Summary of the "Sovereignty and Digital Trust" event on October 22, 2025, at the Cercle des Armées in Paris
For the first time, Orange Business and Orange Cyberdefense organized a dedicated session to the strategic issues around digital sovereignty and resilience in Europe. The event, which gathered more than 250 people at the Cercle National des Armées in Paris, invited major French industrialists and institutional decision-makers to share their visions, in the presence of Thomas Courbe, Director General of Enterprises. The event concluded with an address by Christel Heydemann, CEO of the Orange Group.
Competitiveness and strategic autonomy in an era of permacrisis
Geopolitical tensions, climate change, energy crisis, dependencies on non-European actors... The global economy is now experiencing a state of "permacrisis" while Europe remains highly dependent on external technology providers. In this context, how can competitiveness, sovereignty, and innovation be balanced?
A constantly shifting risk map
For Vincent Champain, Executive Director of Digital and Information Systems at Framatome Group, a global leader in nuclear energy: "the risk map is new and constantly changing." Business continuity becomes a strategic issue in a context where even historical alliances no longer guarantee the protection of digital flows.
For many companies and local authorities, cyber threats are a major concern as they affect their own ecosystem: partners, suppliers, service providers—all links in the industrial chain are targets of malicious acts. According to an Interior Ministry report, 348,000 digital attacks were recorded in 2024, an increase of 74% over 5 years.
Orange Cyberdefense confirms a clear evolution in threat typologies: rise of hacktivism, multiplication of attacks targeting SMEs, and emergence of malicious AI capable of automating intrusions and phishing, says Hugues Foulon, CEO of Orange Cyberdefense.
Industrial value chain: favorite target of cyber attackers
"With more than 2,500 sites of all sizes worldwide, we have a duty to ensure good communication networks and secure flows. This is very important because we monitor more than 2 million patients every day worldwide," says François Abrial, Director of Transformation and Artificial Intelligence at Air Liquide, a global group present in 70 countries and an actor of vital importance for France in many sectors, including healthcare.
Hyperconnected information systems within industrial ecosystems become the weak link. At Naval Group, a defense leader in nuclear submarine construction, industrial sovereignty is inseparable from digital security. "The strength of a supply chain is the strength of its weakest link. We need a dual, resilient chain, including in cyber," emphasizes Pierre-Éric Pommellet, CEO of Naval Group.
Maximum digital security is also a major concern for the SAUR group, a drinking water distribution operator serving 20 million people in France and worldwide: "Water is a highly sensitive subject. We are very vigilant against cyber threats but also risks of sabotage or terrorism to our infrastructures," specifies Rony Bejjani, Information Systems Director of the group.
At Framatome, the fight against cyber threats is a responsibility shared by the entire company: "We must constantly identify weak points, analyze risks, and ensure that vulnerable links are no longer solely the responsibility of the IT team, but also of the protection or compliance teams, as is the case with us," explains Vincent Champain.
Between innovation and security in Europe: digital trust put to the test by AI
This approach to industrial resilience highlights the issue of dependencies on technological partners. For many industrial players, strategic autonomy requires a detailed mapping of technological solutions, identifying their degree of criticality.
"For us, strategic autonomy means the ability to develop, operate, and control our critical systems without excessive reliance on external partners," confirms Olivier Biton, Director of Technological Transformation at Crédit Agricole SA.
To strengthen its resilience, the Air Liquide group has chosen a pragmatic approach: a dual architecture capable of switching in case of crisis: "We have developed our own ERP and CRM systems in certain areas to ensure our independence," explains François Abrial, Director of Transformation and Artificial Intelligence of the Group.
For Naval Group, a sovereign organization par excellence, autonomy is non-negotiable and a priority at all levels, including in digital systems: "We place the safety of our ships, the security of our personnel, and the confidentiality of data on the same level," affirms Pierre-Éric Pommellet.
Aliette Mousnier-Lompré, CEO of Orange Business, recalled the definition of digital trust: the ability to exploit digital technologies with the confidence that they are secure, reliable, resilient, and compliant with regulatory requirements. The heart of Orange Business's mission is supporting clients in building their resilience, ensuring both security and digital trust, and contributing to their competitiveness.
"For us, as both a global and local operator, it is very important to ensure our technological independence without building barricades or cutting ourselves off from the rest of the world," specifies Aliette Mousnier-Lompré.
Orange Business's resilience strategy is built on several concrete pillars: "the first is to invest in digital infrastructures, to establish key control points in the value chain and ensure security. We are investing in our global backbone, both terrestrial and submarine, as well as in a quantum network in the Ile-de-France region," emphasizes Aliette Mousnier-Lompré.
These investments serve both the Group's mission and its clients and partners.
Orange has also directed its strategic investments towards Cloud activities: as exemplified by BLEU, a 100% French company co-owned with CapGemini. It will offer Microsoft 365 and a wide range of Microsoft Azure services, in a "Trusted Cloud" environment aiming for the SecNumCloud 3.2 qualification delivered by ANSSI, as noted by Anne-Marie Thiollet, Deputy Director of Products & Marketing at Orange Business.
The Cloud Avenue SecNum solution, Orange Business's private cloud offering hosted in its datacenters in Grenoble, has recently obtained the SecNumCloud qualification for its shared and dedicated IaaS environments.
In addition, clients can count on Evolution Platform, a platform offering cloud, connectivity, security, and digital integration services.
Aliette Mousnier-Lompré also points out the importance of expertise and transparency to support economic stakeholders, particularly amid the complexity of European regulations: "We help our clients by providing our expertise and analysis frameworks on issues such as data localization, reliability, and operational models."
Finally, the Orange Group has engaged in numerous partnerships to strengthen its position as a leader in the European innovation ecosystem, including Mistral AI, BlueMind, Lighton, CrossCall, and Ekinops.
The challenge of artificial intelligence
Another challenge awaits Europe and innovation stakeholders: the artificial intelligence revolution, with its enormous potential but also security-related threats. Hugues Foulon of Orange Cyberdefense recalls that 66% of companies today face cyber threats involving AI. But this technology is also an ally of cybersecurity: "95% of incident detection already relies on automation," he adds, citing in particular tools developed with the French startup Qevlar AI.
As artificial intelligence takes hold across all sectors, European companies are still seeking to reconcile innovation, sovereignty, and security. How can they create value on AI tools by betting on digital trust?
"AI is part of a continuum: computing infrastructures, cloud, and data. Trust must be based on a fourfold mastery: digital security; control of dependencies on one's supplier; control of data with respect to extraterritorial legislation; and control of environmental footprint," notes Henri d'Agrain of Cigref.
Here again, the need to grow future AI champions is unanimous, as it is about supporting this revolution on sovereign fundamentals.
Resilience and trust, serving a lasting commitment
But how can resilience be managed concretely in this context of multiple crises, where connectivity and cybersecurity are essential to the digital economy? Orange's mission is to help its clients and partners on this path, a mission based on three fundamental pillars: the diversity of connectivity technologies, Orange's processes and employee commitment, and cyber skills leveraging those of Orange Cyberdefense.
Being able to count on diverse connectivity solutions means being able to face unexpected and sometimes extreme situations. Anne-Marie Thiollet, Deputy Director of Products & Marketing at Orange Business, recalls: "Five years ago, we suffered catastrophic floods in the Roya Valley. Orange Business managed to connect the region's hospital, deprived of network, thanks to a satellite solution. This solution, the Safety Case, allows isolated sites to be connected autonomously using embedded satellite and mobile solutions. For this offering, we have strengthened our partnership with Eutelsat and OneWeb, two European partners."
For Orange Business, the implementation of specific business continuity processes is a proven reality: "During the COVID crisis, we supported our clients who had not planned for a teleworking solution. Orange increased the number of remotely connected users sevenfold in a matter of days," indicates Anne-Marie Thiollet. During the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, "Orange was the only operator to provide all connectivity for organizers and emergency services, thanks to a dedicated mobile network. We did it with three European partners: one for infrastructure, another for real-time communications (a 'push to talk' solution), and the last for terminals," she recalls.
Finally, security is essential to fulfilling its mission as a resilient operator: all Orange Business products are secure-by-design, and connectivity offers include DDOS protection by default.
European innovation as the key
How can autonomy and sovereignty become drivers of competitiveness? How can we participate and contribute to strengthening innovation in Europe?
Industry’s response is unanimous: it is urgent to create and grow European digital champions. It even calls for a collective European awakening through sustained support and investment in innovation.
Ted Marx, Director of Digital Affairs at Caisse des Dépôts, advocates a realistic, step-by-step approach: "Europe must build deliberate interdependencies and a shared infrastructure stack. The challenge is to create our European champions and give them the critical mass to compete."
"We design all our software in France and Belgium," explains Philippe Moulin, Interim CEO of Ekinops, an Orange partner specializing in network equipment.
Vincent Champain of Framatome shares this vision of an open industrial strategy, based on innovation and cooperation with European partners: "I believe in a strategy that combines sovereignty and interconnection."
For François Abrial of Air Liquide, the answer also lies in bold, fully embraced choices: "Our advanced research is essentially based in France," he notes.
Pierre-Éric Pommellet of Naval Group is confident in Europe's capabilities: "Today we manufacture nuclear submarines in France at a rate almost equivalent to that of the Americans. This clearly shows that we have offset their industrial advantage with our capacity for innovation. We must believe in ourselves. When we innovate —when we put in human intelligence —we succeed," he affirms.
"Optimists and activists for Europe"
In closing, Christel Heydemann, CEO of the Orange Group, emphasized trust—at the heart of Orange's business— as essential in relationships with clients, companies, and governments, especially in an unstable geopolitical context where technology has become a lever of power. "Trust has never been so important in our business." Cybersecurity and training are core priorities for the Group: protecting infrastructures, developing internal skills, and supporting the development of new technologies, particularly AI. "We have the duty to protect ourselves, to protect you," she told decision-makers.
Christel Heydemann also described Orange's role as an activist for Europe: consolidating its operations, supporting European innovation, and working to establish more favorable power relationships for Europe to create genuine champions. "Europe will not be able to resist if it does not create its own champions."
The CEO summarizes her definition of sovereignty with four words:
"Control through mastery of our infrastructures: Orange is one of the few operators that owns a large part of its network assets. Choice in our suppliers, in the sourcing of our partners to offer reliable and solid options to our clients and to help new technological partners emerge. Competencies: whatever the tool, you need humans to understand, to arbitrate, to pilot. It is essential to develop know-how and have the best experts. And finally, the last C, particularly relevant to our sector: Critical size, which allows us to influence the technological roadmaps of major American players – but this cannot be done without Europe and without European companies. "In a world largely dominated by American or Chinese players, we must rely on Europe, push Europe to take charge, and develop sectors that can carry real weigh in the debate," concludes Christel Heydemann.
