News

IDATE has a new Chairman

10/11/2011
François Barrault succeeds Francis Lorentz as Chairman of IDATE



Montpellier, 9 November 2011 –, IDATE, one of Europe’s foremost think tanks covering the telecoms, internet and media industries, today announced the appointment of François Barrault as its new chairman. Effective as of Wednesday, 9 November 2011, this appointment comes as the result of a decision by Francis Lorentz, who has been the Institute’s chairman since 2000, not to seek another term.

Operating as an association, IDATE brings together enterprises, local authorities and qualified experts, in addition to having a staff of some 50 specialists at its headquarters in Montpellier, France.
François Barrault was elected Chairman of IDATE’s Board of Directors after having been nominated by the Management Board, which is composed of Bernard Brabet, Marc Fossier, Gabrielle Gauthey, Jean-Hervé Lorenzi, Francis Lorentz and Agnès Touraine.
François Barrault is currently the Chairman and founder of FDB Partners SPRL, an investment and advisory firm in media and telecom technologies, renewable energy and publishing. François began his career at IBM as a researcher in robotics and artificial intelligence before going on to create a series of companies. He was a top executive with the firms Ascend Communications, Computervision, Stratus and Astria before occupying senior positions at Lucent Technologies, where he was a corporate officer and International President of their Mobile Division and CEO of Lucent EMEA. François then joined BT as President of BT International and later CEO of BT Global Services, and served on the BT Group Board of Directors until the end of 2008. François holds a post-graduate degree in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, and a degree from the Ecole Centrale of Nantes.
“Over the course of these many years of collaboration with Yves Gassot and IDATE’s teams, I have been able to take the full measure of the tremendous quality of their work, the independence of their analysis and their ongoing dedication to matters of public interest,” says outgoing Chairman, Francis Lorentz. “This singular institution has an important role to play in enabling in-depth discussions and proposing courses of action in response to the challenges that today’s digital Europe is grappling with. This new stage in the Institute’s development, for which we have been laying the groundwork together for more than a year, now, is the embodiment of this ambition. I only regret that my commitments to my chief position (LD&A) prevent me from fully taking part. But, thanks to his professional experience, his understanding of the issues and challenges of the technology sectors, the international scope of his career, his independence and his human qualities, I believe that François Barrault will be better equipped to steer the new Digiworld Institute successfully through this transition.”
“The past ten years, which have been particularly rich in innovation and disruptions caused by the growing ubiquity of the internet, have allowed IDATE and its team, led by Yves Gassot, to emerge as a centre for analysis, debate and experience-sharing that is recognised internationally for its expertise and its independence,” says François Barrault. “I am especially glad to be taking over from Francis Lorentz at a time when the Institute is preparing to enter into a new stage in its development. Through a major overhaul of its programmes and the way it operates, the new “Digiworld Institute” aims to become a European benchmark in its field. I would like to thank Francis for his excellent work, and for all of the passion and energy that he has dedicated to IDATE since the year 2000.”
An independent market observatory, IDATE publishes in-depth reports on the development of digital technologies and services, their markets and business models, in addition to hosting collaborative research programmes, debates and conferences devoted to exploring the present and future of the digital world. Its annual DigiWorld Summit attracts more than 1,200 of the top internet, telecoms and media industry leaders and experts to Montpellier every November to discuss issues introduced by IDATE experts and talks from the sectors’ leading decision-makers.


Francois Barrault – biography

François Barrault has had unique and diversified entrepreneurial and corporate experiences in the technology sector.
He is chairman and founder of FDB Partners SPRL, an investment and advisory firm in TMT, renewable energy and publishing.
Francois started his career as a researcher in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence with IBM Corporation; then founded – and sold – several businesses. He then moved to senior positions in large global companies, in particular Lucent Technologies where he was President and CEO Lucent EMEA and then as corporate officer and International President of their Mobile Division ran all Lucent’s 38 acquisitions in the Internet sector. He retired at the end of 2008 from the position of CEO of BT Global Services and as a BT Group PLC board member. In BT Global Services he created a world leader in Networked IT services comprising 37,000 employees and operating in 176 countries, in four years acquiring 32 companies around the world. At the same time, he led BT Innovate, the advanced R&D and innovation team of BT Group and in this role chaired and sponsored numerous initiatives with the most prestigious universities in the world. François has been very active at the WEF (Davos and regional forums) and created and then chaired the BT Global advisory board (60 world-class leaders from around the globe).
François is also active in lecturing worldwide, is a member of various boards of public and private companies, advisory boards, private investment funds and foundations around the world.