did Altran’s teams play in the first Solar Impulse trans-Mediterranean flight in July 2012?

Energy

Solar Impulse: Altran supports the Icarus of the 21st century

?

34

to be continued…

Bertrand Piccard’s dream to create an aircraft capable of flying day and night on solar energy alone has become a collective human and technological adventure in which Altran has participated as official engineering partner since 2004. Today the wager is well on the way to being won.

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The beginnings of a dream

Bertrand Piccard comes from a long line of scientific adventurers. In 1931, his grandfather Auguste Piccard was the first man to reach the stratosphere, and in 1960, Bertrand’s father, Jacques, descended more than 10,000 metres in a bathyscaphe, thus setting the all-time record for manned diving. An adventurer like his fathers before him, Bertrand completed a non-stop, round-the-world balloon flight in 1999, then went on to launch the incredible Solar Impulse project with the goal of making a round-the-world flight in a fuel-free aircraft. For Bertrand Piccard, “Life becomes exciting when you step beyond the things you know and break with habit and learn to play with uncertainty and the unknown.”


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A human and technological adventure

Although the origins of the Solar-Impulse project lie in the ancient Promethean myth, the ambitious goal of this modern-day Icarus is firmly rooted in the 21st century. The aircraft is designed to fly without fossil fuel, and without emitting greenhouse gases. “The aim of Solar Impulse is to demonstrate the importance of the new technologies for sustainable development and to bring emotion and imagination back to the heart of the scientific adventure,” says Bertrand Piccard. This is what attracted businessman and pilot André Borschberg to the project: “Innovation has always appealed to me. I’m a businessman and set up companies but I’m also passionate about flying. With the project, I can combine both of my passions in the quest to find a new way of flying and consuming energy. When Bertrand suggested setting up a feasibility team, I said yes straight away.”

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Altran totally committed

With its exceptional scope of activities and skills and ability to go beyond what is possible and transform dreams into reality, Altran joined the adventure as official engineering partner in 2003. This project embodies the dream of a great many people; a dream shared by all the national teams involved on it in Switzerland, Spain, Italy, France and the UK,” says Christian Le Liepvre, head of the Solar Impulse partnership at Altran. “It’s also a multi-disciplinary project involving expertise in a number of different fields from advanced mathematics, modelling, and systems engineering to energy architecture, specialist mechanics, and aeronautical equipment development.”

As a member of a consortium of 19 industrial partners, Altran is taking part in the SWAFEA study, launched by the European Commission in late 2009 to pursue a “sustainable solution for alternative fuel and energy in aviation”. Altran is responsible for assessing the economic viability of alternative fuels and for supporting on-board alternative energy production: batteries, solar cells and low energy-source recovery. According to Pascal Brier, Altran Executive vice-President for Major Accounts and Business Development: “In a world where science needs dreams that can come true, the Solar Impulse project, with innovation as its key component, is driving progress in tomorrow’s technologies.”

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Solar Impulse: some key dates

In 2003, the EPFL, the Swiss école Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, deemed the project feasible. Seven years later in 2010, the HB-SIA prototype completed its one-hour maiden flight on 7 April and its first night flight on 8 July: after flying 26 hours, André Borschberg landed the plane with enough power left in the batteries for another 24-hour flight. More recently, on 6 June 2012, the HB-SIA made its first intercontinental flight from Madrid to Rabat.

Solar Impulse Partners (project backed by the European Commission since 2008)

Main partners: Solvay, Omega, Deutsche Bank and Schindler  Official partners: Altran, Bayer Material Sciences  Official scientific advisor: École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)  Aeronautics consultant: Dassault Aviation

Altran’s teams designed a simulator for recalculating the possible routes at regular intervals, according to complex criteria such as weather conditions, air traffic control, as well as energy and pilot management.

And tomorrow…

*

From Solar Impulse to sustainable aviation

 35

Tomorrow’s innovations will Innovation is complex both in its goals, with stakeholders’ demands, which can sometimes be conflicting, and in its means of implementation involving a mix of technologies and collaboration between private enterprise and government. Selecting innovative solutions has become a particularly delicate process, requiring a demonstration of both feasibility and value.

Feasibility demonstrator

Only when tested against future real-world conditions can innovation get to grips with complexity. Only then can it take into account the various practical, technical and commercial constraints of stakeholders in order to pull down technological and organisational barriers and validate the prospective solutions. Demonstrator programmes seem more than ever to be a key stage between research and industrialisation, as illustrated by the PICADo project.

Value demonstrators

However, not all technically possible innovations are desirable. To ensure that innovation does not mean irresponsible consumption, a selection of genuinely sustainable innovative solutions must be available. Sustainability is often seen simply in terms of energy consumption and CO2 emissions, but Altran Research takes the broader three-pronged approach covering environmental, economic and social responsibility. How can we assess whether a new generation of a product is more sustainable than its predecessor? Developing methods and models to assess sustainability value is a research activity in its own right.

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This “pre-normative” research differs from technological research and must be organised in such a way as to complement it. Altran Research conducts pre-normative research through its Sustainability Engineering and Assessment programme, via a four-step approach. Firstly, by defining the system to be assessed; secondly, by establishing the relevant assessment criteria; thirdly, by designing evaluation models for each criterion; and finally, by optimising the multi-criteria assessment system. Pre-normative research projects have been launched in a number of fields including photovoltaics (PhotoV project) and recycling (RPM project). Research will justify its importance provided it can select the best possible innovative solutions. According to Altran Research Director, Dr Valérie Archambault: “Given the complexity of the questions raised and the variety of possible solutions, we consider demonstrator programmes and prenormative research to be mandatory steps. This efficient and responsible approach to research will provide a decisive competitive tool for the optimum use of public or private investment.”

have to be responsible

PICADo, demonstrator programme for smart home care

With the ageing population, demand for medical care and health-system funding are challenges that smart homecare could help address. However, developing such a system is more complex than it seems. How can medical and non-medical systems be interconnected? What role can family and friends play? How is follow-up to be provided? How can treatment compliance be ensured?

The PICADo project aims to design, develop, test and assess the first operational smart home-care system to cover a range of diseases (cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and diabetes) and maintain patient autonomy at home. Backed by the French Academy of Technologies, the project involves a number of health research players in both the public sector – INSERM (French National Institute of Health and Medical Research), the Universities of Reims and Champagne-Ardenne, and the Troyes University of Technology – and the private sector (Altran, Axon, Bluelinea, FSI, Voluntis). Altran is responsible for the overall coordination and systems engineering via Altran Research.

RPM: are all recycling channels sustainable?

Is green chemistry always green? Is recycling always better for the environment than landfill or incineration? What are the best recycling solutions? There are no obvious answers to these questions and Altran Research is developing objective methodologies to answer them case by case.

The RPM project (Recycled Petroleum-based Materials) is being conducted in partnership with the INP-CNRS chemical engineering laboratory in Toulouse. The aim is to define the optimum recycling chain for PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) bottles and identify the impact of recycling them in closed loops, according to three criteria: acidification, resource depletion and CO2 emissions.

The method involved gathering the physical data for each process - incineration, thermochemical energy recovery, chemical recycling and mechanical recycling. Once the data is put into comparable form, a mathematical model was used to objectify the best possible compromise.

This was the first time this problem-solving method had been applied to a sustainability issue. Altran Research is now using it to study recycling of the CFRP composite (carbon fibre and epoxy resin) used in aeronautics.

37

TRUE This invention was developed by Spanish fashion designer Manuel Torres. It consists in mixing textile fibres with a polymer and a solvent, and spraying the mixture onto a surface. As the mixture dries the solvent evaporates, leaving a genuine reusable fabric.

FALSE We will still need batteries but they will be no thicker than a sheet of paper. The product already exists but is not in widespread use. It is a very thin sheet made up of seven layers, including two layers of electrodes that set up a chemical reaction similar to that in a conventional battery.

True ■ False ■

True ■ False ■

Fabric will be made using an aerosol spray

Gadgets won’t need batteries TRUE Prism 200 is a radar technology developed by Cambridge Consultants (UK), an Altran R&D subsidiary based in Cambridge (UK) and Boston (USA). Designed for police and anti-terrorist units, the system detects the presence and location of people inside buildings or under rubble.

True ■ False ■

Radars will see through walls TRUE Researchers at Cambridge University (UK) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) have produced a prototype plane in the shape of a single wing, with the engine at the back to reduce noise in the cabin.

True ■ False ■

Planes will be quieter for passengers

? false In the Near Future…

True or

TRUE Hypochondriacs will love it. Their clothes will soon be monitoring their health by means of electronic sensors hidden in the fibres, measuring heart rate, respiratory capacity and temperature. VivoMetrics in California (USA) has already sold the US Army the LifeShirt, which monitors 30 vital functions.

TRUE Nokia and Cambridge University (UK) have dreamed up a telephone that can change shape depending on its use. With a flexible screen, a liquid battery and a flexible, sensitive casing, it can take the shape of a CD, a keyboard or a watch as required. This is possible with miniscule components produced using nanotechnology.

True ■ False ■

We will have shape-shifting telephones

True ■ False ■

Clothing will carry out health checks TRUE Professor Tomoshiro Ochiai at Toyama Prefectural University (Japan) has presented a cylinder made of a “metamaterial” with a negative refractive index. Light waves go round the cylinder without being reflected from it, potentially making a person or object invisible. Metamaterials of this kind are of extreme interest to the military. The Pentagon’s research agency DARPA is already backing a UK research team to develop an “invisibility cloak” for soldiers and has given the team three years to accomplish the mission.

TRUE Samphire or glasswort is an oil-rich aquatic plant destined to become one of the new biofuels. The world’s first samphire farm has started up in the United Arab Emirates.

True ■ False ■

Cars will be powered by samphire

True ■ False ■

We will be able to make ourselves invisible FALSE Anyone will be able to create their own network-free space. French researchers at the Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble (Grenoble INP) and the Centre Technique du Papier have designed a wallpaper that acts as a selective filter to block the wavelengths used by Wi-Fi (2.4 and 5.5GHz) and GSM (0.9, 1.8 and 2.1GHz). They have called it “Métapapier”.

TRUE The US company Zymequest and researchers at the University of Aix-Marseille (France) have identified two families of enzymes that can modify molecules on the surface of red blood cells, making it possible to make blood cells suitable for all blood types.

True ■ False ■

In hospitals, donors’ blood will be suitable for all blood types

True ■ False ■

In a multi-connected world there will be networks absolutely everywhere TRUE Today’s jabs will be replaced by yoghourt! Researchers at the Feinberg School of Medicine (USA) have made a modified yoghourt that expresses the antigens found on the surface of a virus and prompts the body to produce antibodies against the virus.

True ■ False ■

Children will enjoy being vaccinated

Healthcare:

the New Challenges

New technologies in the healthcare industry The implantable artificial heart will save lives The Altran Foundation: innovative support for innovation

40


Healthcare needs in developed countries have changed dramatically over the past few decades. Chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart conditions, as well as cancer and respiratory conditions represent a large proportion of cases today, yet the healthcare system is still designed primarily to treat acute ailments. The first challenge therefore concerns public health, in terms of prevention and follow-up. For several reasons, including the fall in medical demography, which is transforming some zones into “medical deserts”, this change requires the development of telemedicine which Altran is helping to roll out, notably with regard to patient support and medicine in the home. Telemedicine is also a response to the second challenge, i.e. balancing the public finances. Indeed, patients with long-term diseases are proving to be a heavy cost item in developing countries. According to a CNAM report published in 2010, there are around nine million such patients in France, representing two thirds of national health insurance costs. Furthermore, the financial challenge is prompting governments to regulate medical practices and actively promote the adoption of generic medicine. As a result, pharmaceutical company margins fall as soon as their blockbusters patents expire and when the research segment encounters a crisis in terms of efficiency and profitability. The solution clearly requires efforts to improve R&D and especially enhance productivity of research methodology. The need to find a solution has also prompted laboratories to reallocate investment in favour of rare diseases. Indeed, the demand for major medical-service investment is greater where no treatment is available. It also entails developing complementary services in addition to the drug itself, such as diagnostic efficiency tests, a medical administration device, patient support and therapeutic patient education.

41

Healthcare:

the New Challenges

New technologies in the healthcare industry Information-systems development and integration are the basic elements of tele-medicine in all its forms, including chronic disease support, medical data transmission and rapid expert diagnosis. All these solutions improve prevention and treatment quality, and contribute towards meeting the challenges facing public health and its funding. Altran helps health institutions to acquire these new technologies which will radically transform the medical landscape of the future.

Remote support reduces risk of diabetes worsening

?

The concept of chronic disease management (diabetes, and cardiac, respiratory and coronary insufficiency, etc.) originated in the 1990s in the USA. Remote support, which provides telephone follow-up via a specialist call centre, aims to improve how patients manage their illness through a structured programme involving experts from a wide range of fields. It is also designed to encourage lifestyle changes and ensure prescription compliance. It promotes co-ordinated treatment and may, in some cases, act as an early warning system.

According to a French report published in 2006, this system of providing chronic disease support has a positive impact both at the medical and economic levels since the programme avoids costly hospital costs and fees. Also developed in the UK and Germany, it has been tested, within the context of the “Sofia” programme, by the French National Health Insurance Fund (CNAMTS) on diabetics in eleven departments in France. Following this trial, the CNAMTS selected Altran and its US partner Healthways (specialised in chronic-disease support programmes), to deploy the Sofia programme throughout France and extend it to other medical conditions. Altran’s role is to adapt and integrate Healthways’ solution into the CNAMTS system, and to help the French National Health Insurance Fund adopt a new approach by deploying new support centres and implementing good practices for disease management.

What is unique about Altran’s positioning in the healthcare sector?

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Created out of the partnership between Altran and the Cercle Santé Société (CSS) – a forum for healthcare specialists, sociologists and economists – the Treatment Innovation and Quality prize is backed by the Altran Foundation for Innovation. The goal of this award is to support practical innovations in the areas of prevention, treatment, patient follow-up and information. In 2010, the university hospitals of Rennes and Brest were awarded the prize for a tele-expertise tool giving radiologists a neuroradiological opinion in under 15 minutes. This tool, which is particularly suitable in the event of emergencies, is designed to pool expertise and provide remote access across any given area.

In 2011, the award, re-baptised the “Altran – CHAM (Convention on Health Analysis and Management) Prize”, was won by the R&D team of the Lyon Hospices Civils (France) teaching hospital, for an application enabling health carers to enter patient data in situ on an iPod Touch®. The winning team duly received technical support from Altran consultants to optimise this application.

And tomorrow…

Altran rewards healthcare quality innovation

Enabling patients to follow a course of injectable chemotherapy at home, at times best suited to their own biorhythms, involves setting up an intermediary telemedicine platform between patients and healthcare professionals to consolidate process and consult patient data. Altran is working on this home-based treatment approach as the main contractor of the Champagne-Ardenne (France) domo-medicine intermediation platform (PICADo). This co-operative project is mainly supported by the Single Interministerial Fund (FUI), Champagne-Ardenne (France) regional council and Paris Town Hall. Its primary objective is to enable a tailored chrono-chemotherapy approach, which, until now, has only been carried out at the statistical level. It also aims to ensure the economic viability of the platform by extending it to the elderly to enable them to continue living at home.

Towards the smart pillbox: the medication compliance monitor

In France, almost 13 million patients, including a high proportion of elderly people, consume around six medicines every day. What can be done not only to help them manage this and, more importantly, to inform healthcare professionals, such as doctors and pharmacists, whether the treatment is being followed correctly? Altran, in partnership with the start-up Inlab, has been working on this totally innovative device since 2010, alongside Sanofi and the CEA’s electronics and information technology laboratory (LETI). Disdeo is an intelligent medication-monitoring and compliance-assistance device that will be fitted with a closure capable of “seeing” when it is opened, and an integrated circuit weaving process developed by LETI. A transmitter in the base will send the information to healthcare professionals or to the patient’s relatives via a telephone or modem.

Altran acts as prime contractor for complex projects, providing support from R&D through to patient-assistance, and from intensive care to home care.

*

Towards a tailored chrono-chemotherapy approach

 43

Healthcare:

to be continued…

the New Challenges

44

The implantable artificial heart will save lives


>>>

>>>

The main causes of cardiac insufficiency are coronary heart disease and high blood pressure. More than 15 million Europeans and 6 million Americans suffer from this condition and, according to the American Heart Association, this figure is set to grow by 25% between now and 2030. At the same time, direct costs (drug treatments, hospital admissions and surgery) will triple. As things stand, treatments are mainly palliative and are ineffective in cases of advanced cardiac insufficiency, where a transplant is the only option. However, fewer than 4,000 hearts become available worldwide each year and more than 100,000 patients are on the transplant waiting list. French Professor of Cardiology Alain Carpentier’s implantable artificial heart is one answer to this medical and financial challenge. It could be beating away in the chests of thousands of heart patients tomorrow just like a normal healthy heart, costing roughly the same as a traditional transplant.

This artificial heart is equipped with algorithms and sensors that enable the heart to respond to the body’s needs depending on its level of activity. It is haemocompatible, which means that the heart’s materials, shape and functioning do not cause clots. It has a similar weight, size and capacity as a biological heart, and is sufficiently autonomous to allow its user to live a normal life. The fuel cells currently being developed will soon be able to ensure more than 12 hours of autonomy for a power supply system weighing less than 3kg.

In addition to the prosthetic heart, the system also requires external components. At the hospital, a console supplies power for the heart and enables doctors to monitor physiological parameters and check that the prosthesis is functioning accurately. At home, a data box will display information to the patient and relay remote diagnostic data to the hospital.

It took Professor Carpentier’s team, together with engineers from the MATRA aeronautics and space group, 15 years of research to pull off this technological feat and initiate the prototype production phase. Since 2009, Altran has been providing technical support in several fields, including:  systems engineering, scheduling the design and follow-up of the specification documentation for Oseo, a French organisation which is involved in financing innovation, and for the French national drug and health devices safety agency (ANSM);  the choice and approval of biocompatible materials such as glues;  test benches (functional endurance benches and the haemodynamic bench), which are particularly important for this active device.

Since 2010, Altran has also been responsible for developing the software for the power supply, communication and doctor interface console, in compliance with the strict European Directives concerning active implantable medical devices. Patients will soon be able to benefit from this innovation. Clinical trials will be carried out in two phases: the first to verify the safety of the prosthesis in four to six patients and the second to test aspects relating to the quality of the artificial heart in around twenty patients with cardiac insufficiency. Once the clinical data have been collected, the application for marketing authorisation will be submitted to the official assessment bodies.

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The Altran Foundation: inno

How many international competitions has the Altran Foundation for Innovation organised?

?

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“

Altran set up the Foundation for Innovation in 1996 with the intention to reverse the negative image of technology by raising greater public interest to science and technology. The Foundation’s stated aim is to encourage technological innovations that benefit the public interest. This is achieved by fostering creative ideas, supporting their development and rapidly transforming them into industrial reality. The Altran Foundation thus organises competitions for innovative projects and the initiator of the winning project, selected by an international panel, then receives support from Altran for one year.

By reaffirming its commitment in 2012 in a completely innovative international competition, Altran considers that local existing technologies will pave the way for the future. Instead of inventing a solution to issue a product for common good, we are now asking to the innovators starting from their own know-how and skills, how do they intend to use their expertise to serve as many people as possible.” Frédéric Fougerat, Executive vice-President of the Altran Foundation for Innovation

In 2006

Altran brings its expertise to winning projects

What makes this prize so unique is Altran’s skill-based sponsoring approach. Once the project has been audited in detail, an action plan is drawn up and targets defined.

Altran’s role is to help achieve these goals. Support from Altran staff will depend on what is actually needed: project management, technological development, production, patent expertise, cost optimisation, partner sourcing, design, marketing or communication.

Technology innovation serving the public interest

Over the years, this competition has successfully supported projects in the fields of health, the environment and social inclusion. Examples include an artificial retina for blind people, an allergy diagnosis patch for new-born babies and young children, coal production from biomass, soil decontamination through microorganisms, a communication device for people suffering from locked-in syndrome, and a desalination system to improve access to drinking water in developing countries.

2012: the Foundation innovates yet again

Altran is making changes in 2012 to increase the number of projects receiving support. The first phase takes place at national level. Each participating country chooses an innovation theme and nominates a winner who receives support from Altran’s experts for six months. In phase two, the national winners compete to win the top international prize and receive additional support.

The Fondation de France awarded the Altran Foundation its ADMICAL prize in 2006, for the originality and longevity of its project selection method. Founded in 1979 to promote corporate philanthropy, ADMICAL has over 180 members today.


vative support to innovation

“



Altran’s support was extremely valuable in helping us turn this project into reality.”

“

Controlling a computer with the mind using the brain-machine Interface

The brain-computer interface is capable of recording the brainwaves on the surface of the skull and decoding them to move a cursor on a computer screen, dictate text and even control a robotic arm. Invented by Professor Jonathan Wolpaw, this amazing machine was at the prototype stage when it won the Foundation prize in 2005. Altran helped to develop the equipment, measure the brain’s electromagnetic waves and carry out the market research. Within a year, the prototype had become a viable device, as illustrated by a patient who managed to send an e-mail alone.

We would never have achieved such ambitious objectives in such a short space of time without Altran’s massive support.”



Dr. Pierre-Henri Benhamou, France (2003 prizewinner)

Diallertest: a quick, simple and reliable allergy test

The aim of the project, selected in 2003, was to enable the quick, simple and reliable diagnosis of allergies in young children to cow’s milk. This technology has made it possible to store cow’s milk allergens on a glue and solvent-free patch and to read the result on the patient’s skin within 48 hours of application. DVB Technologies, the project initiator, received support from Altran throughout the life cycle of the project, notably in production start-up, industrial pilot testing, quality and performance optimisation, industrial-partner sourcing, the analysis of patent-related issues, as well as applicator and visual-identity design. In the space of a year, the Diallertest project was transformed into a product available in pharmacies and thus received the ANVAR special mention at the 2005 Observeur du Design.

“

Miniature electrodes to restore sight to blind people

The objective of Professor José Sahel’s retinal implant, which won the Altran Foundation Award in 2007, is to replace defective photoreceptors in the eye. The implant picks up light signals, stimulates the neural network and restores the ability to send signals to the brain. The artificial retina represents a significant breakthrough in the field of prosthetics. Altran’s consultants supported the project through to the production stage. They modelled the system, determined the optimal shape of the implant and tested the first configurations. They were also involved in the experiments on retinal samples.



From the prototype through to production, Altran’s support enabled the development of a high performance retinal prosthesis and increased our global competitive edge.” Professor José Sahel, France (2007 prizewinner)

Since its inception in 1996, the Foundation has organised 12 annual competitions.

Professor Jonathan Wolpaw, USA (2005 prizewinner)

 47

From Telephone the ICT Revolution

Servicing all players in the telecoms chain The airport of the future: child of the imagination and technology Users and designers at the core of the innovation process

48


to Telecoms: Until the late 1980s, technology and infrastructures were at the core of a unique challenge: to make the telephone accessible to everyone. Infrastructure then caught up with demand and new technologies began to revolutionise telephone usage. The Minitel, a French innovation introduced in 1982, paved the way for the Internet. In n the mid-90s, the World Wide Web propelled us suddenly from the age of the telephone into the age of telecommunications. Mobile telephony arrived in France in 1991 with the Bi-Bop phone, and spread throughout Europe via the GSM standard in the mid-90s. Mobile telephony and Internet were combined into the smartphone which was first marketed by the Taiwanese company HTC in Europe in 2002. With six billion mobile telephone subscribers at end-2011, the new challenge for the operators shaping the value chain was no longer to connect just people, but also objects and offer innovative services. Mobiles will be able to capture and process data associated with these objects, creating a seamless link between the physical and virtual worlds. One example of this is the “green watch”, a sensor that measures ambient air and sound pollution and transmits the data by mobile phone to the Citypulse platform developed by Altran, which stores, processes and publishes the data. Developments like this open up the prospect of a gigantic network in which the real challenge will be to process the huge volumes of data vital for managing energy, transport, etc. For operators, the challenge will be mostly financial. With revenue from voice phone declining, they will need a new business model to finance the construction and operation of the infrastructures underpinning these new uses. Part of the solution will come from innovative services such as connected Tv, managing cloud computing, and delivering added-value services related to the Internet of objects.

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From telephone to telecoms:

the ICT revolution

Servicing all players in the telecoms chain

By addressing technological and economic issues alike, Altran is a core player in the telecoms revolution providing support to all parties involved, from operators, content editors and aggregators to hardware and parts manufacturers. Altran offers solutions to strategic problems related to defining new services, managing the increasingly complex and interoperable mix of technologies, and running an efficient organisation.

New generation decoder for a pay-TV broadcaster

This decoder not only provides access to programmes but also video-on-demand, catch-up TV, 80-hour recording storage capacity, access to previews of TV series, and remote control from an iPad or iPhone. Altran played a strategic part in creating the system, validating not only the decoder as such but also the connected video-on-demand applications.

Test platform for new broadband services, with System@tic Paris Région

Since 2009, Altran has been running the Neptune open participative innovation project, approved by the System@tic Paris Région competitiveness cluster. Neptune is an experimental fourthgeneration (LTE) network for testing technologies, services and ground-breaking uses for very-high-speed broadband wireless networks. It is deployed at the Plateau de Saclay science and technology centre in the Paris region, in partnership with the telecoms majors, the site’s education facilities, and some innovative small to medium-sized firms. Altran’s mission is notably to manage the overall project and promote the Neptune platform to make it a sustainable, independent and economically viable entity.

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*

A European first in connected TV, for TNT

And tomorrow…

Altran is a partner of the “Association professionnelle pour le développement de la télévision interactive”, a French business association for the development of interactive TV. In this capacity, in March 2012, Altran presented an experimental interactive services portal, Mes Services TV, on TNT. For this, Altran fulfilled two key missions: the construction, management and maintenance of the technical platform hosting the portal, and providing support to content editors to help them become familiar with the technology, develop applications, and set up new services.

Network investment management tool for an international operator

Altran was commissioned to model the topographies of a telecoms network, and simulate overload situations and their impact on service quality. For this, Altran mobilised all its skills in complex network architecture and in modelling networks with thousands of nodes and using several hundred different types of hardware. Leveraging its expertise in statistics, Altran defined a set of service-quality indicators which were then translated into scorecards to help general management anticipate the risk of non-quality and optimise their investments in relation to their degree of efficiency.

Mobile-phone payment platform for emerging markets

In emerging countries, where mobile phones are sometimes more widespread than bank cards, operators are developing platforms to enable payment via mobile phone. Altran has been commissioned by one of these operators to provide support (from design to deployment) throughout the entire lifecycle of its platform development project. Altran collaborated on the architecture of the service platforms and is incorporating enablers into the platform and the operator’s operating system. Altran is also providing all the client’s subsidiaries with level 2 and 3 support as well as technical expertise on the product.

The Internet of objects: a connected car demonstrator

According to a Gartner Group survey, “one third of drivers aged 18 to 34 in the United States and one quarter in Germany would rather go without their car than their Internet access”. However, developing on-board telematics technology in vehicles is a complex matter. It raises road safety and data protection issues and must be integrated into the vehicle’s electronic processes. This involves both carmakers and telecoms operators. vehicles must be equipped with embedded systems and computer architecture to manage the services. To address these challenges, Altran is partnering Intel on a project to develop a prototype with an ecosystem capable of offering drivers connected infotainment services (e.g. digital radio via the Internet) and geolocation, as well as supplying applications such as eco-driving assistance via the vehicle’s interface.

51

?

From telephone to telecoms:

The Airport of the Future foresees a drastic reduction in airport-arrival to plane-boarding time. How long is this expected to take?

the ICT revolution

52

to be continued…

The airport of the future: child of the imagination and technology The European Commission’s Flightpath 2050 – Europe’s Vision for Aviation roadmap sets the ambitious goal of enabling 90% of travellers in Europe to reach their destination, door to door, in less than four hours. This means optimising passenger access to planes, and connecting airports with other modes of transport to provide passengers with the seamless journey.

>>>

Absorb the increase in traffic and improve passenger comfort

“

While the goal is ambitious in itself, it comes at a time when air traffic is increasing exponentially, with an expected rise from the current level of 6.5 million passengers a day worldwide to 44 million by 2050. How can user-friendliness, comfort, security and fluidity be improved in airports that will be dealing with hundreds of thousands of people passing through each day?

>>>

Innovative Methodology

In their search for an answer, Altran and EADS Innovation Works (IW) organised workshops with people from a wide range of backgrounds, including airport representatives (Paris Airport and Paris Airport /Innovation - ADP/I), air traffic managers, mobility experts, travel agencies, as well as travellers and future engineers from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in France and the Hasso Plattner Institute (University of Potsdam, Germany). To establish a vision of the ideal airport, the workgroup applied the Design Thinking methodology to the problems starting from the users’ actual experiences and incorporating constraints and challenges.


With regard to technologies, the scope of possibilities is immense; the important thing is how and why these technologies will be integrated. Our client-centred innovation approach is designed to stimulate creativity and turn dreams into reality.”

Corinne Jouanny, Managing Director Altran Pr[i]me

>>>

Telecoms, a central part of the Friendlean Airport of the Future

The outcome of their work was the “Friendlean” Airport of the Future: a lean, user-friendly, ergonomic airport. At present it is embodied in three concepts: Eye to the Sky, Passenger Airport Shuttles, and the Extended Airport. The common factor in all of these is the central role played by telecoms networks for passenger comfort, fluid circulation and transport security.

>>>

The “Eye to the Sky” concept: a revolution in airport architecture

>>>

Automated circulation with passenger airport shuttles (PAS)

Taking a more horizontal view of the airport, Passenger Airport Shuttles (PAS) offers passengers an automated transport system that takes them from the airport hub to the boarding “bubbles” in under seven minutes. The shuttle is equipped with an identification system that recognises passengers and their flight data as soon as they enter the vehicle and drops them at their “skygate” where they check in before boarding.

>>>

The Extended Airport concept: making air transport a door-to-door service The Extended Airport concept integrates air transport with other transport modes. An online application integrates all logistics resources into a single process offering passengers a set of door-to-door services from the home or workplace to the aircraft door.

>>>

Enhancing the imagination through technology

To implement these concepts, Altran and its partners are developing the technological solutions to translate ideas to reality, notably regarding connectivity, with JCDecaux; security, incorporating filters that are “transparent” to the passenger, with Safran Morpho Systèmes; luggage logistics, with EADS IW; architecture, with ADP/I; and integrated transport solutions, including radio-frequency passenger and luggage identification (RFID) and monitoring.

The Airport of the Future should cut airport-arrival to plane-boarding time to 10 minutes.

This concept organises airport space into vertical layers. Arriving at the ground level, passengers use spiral ramps that take them up to check-in and shopping areas, and then to the boarding area on the top floor. The airport will guide passengers using extended connectivity and ensure security via biometric checks.

 53

Users and designers at the core

Since the turn of the century, innovation management has undergone a profound change. While the old paradigm was analytical, linear and above all technological, with innovation being measured by the number of patents filed, today’s is a user-centred approach with the focus on developing new uses that meet consumer demand. Apple’s approach with the launch of the Macintosh 128 in 1984 is an early example, and marked the first success for a computer using technology that Xerox had invented years earlier - the mouse and the graphical user interface (GUI).

This new approach was formulated by Peter Rowe who christened it “design thinking” in 1987, then by Tim Brown, CEO of the design agency Ideo (USA) in his book, Change by Design which describes the collaborative process that uses design methods to provide technically feasible and economically viable solutions. Design thinking is a global, systemic method that takes into account the product’s ecosystem, and which puts the user at the centre. The idea is to bring designers, engineers and users together, calling on the social sciences for inspiration. This process can turn concepts rapidly into physical reality so as to test them in a series of iterative loops.

Design thinking: the Altran approach

Working with an interdisciplinary, cross-sector agenda is second nature to Altran. The Group was among the first to incorporate design into its innovation cycle. As early as 2001, a team of engineer-designers were working together in the automotive, telecoms and healthcare industries. This team helped bring the Diallertest allergy diagnosis test to market in 2003. The creation of Altran Pr[i]me in 2004 embodied the Group’s drive to become an idea generator by creating innovations jointly with its customers. Altran Pr[i]me still acts as a powerful force in the development of new methodologies using open innovation, as illustrated by the creation of Open Trade for Orange Business Services. This combined data and telephony instrument is used by traders on the market, and received the French “Janus de l'Industrie” Award in 2010.

Open Innovation: “Club Innovation Banque Finance Assurance”

Club Innovation Banque Finance Assurance brings together innovation managers from the leading French banks and insurance companies with academics and innovation experts. It was set up in 2010 with active help from Altran as an observatory unit to track trends and uses, and as a laboratory for co-opetitive projects. In January 2011, it launched the FIDJI project (Finance Design & Joie d’Innover), which aims to apply design thinking to the creation of innovative financial products and services.

54


of the innovation process

Contracted in 2004 to develop a scratch-resistant packaging solution for shipping glass, Altran Pr[i]me applied the “design thinking” approach to address the issue notably taking inspiration from solutions developed for other sectors. Altran Pr[i]me subsequently accompanied the selected concept throughout the entire industrialisation process. In 2007, Essilor hired Altran Pr[i]me to reflect upon the future of packaging, incorporating the needs of in-house users. “We had never conducted such a wide-reaching study in the field of packaging,” declared Mr Schott, head of Essilor’s three-year technology plan. “This has provided a pool of concepts we can dip into whenever a major account asks us to meet a particular packaging need.” In 2012, Essilor consulted Altran Pr[i]me again on an operational issue. “The world is moving fast and Altran, with its skills in listening, technology watch and creativity, has helped us to keep pace,” concluded Mr Schott.

* And tomorrow…

With Essilor, Altran Pr[i]me imagines the future of glass packing

iModal, a systemic approach to optimising transport Accredited by the Advancity sustainable-city competitiveness cluster in April 2010, the iModal project comprises an interoperable software platform that gathers and aggregates data on all types of transport. This data is fed into a management-assistance module designed for transport authorities, and another module that compiles multimodal itineraries for end users. As a systemic approach to optimising transport, iModal will be tested at the Plateau de Saclay technology cluster located in the Paris region (France).

Altran organises an international club around Consolidated Edison, Inc.

The massive power cut that paralysed the North American grid in August 2003 prompted Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the United States’ energy majors to consider installing a third-generation “smart” grid. Altran persuaded the company to take a collective innovative approach with the help of an International Utilities Working Group (IUWG) comprising electricity providers from Paris, Rome, London, New York and Tokyo. Today a development plan for a third-generation power grid for New York (USA) is in the pipeline. In addition, the IUWG now includes Shanghai (China), still meets every six months, and has extended the scope of its discussions from technology to strategy.

55

Dreams for the future

“

Emmanuel, Arts et Métiers ParisTech (France)

The internal combustion engine will be a distant memory: all cars will run on electricity, and airplanes will be using third-generation aviation biofuel.

Jonathan, Boston University (USA)

In 20 years’ time, in an overpopulated world, human relations will be virtual. We’ll be living in a world of bits and bytes, constantly connected to our mobile phones to access information instantly.

Pierre, Faculté Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (France)

With progress in regenerative medicine and changes in regulations, we will be able to cure functional diseases and reconstruct tissues with anyone’s stem cells.

Chih-Nii, Shandong University (China)

In 20 years’ time we’ll be connected non-stop, at home, at work and when travelling by car, train or plane.

Anne, Télécom ParisTech (France)

Tomorrow’s cities will be equipped with decentralised energy production and intelligent meters, making it possible to create energy-positive districts that produce more energy than they consume.

Michael, Cambridge University (United Kingdom)

Everyone in cities will travel by public transport and self-service bike and electric vehicle hire. Nobody will own a personal car.

Renaud, Centrale Lille (France)

Everyone will produce and store their own energy close to home. No more power stations or high voltage lines.

In 20 years’ time, there won’t be any cars in Berlin at all, and there’ll be magnetic-levitation trains throughout Germany.

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Leonie and Nele, Technische Universität München (Germany)

Marie, ESIGELEC and Clément, ISEP (France)

Tom, Stanford (USA)

Mathieu, ENSTA ParisTech (France) Quantum computing will revolutionise the power and memory capacity of computers built into mobile phones, making it possible for users to customise the way they consume.

Tomorrow, we will be safely producing nuclear fusion energy.

A highly competitive electric car and ample energy storage thanks to the invention of a high-performance battery. These are the real innovations for tomorrow.

Aurélien, EIGSI and Hugo, Centrale Marseille (France)

In 20 years’ time, the world will look roughly the same as it did in 1992-2012. The real change will be in our attitudes towards the planet and the invention of a fuel process based on biomass.

Paolo, Politecnico di Milano (Italy)

In 20 years’ time, space will be a tourist destination, and spending time in space will be accessible and affordable for everyone.

Charles, ESIGELEC and Alice, UTT (France)

In 20 years’ time, we’ll be living in a much more automated and robot-assisted world. That will be a help of course but the challenge will be controlling all the robots.

Adamo, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain) In the future, we’ll be able to visit a museum while dining in a restaurant. The tables will be on a travelator that moves through the museum throughout the course of the evening.

Arthur, ESIGELEC (France)

The cloud is the future. We’re heading for a world that will be more digital, virtual and immediate. Google’s augmented-reality goggles are a foretaste.

The words on this page are from interviews with students; the photos are from image banks.

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A joint interview of Philippe Salle and Alexis Kniazeff croisée

Past, Present Future

What was the situation when Altran was founded?

Philippe Salle Chairman and Chief Executive of the Altran Group

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Alexis Kniazeff Co-founder of Altran

Alexis Kniazeff: You can’t imagine how different the world was when Hubert Martigny and I founded Altran. It was the dawn of the digital revolution, micro-processors and the new technologies, with a host of major industrial programmes starting up, including the French high-speed (TGV) train, Concorde, Airbus, the aerospace industry, Minitel (the precursor of the Internet) and more. Industry needed input from engineers to help it succeed in driving this technological revolution. And that was precisely the role that Altran played.

Alexis Kniazeff: Yes, we invented high-technology consulting. We were not supplying classic IT services. Our value-added lay in using computer science to solve technology problems, and that has not changed. The key point, however, is that the market then was demand-driven. Good engineers were scarce and we knew where to find them and how to attract them. Today, supply is driving the market. Philippe Salle: We are still short of engineers, especially in northern Europe. I think the real difference with the past lies in the way our customers require us to operate. Back in the eighties, they asked us to provide the skills. Now, they ask us to join in turnkey projects and share the responsibility with them. Alexis Kniazeff: For about 20 years, we refused to provide package deals. We used to send engineers to our customers and invoiced on a time-and-materials basis. In the field of new technologies, you never knew what the final product would be, or what additional input would be needed. Philippe Salle: The big change happened in the 2000s, when the trend towards outsourcing entire sub-assemblies spread from industry to engineering. Work packages and then turnkey projects shifted part of the risk to the engineering side. That said, this is in the interest of the projects and it’s not a bad thing for Altran, provided, of course, we can handle the risks inherent in project management.

Did you have a special form of organisation? Alexis Kniazeff: Yes, we were organised in a very unusual way, as profit centres around a business manager who was a real entrepreneur and not necessarily an engineer. This network type of organisation was our strength. The business growth and work motivation it generated more than offset the savings we could have made with a centralised organisation. For a long time, our exceptional profitability was due to this form of organisation. We were therefore able to make our mark internationally by weaving a multi-skill, multi-industry network. A kind of Web-style form of engineering.

Does this model still meet your customers’ requirements? Philippe Salle: We have to adapt our model to market trends. I’ve mentioned turnkey projects, but nowadays customers are even asking us to link our fees to their sales figures! The other factor is that our programmes are more international. We need greater centralisation to manage increasing risk and projects that are becoming more and more international in scope. To deal with this, we have set up a Programs and Innovation department and redesigned our monitoring and tracking procedures. We are also testing the separation of business management and recruitment. Central career management would be as valuable to our engineers as it would to the company.

Will you be able to maintain the entrepreneurial spirit that has been such a distinctive feature of Altran? Philippe Salle: There is no real conflict, although I personally prefer the term “intraprise” to “enterprise”. Our business managers don’t create the profit centres they run, but they do manage them with all the independence of a company boss. Of course, they play by the rules that apply to a major, legally integrated single-brand group that is listed on the stock exchange. Being an organisation doesn’t mean working in a straightjacket. We are still very attached to the principle of flexibility. Of course, business managers still benefit from profit-sharing and we are thinking of extending this incentive to other staff categories.

How has Altran developed up to now?

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Alexis Kniazeff: Twenty years ago, we were opportunistic in disseminating technologies. And business rocketed. We created completely new markets by forming subsidiaries and buying up companies, to which the local subsidiary served as a model and a driver. In fact, a lot of our growth can be put down to chance.

And tomorrow?

So you invented a new profession?

Philippe Salle: We can no longer spread ourselves quite as widely as we used to. We are currently completing the legal process of unifying Altran around a single company in each country and have pulled out of some less strategic business lines. There are nine countries where we aim to be really strong: six European countries, India, China and the USA. We have to reach critical size to trigger a virtuous cycle between brand recognition, projects and recruitment. This should be achieved by 2015 for the European countries and by 2019 for the other three. By drawing on its capacity to manage complex problems, its specialisation and its international presence, Altran will strengthen its position as an indispensable innovation partner for all future international projects.

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Altran Publishing Director: Philippe Salle Editorial Directors: Frédéric Fougerat, Anne-Laure Sanguinetti, Léa Kim Contributors: Valérie Archambault, Claude-Emmanuel Boisson, Corinne du Chaxel, Cosimo De Carlo, Renaud Delmas, Thomas Desrues, Pierre Dreux, Xavier Dupeyron, Jérôme Faggion, Jean-Christophe Godefroy, Claudie Hamerstehl, Vu Kim Phuong Hoang, Jean-Luc Hozé, Alan Jean-Marie, Corinne Jouanny, Christian Le Liepvre, Olivier Nold, Olivier Picard, Maud Plombas, Patrick Pordage, Sébastien Renouard, Eloy Rodriguez, Guy Schott, Thierry Voisin, Serge Widawski Our thanks to: Bob Bell, Pascal Brier, Kaling Chan, Stéphane Garson, Virginie Jullion, Clara Lorentz, Bertrand Piccard, Agathe Weil

Our special thanks to Alexis Kniazeff and Hubert Martigny, without whom none of this would have been possible. Graphic and editorial design and production: Peter Pen Writers: Philippe Blanchard, La Compagnie d’écriture

Photos: Thinkstock • Fotolia • Roger Viollet • Getty Images • Hubert Martigny • © Renault • © Quimera • © Solar Impulse / Jean Révillard / Stéphane Gros • © Altran Pr[i]me • © Carmat • © REA

Find the innovation makers at: facebook.com/altrangroup twitter.com/altran linkedin.com/company/altran-

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