Jean-Pierre Corniou has been a major patron of the GEM Foundation since 2017. He personally supports the research projects of the Digital Organizations & Society (DOS) chair and has been involved in creating pilot programs dedicated to the digital sector at GEM, where he teaches. He shares with us the reasons for his investment in Grenoble Ecole de Management, which uniquely blends the teaching of digital technologies and management.
What is the genesis of your commitment to GEM?
It dates back to the early 21st century! At the time, I was President of CIGREF, a network of major French companies and public administrations involved in digital technologies. I was on the front lines observing the difficulties companies faced in finding qualified employees in information systems. France has excellent coders but still lacks analysts and IT project managers who can generate a forward-looking vision for organizations and invest in genuine IT strategies.
You initiated the creation of digital programs in partnership with GEM through CIGREF. Why did you choose GEM?
GEM is not like other business schools. GEM recognized early on the importance of integrating sciences and technologies into management. France has a significant political and structural deficit in science education for recent historical reasons. This deficit has created a gap between management and information sciences. Yet, digital technologies, when integrated into management education, revolutionize data processing and enable highly refined business strategies! This is the case with the teaching and research conducted at GEM.
Crédit photo Yasmine MOUKHLISS
In your opinion, how do computer sciences shape the new contours of humanity?
New technologies do not reduce but multiply jobs! Stimulating the human brain expands cognitive fields, just as the printing press laid the foundations for the Age of Enlightenment and the agricultural, technical, and industrial revolutions.
Today, we have the technological means to master the complex dissemination of information. This intellectual shift is fundamental! Unfortunately, France has not yet fully grasped the difference between the "age of computerization" and the "digital era": it is no longer about automating processes but innovating through data mastery. In short, the current challenge is to invest massively in a solid, fine, and unique understanding of the potential of technologies to change products and processes and address contemporary world issues.
Technology is neither inherently positive, neutral, nor negative. Digital technology shapes our behaviors because it is deeply democratic, adopted by all. Relationships with employees, customers, suppliers, and public institutions have changed in nature. But if we invest without first considering the anthropological dimensions of the transformations generated by digital technology, it's problematic.
The end of 2022 shifted the focus with generative AI, but the revolution goes far beyond that… 5.4 billion people are reshaped in their behavior because they are connected to the internet. Macro-revolutions impact micro-behaviors. Hence, the need to invest in collective intelligence to identify what brings us closer to the common good and what drives us away from it.
What are the benefits generated by your contribution and those of other companies to GEM's DOS chair?
Research in digital sciences, as conducted within the DOS chair, is intrinsically linked to research in IT management. I have taught and continue to teach at GEM in continuing education programs and to post-baccalaureate students. My long-term experience provides a 360-degree view of the impact of these technologies on the future of our societies.
The DOS chair at GEM is a meeting place and hub of emulation, respecting academic expertise and the strategic and operational demands of companies. The chair's researchers are not disconnected from the field. They are indeed engaged in scientific publication work, but their research fundamentally intersects with the issues and needs of businesses.
Teaching and contributing to research are therefore the logical consequences of this investment. As a consultant, teaching is the raw material for anticipating developments with managerial teams. This engagement between economic and academic life is a key axis of operational efficiency in organizations.
I have personally contributed to the DOS chair for nearly a decade. It is an act of coherence. To me, paying taxes is an honor: it contributes to the common good. I have paid the solidarity wealth tax (ISF) since its inception, and I now pay the real estate wealth tax (IFI). Contributing to research through sponsorship is a coherent, strong, and essential act. Companies should work towards more contribution, similar to the sponsorship of major companies at American universities.
In conclusion, what would you like to say to companies?
Creating a bridge between businesses and academic research is essential: GEM exists because it is connected to society and the economic world. Supporting research ensures that resources are used for a foundational cause of our contemporary societies: science and technology. Grenoble creates this hybridization between management research, sciences, and technology. Cooperation with GEM is a guarantee of success. Financially contributing to research is a fundamental responsibility, allowing one to reduce their tax burden and take part in the evolution of our societies.
Jean-Pierre Corniou, observer and actor of digital globalization
At 73, Jean-Pierre Corniou is resolutely engaged in an intense and diversified social, academic, and economic dynamic. As a consultant with the IT consulting and services company Agile IT, he collaborates with the French competitiveness cluster Systematic, dedicated to the dissemination of IT and AI technologies in companies. A major patron of the GEM Foundation, he also initiated the creation of digital programs at GEM and teaches at the school, as well as at Paris-Dauphine University in Tunis. A speaker and author of numerous books (see bibliography), Jean-Pierre Corniou has capitalized on his pioneering experience as an IT director for over 16 years in major French companies (Sollac, Usinor, Renault), following a career as a senior civil servant. Highly invested in foresight, he was President of CIGREF from 2000 to 2006 and co-instigator of EuroCIO, the European network of CIOs. Each year, he analyzes the trends in technological innovations presented at the CES in Las Vegas and gave a lecture on March 21 at the GEM campus in Paris.
Jean-Pierre Corniou's bibliography:
"La contribution du numérique à la croissance de la France" Fondapol, 2011.
"Sept milliards de terriens, un milliard d’automobiles, la cohabitation est-elle possible?", Ligne de repères, 2012.
"Le choc numérique", Nuvis, 2013.
"L’intelligence iconomique" de Boeck, 2015, collective work.
"Le nouveau monde de l’automobile", Fondapol, 2016.
"L’avenir de l’hydroélectricité", Fondapol, 2018.
"Quand la voiture du XXIe siècle sera chinoise", 2019, Ligne de repères, MarieB.
"Liberté, égalité, mobilité" 2023, Lignes de repères, MarieB.
"Les chemins du digital" 2024.
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