Naval Group is the new industrial investor of IRT b-com.

Naval Group has just joined b<>com (or IRT b-com), a European innovation centre based in France. This partnership brings together the European leader in naval defence and the researchers and engineers of the innovation centre with a wide range of expertise. It will help to accelerate technological advances in the field of new digital and communication technologies. The two partners will work together on breakthrough solutions and innovations to reinvent digital solutions for naval defence solutions.

Naval Group is the new industrial investor of IRT b-com (Picture Source: Naval Group)

The global naval defence market, estimated to have received €40 billion in available revenue in 2018, is growing steadily by about 4% each year. Nonetheless, there is fierce competition between European, Chinese, Russian, and South Korean companies. This creates a difficult environment for Naval Group, which is expanding its investments to maintain a technological edge for the benefit of France’s own navy and others.

This commitment to b<>com by Naval Group will help to pool ambitions in digital technologies and bring together skills from the worlds of academia and industry. It will help accelerate the pace of innovation and think outside the box to anticipate technological breakthroughs. It will make it possible to maintain a digital advantage in areas that have become essential, like advanced communication networks, software radio, image and sound processing, artificial intelligence, cyberdefense, cognitive technologies, and human factors. The two entities will jointly launch the development of cutting-edge innovation projects that draw upon a wide range of technologies (virtualization, high-speed communication, mobility and IoT exchanges). Implemented within cyber secure digital infrastructure, these technologies are essential to designing the IT systems of ships.

Bertrand Guilbaud, CEO of b<>com, says: “As a neutral player, pioneer, and provider of dual-use technologies, b<>com is delighted to provide Naval Group with its expertise, from advanced communications to image processing to human factors. France, thanks to Naval Group, is at the cutting edge of the strategic market of defence and cyberdefense. We are committed to helping maintain our national sovereignty.”

According to Éric Papin, Director of Innovation and Technological Expertise at Naval Group: “In order to strengthen our position on the international scene, and in order for the French Navy to preserve its technological superiority in combat, we need to anticipate and innovate in order to meet the needs of our clients. By joining b<>com, we know we can count on an ecosystem driven by civilian innovations and dual-use digital technologies. They will enable us to be disruptive in order to develop real digital advances sooner to be integrated onto new or in-service vessels.”