Whether we are assisted in driving our car, use our GPS, are amazed by the lightness and resistance of a material or the power of an adhesive, take a plane or a TGV, surf safely on a website, make a payment by credit card, communicate with our mobile phone, drive on the Millau viaduct, are fascinated by the images of space or dream of going to Mars one day . … we are constantly using B2B/B2G high-tech products and technologies, even if we are not directly the customers as consumers.
We buy a car from Renault or Peugeot, for example, but its ABS or lane-keeping system was not designed by the car manufacturer, even though it may have been involved. We travel in an Air France plane but it is not the airline or even Airbus that designed the engines, the braking system or the system that allows us to watch a film or make a phone call in flight. In a word, we are all daily users, often admiring, of professional high-tech, without always knowing it!
We can draw up a quick panorama of B2B/B2G high-tech through the sectors of activity, a few emblematic companies or a few achievements among those, a minority, known to the general public.
Some B2B/B2G high-tech sectors and companies
- Aeronautics/Space/Defence with Airbus, Dassault, Thales, Safran
- Civil or military maritime sector with Naval Group, xxx
- Rail transport with Alstom
- Automotive equipment with Valéo or Faurecia
- Energy management and industrial automation with Schneider Electric
- IT with Cisco, Oracle, Microsoft or Atos
- Advanced materials with Arkema or Solvay
- Nuclear with CEA and EDF
- Semiconductors with Intel or TSMC
- Construction with Vinci, Bouygues, Eiffage or Colas
- Telecom infrastructure with Ericsson or Nokia
But also robotics, nanotechnology, cybersecurity, medical electronics and e-medicine, etc. are typical B2B/B2G high-tech sectors.
Also belonging to this universe are thousands of SMEs or ETIs, whether or not they are subcontractors of the major groups, installers implementing the products and techniques, maintenance and service companies, as well as a large number of public or private research laboratories forming part of the “ecosystem” of a sector. Mention should also be made of certification or regulatory bodies, as well as the important role of public or semi-public bodies responsible for financing and supporting industrial sectors, sectors of activity, employment areas and research programmes.
Specificities of high-tech B2B/B2G
The companies
Their markets may be public or private but are often international and are generally complex ‘ecosystems’ involving clients, of course, but also clients of clients, certification bodies, regulatory bodies, consultancies and financiers. The international dimension can be carried directly by the company if it has the means to do so or through a large group for which it works. In a given sector of activity, there are often a few international or global groups that bring in their wake a cascade and a large number of suppliers or subcontractors. The aeronautics sector is typical in this respect, but this is also the case for shipbuilding and railways.
Products and offers
The products and offers of the high-tech B2B/B2G sector are always at the cutting edge of technologies that have reached a sufficient level of maturity in terms of TRL (Technical Readiness Level). The physical products range from materials and components to complex systems, equipment, systems and system systems. The offerings include not only physical products but also services and transaction or supplier remuneration arrangements to provide customers with the opportunity to purchase complete or turnkey solutions.
By way of a very simplified illustration, with a turbine or any other piece of equipment, for example, we would offer the equipment itself, the spare parts, the upgrading, the periodic maintenance, all the operating data from a large number of pieces of equipment and enabling predictive maintenance to be carried out. Or, in the field of military communications, we will have “hardened” electronic components, radios, a communication system between land vehicles, a land communication system between soldiers and vehicles, a complete land and air communication system in a theatre of operations.
In the context of significant export projects, the offer will include a technical component, an economic component, a legal component, a financing component and may include a project management component and an offsets and/or local content component.
B2B/B2G high-tech in a nutshell
Some examples of sectors of activity
Civil and military aeronautics and space, defence outside aeronautics and space, rail and urban transport, professional IT in general, cybersecurity in particular, telecommunication infrastructures, robotics, automotive equipment, nanotechnologies, hospital and medical equipment, public works for large-scale projects.
Some examples of European companies
Airbus, Dassault, Safran, Thales, Alstom, Naval Group, Valeo, Michelin pour sa partie professionnelle, Ericsson, Nokia.
Some examples of companies outside Europe
Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Space X, Blue Origin, , General Electric, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard.
Some “major contracts” or known achievements
The “perseverance” mission on March, sales of the Rafale aircraft abroad, securing the data of French ministries, the Arche de la Défense.
Some examples of public or semi-public organisations
ESA (European Space Agency), EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology), competitiveness clusters, DGAC (civil aviation regulatory body).
