Robotize or Decline: France's Industrial Future at Stake

Robotization remains a sensitive topic in France. It is still too often seen as a threat to jobs or a dehumanization of work. Wrongly so. “To robotize.” The verb quite often provokes teeth grinding. Behind the term, it simply means automating tasks that are currently done by humans, often the most tedious, repetitive, or hard-to-fill ones. And it has become essential if France wants to remain an industrial nation.

Compared to South Korea, Japan, the United States, China, or Germany, France is significantly behind. 186 robots per 10,000 employees according to the World Robotics 2024 report by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), more than twice less than Germany and Japan, and well below the average of the most advanced countries. Not for lack of skills, but because our industrial fabric is fragmented and many companies have not yet digitized their processes. Added to this is a cultural barrier: [...] Read More