With the advent of semi-conductors, our world entered a new era 50 years ago: the digital age. Digital technology is now an integral part of our way of life, and already permeates most of our economy. Today, it is estimated that 60% of the global economy is digitalized, in the sense that it is directly dependent on digital infrastructures. Like all man-made technologies, digital tools are neither good nor bad in themselves. It has just become established, and will become what we make of it. It will only continue to grow, because it is a power factor for those who master it. A factor of economic, scientific, cultural, military and political power. Those with numerical superiority have a strategic advantage: they can calculate faster, analyze more finely, or both.
In many ways, this new era is comparable to those that resulted from the previous industrial revolutions: the first, with the mastery of the steam engine and the internal combustion engine using coal and oil, and the second, with the development of the use of electricity. This digital revolution is no exception to the rule: it will consume resources, lots of them, and more and more of them.
How can we reconcile this dazzling growth with an environment whose resources are now perceived to be finite?
The speaker
Paul Benoit, an alumnus of École polytechnique and Télécom Paris, began his career in the Internet start-up world in 2000, helping to set up a web agency. In 2003, Paul joined the R&D department of a major bank with one of the largest HPC infrastructures dedicated to risk analysis. It was during these years that he developed the idea of harnessing the heat generated by computer servers. In 2010, he founded Qarnot computing, a company incubated by Télécom Paris Novation Center.
The moderator
Michel Cochet worked in the world of electrical energy, first at EDF, then at Cegelec and finally at Siemens Energy .
Michel spent over twenty years working inexport, notably in South-East Asia, where he was resident. On his return to Europe, he worked for Siemens, developing major projects (in particular gas-fired combined-cycle power plants) for Poweo, EON France and Direct Energie (now Total Energie).
Passionate about innovation, he now devotes histime to advising start-ups in the energy sector. A member of the Board of theAlumni Association, he leads the "Energy" GP, co-leads the "Digital and Environment" GP and co-edits the Revue TELECOM.
