Thales' innovative business incubator

Thales has a considerable R&D potential. Its R&D department employs 25,000 people out of a total workforce of 68,000 employees. However, the varied nature of its activities, arranged into six divisions and divided equally between civil and military operations, runs the risk of producing a 'silo effect' (whereby there is a lack of communication and objectives between related management systems in the same organisation) which is not very favourable to disruptive innovations. Thales' innovative projects' incubator, known as the Emerging Business Initiative (or EBI), was created four years ago. It has a very fast turn-around time of 48 hours during which projects are reviewed, approved and can get started. These projects have an innovative character ; are aimed at markets which show prospects of rapid growth ; have teams which are multitalented and have expertise in numerous areas of interest ; and are compatible with the group's activities. The EBI scheme involves a small number of people (20 teams chosen from 50), but nevertheless has helped to change the culture of the group and has highlighted the fact that innovation involves risk-taking and knowing how to manage potential failure.