Other publications

21 Oct The automobile of the future

National Academy of Technologies of France (NATF)
2012
The report gives an overview of world-wide automobile production and its foreseeable development: the position of the electric vehicle, the market for hybrid vehicles and ‘green' fuels (including hydrogen). It suggests that mobility might evolve into a simple service (car ownership no longer being the first choice) where the electric vehicle for urban use finds its place, given that the majority of the world population will live in large urban areas. The car is then looked at from the perspective of a global mobility system with inevitable changes in patterns of movement, infrastructures, regulation and multi-modality. Considering the technological dimension of the car of the future, how will it impact future domestic technological and design capabilities and the industrialisation process and which are the key technologies to remain in control of French companies to maintain a competitive automotive industry. Recommendation: Preserve an automotive industry in France. It is a vector of technological innovation and provides millions of jobs. Working-group leader: Olivier Morel, President Competitiveness Cluster NOV@LOG, President of PREDIT’s Logistics and Transport of Merchandise Group (GO4), and NATF Fellow
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21 Oct Freight Systems

National Academy of Technologies of France (NATF)
2012
The report assumes fuel and pollution-related costs of transport will rise substantially.  However, such costs are only a minor part of the overall costs of a transport system that includes logistics for managing the “Production – Transport – Distribution” chain.  The report looks specifically into the transport of manufactured goods, representing 50% of total volume, but growing at a rate of 8% per year.  On a global scale, this marine-based system appears to be resilient and self-adapting to market conditions, while the local chains include rail, road and waterways.  Potential cost reductions are mainly linked to the power of IT in logistics, including in production (M2M), collection, shipping and distribution: the “second invisible arm”. The study takes account of both world and European trends, and draws comparisons for gaining a better understanding of the French issues.  It also looks at related French Research capabilities and how to improve cross-fertilisation between different disciplines, the linkage to the private sector and international collaborations for greater impact.  Last, not least, it points to the need of making this sector more attractive to talented young people and adapt the curriculum at the “Grandes Écoles” to the needs of the market. Group Leader: Jean-Claude Raoule, NATF Territorial Delegate West, Technical Advisor to the French Railway Industry Association, Director of the European Association of Railway Interoperability, and NATF Fellow.
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21 Oct Innovativeness, creativity and development

Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN)
2012
The book is a result of studies by the "Poland 2000 Plus" Forecast Committee PAS on innovativeness, creativity and development in the context of globalisation. Part I of the book dwells on questions of innovativeness and creativity. Subsequent articles (chapters) highlight the need for precisely discerning between ground-breaking and daily innovations and for focusing on individual and social creativity rather than on innovativeness in holistic sense. Part II of the book focuses on interdisciplinary evaluation of the development of the contemporary world in the context of globalisation.
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21 Oct Impact of ICT on world energy consumption

National Academy of Technologies of France (NATF)
2015
How does ICT impact on worldwide energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions? This is what NATF went to find out when auditioning French and foreign experts to evaluate the overall energy and environmental balance that is due to the ICT sector, considering the impacts generated by the operation of its various hardware and infrastructure, and the savings it spawns in other areas of activity. The final energy and carbon balance of ICT, the Academy report concludes, is clearly a positive one. In 2012, ICT accounted for 4.7% of worldwide electricity consumption, and a total carbon footprint of about 1.7 percent (including private, industry and telecom hardware and infrastructure and data centres). These numbers are on an upwards trend, but in smaller proportions than the growing use of ICT, thanks to its contribution to reduce these footprints in other areas of activities such as in the transport sector, buildings, manufacturing industries, or even dematerialised procedures. The report focuses on the (global) transport/mobility sector benefitting from digitisation in and around vehicles, with gradually reduced/optimised travel needs (example United States).  It also lists current lines of research aimed at better performance of computing, with lower energy consumption. Group Leader: Erol Gelenbe, Professor in the Dennis Gabor Chair Imperial College, London, and NATF Fellow and Yves Caseau, Director of the Digital Agency, AXA Group, and NATF Fellow
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21 Oct Big Data: a change of paradigm can hide another – Opportunities and threats related to the emergence of new ecosystems

National Academy of Technologies of France (NATF)
2015
Big Data implies a revolution in IT, reaching from technology to applications and practices, enabling the analysis of vast pools of "digital traces" to know customer intentions with unmatched precision. Data manipulation from smartphones and connected objects opens up new service opportunities and significant cost reductions of information systems.  While it is a major issue for sciences, politics and citizens, this report looks at the impact on businesses: mastering these methods permits a new immediacy in customer relationships and may leave enterprises less vulnerable to the GAFAs. Big data is: • a disruptive data-analysis methodology, in particular in marketing, replacing classic approaches by iterative loops in which detected patterns are immediately confronted with situations of implementation and judgement on operational effectiveness. • a new way of massive parallel data-centred programming and of designing algorithms, due to the: - treatment on a myriad of machines, - high-performance requirements and - need to develop algorithms through learning. • a major challenge and paradigm shift for Governments and companies, deserving strong support in terms of training and awareness. Technology and practice play key roles; new ways of working with an extremely wide scope need to be developed. Rapporteur : Yves Caseau, Director Digital Agency, Axa Group, and Fellow of NATF
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21 Oct Large Socio-Technical Systems

National Academy of Technologies of France (NATF)
2013
Large, networked Socio-Technical Systems (or LSTSs), often continental or even global in scale, such as railroad-, air traffic-, electric-, and telecommunications systems, and the internet, have modified life-styles and society. Citizens see them as combining sciences and technologies, offering essential value-for-money services. They have common characteristics: expected safe and no-break service quality; co-operation of a myriad of component parts, including agents. Success and vulnerability through complexification (national and European regulations, multiplication for each LSTS of autonomous agents) and inter-dependence (inroads by ICTs, liberalisation) go hand-in-hand. During the past 15 years, the drafting of new regulatory texts that promote sustainable development of the LSTSs, incorporating technical trends while reconciling local aspirations and nation-wide issues, has become increasingly difficult. NATF proposes: 1) An objective analysis of the experience from the last 20 years for each LSTS, covering operations, quality, costs, jobs, risk control, governance and regulation, crises situations/incidents and the degrees of interdependence with other LSTSs. 2) Exploring possible (global) trends for the next two decades including sustainable development. 3) Teach LSTSs to young people early on for a better appreciation, including of S&T and ongoing innovations. These proposals should contribute to better informed decision processes that benefit our children. Yves BAMBERGER (WP Chair and Draft author) – Scientific counsellor to EDF CEO – Fellow of the NATF
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