CIEDS & Walid Benzarti: A Shared Perspective on Innovation at Thales
Walid Benzarti, who holds a PhD in microelectronics and an Executive MBA, has worked for over 20 years in scientific research, innovation and international business development. He is currently Director of Innovation, Research and Technology at the Thales Group and is the author of several international patents and scientific articles on innovation ecosystems, international business development and market-driven innovation.
In this interview with François Plais, Director of Operations at CIEDS, he explains why there has been a paradigm shift in defence innovation over the past decade, with an increase in the number of start-ups and funding in the civil sector. Defence innovation no longer comes only from the defence sector, but also from the civil sector.
But what is innovation? Walid Benzarti points out that innovation is not only a new concept, but above all a concept that has a profitable market and is therefore profitable. Innovation is not just technological; it can also take place through a business model or services.
This raises the question of the strategy to be put in place to ensure that a technology finds its market. Walid Benzarti recommends setting up co-creation and co-innovation environments with both the customer and the end user. At Thales's Land Air System (LAS), in addition to involving the end user, agile development has been introduced. Environments conducive to creation, such as design centres, can also be made available.
Faced with the paradigm shift in defence innovation, defence companies could see the new emerging players as competitors. However, Walid Benzarti argues that this situation is, on the contrary, an opportunity to create synergy between defence companies like Thales and these new players.