Published on 26 November 2024

AI
Innovation
Strategy

Research and innovation at Orange: shaping a useful and sustainable future

Portrait de Jean Bolot

Interview with Jean Bolot
Director of Research at Orange Innovation

Jean Bolot is Director of Research at Orange Innovation, where he leads R&D activites with the aim of shaping the future of telecommunications. With extensive leadership experience in technology and innovation, he joined Orange three years ago to head up research activities and their roles in anticipating major digital transormations.
Today, he shares his vision of the various challenges and priorities guiding Orange's research activities.
 

Why does Orange do research? 

J.B. : We conduct research to meet current tech challenges and plan for the future. We operate in a constantly changing world, where technologies and uses are changing rapidly. Research plays a key role in illuminating the future, identifying future megatrends, and preparing the Group to seize new opportunities.

The work we do enables us to design software and prototypes to test and confirm new solutions before large-scale deployment. It also helps us to respond to any changes in network traffic, customer expectations, or social transformations. And it allows us to acquire and build skills in new areas while enhancing our patent portfolio.    

 

Can you tell us more about Orange’s research strategy? 

J.B. : Our research at Orange responds ensures we meet two major priorities: working on the right subjects and supporting our business. We focus our efforts on key themes, aligned with emerging technologies and the Group’s requirements while ensuring that our innovations translate into benefits for the company and our customers.  
Much of our research is directly applicable to real use cases, whether improving service quality, optimizing infrastructure, or creating differentiating solutions that meet the specific needs of users. It also strengthens our influence in the market by laying the foundations for future technologies.

What are the key areas of research at Orange?

J.B. : Our priority research areas reflect today’s major technological and societal transformations and are built around our core business objectives that deliver value to our customers:

  • Networks and infrastructure
  • AI for networks
  • Artificial intelligence (AI) for customer relations
  • Security and trust
  • Sustainability

These strategic areas reflect our ethos to innovate responsibly to ensure we benefit our customers and society at large.

How is research part of a sustainable and responsible approach?

J.B : Sustainability is central our research strategy and we’re actively working to reduce the carbon footprint of our networks by modelling their environmental impact and identifying ways to reduce energy consumption. We integrate consumption reduction targets into our day-to-day operations, while maintaining network performance.
We’re also addressing ethical issues related to artificial intelligence to ensure robust systems that manage biases, which also feeds into our Data and Artificial Intelligence Ethical Charter.

How does Orange integrate AI advances into its research projects and operations?

Artifical intelligence plays a key role in network operations. For example, we've developed a tool that allows 5G operator to translate his intentions into IT commands. This reduce errors and speeds up processes.
In customer relations, we’ve developed personalized chatbots to speed up response times to customers. These tools take into account specific customer requirements (such as their equipment) to respond accurately to contextual requests.

 

AI is also impacting cybersecurity, helping us to detect emerging threats, such as AI-generated phishing emails, and develop tailored defense mechanisms when hackers use generative AI themselves. We’re working closely with Orange Cyberdefense to develop solutions like Orange Cybersecure which protects consumers’ devices. 

How do our various research teams work together at Orange?

J.B. : Research at Orange is a collaborative effort between our internal teams, highly regarded academic partners, and strategic industrial alliances.
Internally, we employ around 600 researchers spread across France and abroad, and among them, about a hundred doctoral students and post-doctoral students who actively contribute to our projects. They’re working on a wide range of topics, from communications networks to artificial intelligence and energy sustainability.
Externally, we take a collaborative approach and maintain partnerships with universities, research institutes such as INRIA and CNRS, and industrial groups.  For example, we have three joint labs: one dedicated to cloud networks, another to antennas and wireless technologies, and a recently opened optical laboratory in Lannion. This enhances our own skills and research capabilities to address cutting-edge topics. Maintaining academic and industrial collaborations also plays a key role in attracting talent and keeping Orange at the forefront of innovation.

Orange’s patent portfolio exceeded 10,000 patents in 2024. What are the issues and associated challenges?

J.B : Reaching the milestone of 10,000 patents demonstrates the intensity of our research and our ability to innovate on a continuous basis. These patents protect our technologies, improve our value streams, and support our competitiveness.
Our patent portfolio and value streams strengthen our position as the leading European operator in terms of intellectual property in the tech sector. Our patents are bought by more than 2,000 companies, which increases our revenue opportunities and strengthens our influence within the technology ecosystem.

Looking to 2025, what are our main challenges when it comes to maintaining our leadership position?

J.B : In 2025, the main challenges for research at Orange are strategic. First, it is crucial that our research is aligned with the Group’s priorities and contributes to our competitiveness, and that it continues to have a concrete impact on our business activities. Secondly, integrating emerging technologies, such as AI agents or semantic communications, or quantum for example, represents a major technical challenge, but also an opportunity to transform our services and infrastructure.
Sustainability remains a central issue. We must continue to develop solutions that reduce our network carbon impacts and optimize energy consumption, while ensuring an ethical approach to AI. Finally, in the face of rapidly evolving infrastructure and technologies, we must continue to collaborate both internally and with our external partners, to anticipate future needs and maintain our leadership in innovation.