Electricité de France’s R&D : The assets of a newly quoted company

At a time when energy issues, limited fossil fuel resources and climate change are at the heart of current debate, EDF’s Research and Development (R&D) department had to wait for the flotation of the company’s shares to comply with new European regulations and to support the internationalisation of the group. With its two thousand strong workforce, EDF R&D’s objectives include the operational issues of the group and its preparations for the future. It is attempting to make headway in global research and to develop its strengths in an overall cost-cutting environment. Yves Bamberger describes different actions taken over the last few years to meet these challenges. These include programme management aimed at satisfying the needs of the various units, the planning of initial studies centred on about fifteen important challenges, and increasing the number of partnerships in France and abroad in varied and sometimes original ways.