The Army has always been a driver of innovation... both technologically and organizationally. However, in the early days 21st century, digitization has taken off so quickly that it has led to an exponential increase in the number of technological innovations. In this particularly changing digital environment, the Army must keep pace with the need to adapt its capabilities, methods and doctrine in order to maintain, or even improve, the quality of its services. to maintain, or even strengthen, its operational effectiveness.

In order to integrate these innovations, whether they originate internally, developed by our soldiers or externally, by civilian companies, the Army has adopted an organisation that is fully in line with the ministerial innovation system.

Integrating our soldiers' innovations

Numerous innovations have been developed by our non-commissioned members, non-commissioned officers and officers, who constitute an inexhaustible source of innovative ideas and initiatives. The fruit of field experience, they are often pragmatic and inexpensive. The Mission for Development and Participative Innovation (MIP), created in 1998 by the Ministry of Defence, aims to promote innovation within the armed forces.

MIP helps develop relevant ideas, particularly in the production of prototypes or demonstrators, and then in operational deployment. A concrete example is the development of AUXYLIUM, a smartphone or tablet application for managing secure combat actions (radio, GPS, mapping), developed in 2011 by Captain Jean Baptiste C. At the time, the MIP had allocated a budget of 88,000 euros to it.

However, the MIP cannot today manage all the innovative projects coming from all the armies. To stimulate energies and advise innovators, the French Army has opted to set up an "innovation" referent in each of its armed forces. training. This reference network will be coordinated and led by the "Battle Lab-Terre", which is scheduled to be created in 2019 within STAT in Satory.

Integrating external innovations

The Battle Lab-Terre does not only aim to develop internal ideas, its main objective is to create links between the different actors of innovation (Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Research, Ministry of Innovation, Ministry of Science and Technology).riels, industrialists, start-ups, research centres, Grandes Ecoles, universities, etc.) in order to generate ideas, support them and launch projects with the help of its partners.

As the number of players working on innovation is growing rapidly, it is necessary to combine the efforts of each to avoid dispersion. Within the armed forces, it is the National Innovation Agency, created in September 2018 and headed by Emmanuel Chivas, which will bring together the existing tools, whether they be the different army "Labs" (including the Battle Lab-Terre), the DGA Lab, the DGA's Régime d'Appui pour l'Innovation Duale (RAPID) credits, aid for theses (ASTRID project), funds for start-ups (Def'Invest project) and institutional subsidies.

The aim of this organisation for innovation is to promote the dynamics in progress, while providing, at the right time, assistance to all emerging projects. If innovation is a state of mind more than a process, the transformation of an idea into a new product or service is not the same as the transformation of an idea into a product or service. product employable on a large scale requires an adapted organization.