Patrice Caine, CEO of the Thales Group, recently wrote an article for the Arabian Business website, explaining the benefits of the start-up-company relationship. The article is very inspiring and reminds us that the competitiveness of large companies depends on their capacity to innovate. And start-ups have a role to play in this innovation process: innovation and start-ups are even closely linked! Firstly, because their methods should inspire companies. But also because they are able to provide them directly with the innovation capacity they need.

A look back at this testimony:

"For large companies, innovation is synonymous with humility. Sure, you may have the capacity to invest heavily in R&D and hire the best engineers in your sector. At Thales, 25,000 people work in R&D, and we know how essential it is to be at the cutting edge of technology. But it's not enough, for a very simple statistical reason. There will always be more people with new ideas outside your company than inside. And the idea that start-ups are not able to penetrate sectors such as defence, security, transport or the aerospace industry is simply not true. Every day we see small companies with innovative ideas emerge. We have seen this recently with examples in the field of satellite imaging. »

Patrice Caine continues his reflection: large companies can be inspired by the working methods of start-ups

"Firstly, large companies need to learn from their adaptability and test and learn culture. Start-ups are less rigid, and able to make decisions at the snap of a finger. They are better able to capture opportunities that large companies miss because of their cumbersome and restrictive validation circuits.

Rather than completely transforming their way of working, companies can develop intrapreneurship projects. These will have some freedom from internal hierarchical processes. These internal start-ups can, for example, work on the company's digital transformation, through specific programmes or internal training projects. This is the spirit of the Thales Digital Factory.

Learning from the flexibility of start-ups also means learning from their beta culture. Rather than spending time developing the perfect product, the idea is to quickly release a raw version. This can be improved over time, thanks to customer feedback. A relevant example of this phenomenon is Google maps (although Google can hardly be called a start-up). The first version was a simple map, to which information such as traffic, shops, restaurants, reviews, etc. was gradually added. This evolution shows a global change in culture, with more and more testing, experimentation and collective intelligence. »

Innovation and start-ups: direct collaboration with large groups?

"The phase of identifying good start-ups is more complicated than it seems. 300,000 start-ups are created in the world every day. How do you find the 10, 100, 1000 start-ups that can really bring something to your industry? It is up to companies to find the nuggets wherever they are, and to launch innovative partnerships with them.

This is the objective of projects such as Starbust, a start-up accelerator dedicated to the aerospace and defence sectors. We are also running a programme around cybersecurity at Station F, where we are carefully coaching 11 start-ups.

The success of such partnerships shows how useful they are for both parties. The benefit is obvious for large companies, who stay up-to-date with the latest market developments. It is just as important for start-ups. They can test their technologies, be guided by professionals and gain credibility in their market. In fact, we make sure that any start-up in Station F that works on cybersecurity has a team of experts to help it develop its technology. »

Innovation and start-ups: conclusion

In short, the Thales case shows how the relationship between start-ups and companies is a source of innovation. By exchanging agility for expertise, start-ups and large companies move forward together. The transformation of large groups requires a rapprochement with an ecosystem of start-ups. Together, innovation and start-ups are the future of large companies.