Embedded systems: a new industrial sector for France?

On November 26th, 2013, the Minister for Industrial Renewal launched thirty-four plans which formed the government’s New Industrial France programme aimed at helping the recovery and success of French industry in both the ecological and digital transition. Each plan is coordinated with help from an industrialist, and it should encourage the development of an ecosystem of suppliers and users of technologies and services. Éric Bantegnie‚ the founder and CEO of Esterel Technologies (a company which develops system development tools and critical embedded software and is today a subsidiary of ANSYS)‚ is in charge of the ‘Software and Embedded Systems’ plan. The embedded sector is currently growing very fast and France has a number of advantages in this field. The synergy between the industrialists’ initiative (resulting in the creation of the ‘Embedded France’ association) and the minister’s plan already appears to be producing good results, by identifying and making the challenges which need to be met a priority, and by setting up partnerships with German companies.