On Thursday June 19th, over 150 people took part in the official launch of the PLATO* Paris-Saclay network held in SOLEIL's buildings, and involving, for the most part, SME directors as well as executives from large companies and institutional representatives (4 urban communities from the Saclay area along with Établissement Public Paris-Saclay).
The event organizers, the Essonne and Versailles-Yvelines Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCIs), mainly came to SOLEIL for the following reasons:
- SOLEIL is a recognized actor bringing together research, industry and local authorities,
- SOLEIL is located in the heart of the Saclay cluster, at the border of the Essonne and Yvelines French departments,
- SOLEIL regularly makes its buildings available to its institutional and economic partners (amphitheater, conference rooms, etc.) for the organization of events related to its missions,
- SOLEIL is an intermediate size company and a potential candidate to become a "coach" for one of the groups of SMEs engaged in the PLATO Paris-Saclay network.
Four working groups, each gathering around twenty business leaders and 3 executives from large sponsoring companies, were formed at the beginning of the afternoon. Each group then took part in a workshop to initiate a dynamic and cohesive approach and to develop the group's identity (name, slogan, logo, common values, agenda of the meetings, etc.). In a plenary feedback session held at the end of the afternoon and including institutional sponsoring partners, each group was able to introduce itself and present its first work. An SME leader and an executive coach also talked about their experience, and were followed by the closing speeches of the Presidents of both CCIs.
After this launch day of the PLATO Paris-Saclay network, and over a period of two years, the business leaders will meet monthly with their executive coach to work on common subjects of interest, with the possible intervention of external experts on certain selected sets of themes.
SOLEIL is directly involved in the coaching of one of the 4 working groups, via one of its directors. This day was also the opportunity for SOLEIL, in collaboration with the Essonne CCI, to define a provisional program of exchanges (including the presentation by SOLEIL of its activities aimed at businesses - analyses and technology transfer services -, and the presentation by the Essonne CCI of a program aimed at providing support to companies in their technological developments).
* PLATO is an original methodology consisting in the development of corporate networks based on the counseling of SME leaders by large companies’ executives (sponsorship based on experience sharing). It consists of:
- creating a network of business leaders from the same area, in order to break down isolation and to allow them to share experiences,
- sponsoring SME leaders through the support of volunteer executives from large local corporations
- organizing monthly work meetings over 2 years, bringing together business leaders and executives, with the intervention of experts on the sets of themes selected by the groups.