Who is the Intrapreneurial program aimed at?
Fabrice Poussière: To all our employees! No matter what your position is within the group, your trade, seniority, hierarchical position or domain, everyone can contribute to creating a new activity within Naval Group through this program. There is however an essential condition before taking up the challenge: the desire to bring your idea for a product or service to fruition, with the firm belief that it has a place in the market. The program responds to an aspiration trend shared by many new employees who ask their company: If I have an idea, are you on board?
Fabien Jagailloux, could you describe your experience since your S/lash project was selected?
Fabien Jagailloux: The experience is both motivating and rewarding on many levels, marked by openness and transversality. Along with the other team members, I have adopted a new outlook and way of working. From the moment the project was selected, we went through several phases that are characteristic of entrepreneurial world. Far from being extremely specialised, you take on the role of a developer, business manager, buyer, legal expert, communicator and more. And since it is impossible to be good at everything, it is essential to have a network of people who support you in order to secure budgets and mobilise specialists.
How has the support from the NIH held up?
Fabrice Poussière: Every milestone, from the presentation pitch to the project’s achievement, is very marked out so as to combine autonomy with diligence. The support provided is driven by the final objective: to prove that there is market attractiveness and to test the product in concrete terms. For this we must seek out cross competences and improve certain time and organisation benchmarks, which are sometimes far removed from those of a start-up.
S/lash is in its acceleration phase - what is being done in concrete terms at present?
Fabien Jagailloux and Thibault Madre: We are active on all fronts, which is why Thibault Madre was hired to help us in developing the product with our future customers and partners. This is a period where we are put to the test with regards to our goals. We have 6 months to prove that the product is viable, with the help of a successful prototype. And all this while carrying out our other work. It is not simple, and it is intense. Sometimes we have to take a step back to stay in line with our strategic path, and we have to accept being called into question.
The S/LASH project at a glance
One team: Fabien Jagailloux, Thibault Madre, Johan Raffoux.
One system: it is an optical coating which can be adapted to all types of straps and allows you know the tension of a strap at any given time by using photoelasticity.