#incrediblengineers

Minutes

In 10 minutes you can have a power-nap, update your CV or make an impulse buy online that you’ll regret later.

And 10 minutes is all it takes to regularly meet up with incredible engineers here and synch with the world’s greatest engineering challenges.

Discover our articles

"Working on the construction site of a nuclear power plant and living a five-minute walk from the sea"

As an expatriate in Turkey, Alexia Sergeant is involved in the ambitious nuclear programme of Akkuyu. Beyond the professional challenge, this young engineer shares a real love for a country rich in cu...

"I'm in the right place"

Italian by birth, Paolo Minelli has joined the Assystem team in France last February. His role: managing the data-scientist team and contributing to improve the performance of the group’s projec...

"I've been offered the opportunity to move on to several positions"

Between France and the UK, Nicholas Morris is currently experiencing the daily challenge of developing Assystem’s business around the British EPR project, Hinkley Point C. “FascinatingR...

Will we still need engineers in the future?

The question is not as strange as it might seem. Given the phenomenal growth of digital technology, robotics and artificial intelligence, where does this leave the engineers of tomorrow? How will they...

No, I'm not a superhero

For ordinary people, when we talk about engineers, is the image of Steve Job, inventor of the first Macintosh and founder of a now trillionaire company, or Elon Musk, imagining alone the car new gener...

So what exactly is an engineer?

Engineer /ɛndʒɪˈnɪə/, derived from the Middle English “engineour” and from the Old French “engigneor” – a designer and constructor of fortifications and weapons. > A person ...

Commute, work, sleep ... Inside an engineer's head during a banal day

Builders of bridges or power plants, application developers, designers, project managers … But what exactly do all these engineers do? Between meetings, exchanges with the client, team managemen...

When I grow up, I want to be an engineer!

Engineering schools are still as popular as ever. Why? Do we really know what an engineer is? Their backgrounds? Their daily lives? To answer this, we met up with three of them to find out more about ...

Saudi, land of oil… and engineers

In Saudi, being an engineer is more than any profession. With “Saudi Vision 2030” plan to reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil and diversify its economy, Saudi engineers are becoming a rare c...

Being a woman engineer in the land of the Corcovado mountain

Happiness seems to be the watchword in the home of samba and the caipirinha. But the cool and carefree image that Brazilians present to the world is juxtaposed against a very different reality. The re...

Engineers – Eternal apprentices?

From steam locomotives to high-speed trains powered by hydrogen, from manual calculators to super-computers, from a one-dimensional view of building sites to augmented reality, the objects designed by...

Electric cars and energy transition – is there a glitch?

At the end of 2018, only 200,000 electric and hybrid vehicles were registered in France out of a total automobile fleet of around 40 million. But questions are now being asked due to recent sharp incr...

Being an engineer in the UK

So close to Europe yet isolated by seas, the UK has its own way of doing business. From the most obvious cultural differences to small tips that can make a difference, Fanny Fouin, a French engineer w...

A world tour of the latest rail innovations

While waiting for Hyperloop – the ultra-high-speed train dreamed up by the South African entrepreneur Elon Musk – rail sector companies haven’t given up on the race for innovation. Locomotives that ar...

Digitalised mobility – a turning point for engineers

Digital transformation is reshaping all modes of transport, from design through to use. The objective is to create smooth traffic flows, enhance user comfort and safety, anticipate maintenance and, ul...

What are the origins of nuclear energy?

In 2018, 10.3% of the world’s electricity needs were covered by nuclear power. The International Energy Agency has forecast that nuclear energy production will increase by around 50% between now and 2...

The Hyperloop – a new era for mobility

It’s 2060. Environmental concerns and high petrol prices have gradually turned people away from carbon transport systems, and high tech has picked up the baton. Dreamed up half a century earlier...

Are engineers has-beens when they hit 60?

At 61 years old, Claude Bernard doesn’t code and social media doesn’t do much for him. But he can run a marathon in three and a half hours, has moved house 32 times in 40 years, and agreed...

The datascientist: an identikit picture of a most wanted engineer

It’s one of the new professions emerging in the digital age. It’s also one of the most sought-after profiles in the market, in sectors as varied as finance, industry and healthcare. At the...

Quick & dirty vs gold-plated – that is the question for IT developers

What’s best – quick & dirty development or fine tuning every minor detail. In general, it’s all a question of timing and risk management. To understand the principles and outcomes of these two see...

The Grand Paris Express – Reinventing the Greater Paris transit system

Building four new underground (“Metro”) lines and extending two existing lines, laying 200 kilometres of extra tracks, creating 68 new stations and setting up seven technical centres – the...

5G is going to change the world! But what does that mean for engineers?

By Alexandre Colonna, founder of Maoré Mobile, the fourth telecom operator in Mayotte, and Léon, an engineer working for a major French telecom group.

New frontiers: When the universe inspires engineers

People have always been fascinated by the stars, the Moon, the Sun and the outer reaches of the universe. This fascination has inspired the world’s most brilliant minds to study them and design the te...

How digital tools are transforming the engineer's profession

The digital revolution is not only bringing changes to the first nuclear power stations that began to be constructed as from the mid-twentieth century, but is also significantly impacting the current ...

The Trans-Siberian Railway – no obstacle is insurmountable

The Trans-Siberian is the longest railway in the world. It has over 9,000 km of track – mostly built between 1891 and 1916 – and stretches across the enormous expanse of Russia, from Moscow to Vladivo...

Being a woman in the nuclear sector

Women, the future of the nuclear energy ? Specialised in project management, Anne-Sophie’s somewhat atypical career led to one of the most interesting positions: working on the Middle East’s first nuc...

Life sciences: engineering in the feminine form?

Biology, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals – life sciences is a sector that has many engineers working on manufacturing, packaging and quality control products. It employs a lot more women than other industr...

Women engineers on the move

Women engineers and the transport jobs Like the building industry, the transport sector is undergoing deep-seated change to ensure a sustainable and mobile future, particularly for towns and cities. ...

Building and civil engineering – jobs for the boys?

Women in the construction industry The building and civil engineering (“BCE”) sector is both fascinating and tough, from design to construction to decommissioning. And it’s the same for ...

Being an Engineer in India

India is an emerging powerhouse that has become the world’s sixth largest economy. And to drive the country’s development even further, the government has made energy, infrastructure and technology it...

If I install a solar panel does it mean I’m green?

Solar energy : Impact of the environment Ever since the French physicist Edmond Becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect in 1838, it has been possible to generate electricity from sunlight. The po...

On the trail of forgotten engineers

Have you ever heard of Mary Jackson, Mária Telkes, François Cavé or Marc Seguin? What inventions and feats of engineering lie behind the names of Fulgence Bienvenüe or Henri Édouard Tresca? Just like ...

Energy transition: the good and bad role models

When we hear about energy transition in the media, it’s often difficult to distinguish between what’s true and what’s false and to understand which changes can have a real impact on reduci...

Interview with Robert Plana – “Being a CTO in an engineering firm”

Having started out as a researcher, Robert Plana gradually moved towards more managerial roles in the public and private research sectors. After spending several years at Alstom and then General Elect...

Fictional engineers – geniuses or mad scientists?

Ever since the 19th century, literature, comic strips and movies have been filled with scientific characters who are either villains or heroes, mad or serious, solitary or sociable. Whether they are i...

Small Modular Reactors: a new approach to generating nuclear energy

Quicker to build, smaller and more modular, SMRs are an answer to the need for low- or medium-output zero-carbon energy generation in locations that can, at times, be remote. Reliability and safety ob...

What place will nuclear have in the energy mix by 2040?

Global warming: The fight against climate change The debates prior to the French government drawing up its multi-annual energy programme are now in full swing and both pro- and anti-nuclear energy lob...

Gender diversity – women in engineering

Women are a scarce resource in most engineering firms. So what has the industry done to make itself so unappealing to the female gender? It looks like the burden of history is still weighing on the en...

BIM: a building revolution

Innovation of digital technology; Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology is a revolutionary new solution for building stakeholders that improves building construction and job quality while low...

Electricity – the energy of the 21st century

Between now and at least 2050, the combination of high population growth, strong economic development, increased demand for foodstuffs, equipment and transport, and a boom in all forms of automation a...

Nuclear power: a crucial component of a carbon-free mix

Scenarios drawn up by Negawatt and the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) estimate that by 2050 all of France’s electricity needs can be covered by renewables. However, thes...

Calling on engineers to combat global warming!

Combatting global warming requires citizens to rethink their lifestyles, businesses to alter their industrial processes, and politicians to set an example and pass legislation that encourages eco-frie...

Hard core nuclear safety

In 2017 we celebrated our company’s 50th birthday. The Assystem adventure started in the nuclear sector when the French State began to build the country’s fleet of nuclear power plants (NPPs) as well ...

Engineering schools – A breeding ground for invention

Engineering schools train hundreds of future engineers every year. In this article we delve into these unique schools and meet up with some of their impassioned engineers who are dedicated to learning...

How engineers can help the pharmaceutical industry

Life expectancy is increasing throughout the world, which is raising challenges for pharmaceutical companies. People now expect pharmas to provide ever-safer and more effective treatments to help them...

A status report on cyber-risks

With financial consequences estimated at an average $11.7 million, cyber-attacks are one of the principal risks facing today’s companies. Given our increasing dependency on digital technologies ...

PMO – an essential support for large-scale projects

All business and industry sectors – including pharmaceuticals, banking, defence, energy transport and civil engineering to name but a few – now rely on project management tools, methods and processes,...

Assystem Graduate Program

Whether it’s Nestlé, Auchan, Crédit Agricole, Orange, Coca-Cola, Total or Carrefour, all large companies need to have a high quality Graduate Program. The aim of these programs is to attract the best ...

Project Imagine

Enabling energy transition and the digital revolution is Assystem’s mission statement, and the Imagine programme is playing a central role in helping us turn this statement into action. The engineerin...

Smart cities: stop or more?

54% of our planet’s inhabitants currently live in towns or cities and by 2030, two thirds of the world’s population will be urban dwellers. This rising demography is proving a real test of...

Garage inventors – legend or reality?

1938 – Palo Alto, in California. William Hewlett and David Packard, two visionary engineers, set up a workshop in a simple garage backing onto David Packard’s house to work in peace and quiet on...

The Greatest Engineers of all Time

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), an Italian painter, sculptor and inventor It would be impossible to start this list without referring to Leonardo da Vinci. A universal genius par excellence, Leonardo d...

Spotlight on innovations for renewable energies

Within the energy transition process currently taking place, renewable energies have been identified as one of the main drivers of transformation. For example, in February 2018, renewables (excluding ...

Stories of the craziest projects of all time

Twenty thousand leagues under the sea For centuries, the idea of a vessel that could navigate underwater fed people’s imagination and scores of engineers have worked on submarine travel througho...