The digital revolution: the future is for idealists

Large companies are not leading the field in the digital transformation of the economy and society. As a result, there are serious challenges from American Internet giants who will ‘siphon off’ margins, and a risk that we will revert to misleading protectionism. The French government asked Philippe Lemoine for his advice, and his report which required the work of more than five hundred collaborators will be presented soon. Digital transformation is often seen as a threat in France‚ but it is actually a source of numerous opportunities. In the United States‚ huge companies have emerged in just a few years, and the economic fabric has been turned upside down. Sixty-three of the one hundred largest companies in the US are less than thirty years old, compared to just one in France. The report suggests measures to help companies be part of the transformation, but it would seem that what is needed are entrepreneurs attracted by ideals as was the case in the 1950s and 1960s with Trigano (the communist behind Club Med)‚ Édouard Leclerc (the seminarian behind the Leclerc chain of supermarkets) and the Trotskyites founders of the Fnac. The time is ripe for them again. All we are waiting for is the idealists.