Our team

A cross-cutting and complementary approach to R&D for greater efficiency

With its 85 employees, France Energies Marines has the largest dedicated ORE R&D team in France.

This team tackles the locks of the ORE industry by relying on the network of experts from the national academic sector. The research carried out by the team is focuses on issues shared by the players of the sector. The team has key skills in several complementary disciplines and can thus support the industry on a range of themes that are interdependent in concrete cases. This clearly illustrates the value of R&D carried out with a cross-cutting approach, particularly concerning technologies.

The profiles of the team members are distributed among the science and technology programs as follows:

• Site characterisation: observation and modelling of atmospheric and ocean turbulence, extreme sea states, hydrosedimentary dynamics, etc.
• ORE systems and farms: structural calculations, hydrodynamics, mooring system engineering, machine learning, offshore monitoring, electrical architecture, operation and maintenance, etc.
• Environmental integration: benthic ecology, ornithology, marine mammals, ichthyofauna, trophic modelling, ecosystem and socio-ecosystem modelling, sociology, etc.

This young team, but nevertheless endowed with cross-experience from the academic and industrial worlds, is the driving force behind the Institute’s service and research activities. To support its members, partners and clients, this team is recombined into small multidisciplinary units that join its network to carry out studies, deploy innovative methodologies, coordinate experts or support characterisation campaigns.

All our R&D projects

Our research and expertise services offer

A thematic organisation reinforced by support services

France Energies Marines is headed by a Chairman and an Executive Director. The latter is in charge of the operational management of the teams. To carry out its R&D activities, the Institute is organised around four scientific and technological programmes. The head of each program, who reports directly to the Executive Director, leads a team of PhDs, engineers, post-docs and PhD students. The latter are either employees of France Energies Marines or staff provided by academic or industrial research teams. This gender mix is one of the Institute’s strengths, which also has another advantage, that of near parity between men and women.

The four programmes receive support in the following areas: 

• Scientific Management to coordinate the scientific activities of the Institute, to steer the process of generation and selection of projects, in particular those co-financed by the Investments for the Future Programme, to lead the R&D Committee of the members and to solicit the International Science and Technology Committee,
• Development and Valorisation to develop partnerships, seek new associates and contributors, offer the Institute’s services to the sector, ensure the monitoring the proper functioning and reporting of the R&D activity and the reporting to French State departments and members, and organise communication,
• Administrative, Financial and Legal to support the teams in the administrative management, to ensure that the contractual documents necessary for the operation of the Institute are drawn up and to ensure sound financial management.

The gender equality index for 2022 at France Energies Marines is 90/100. Designed by the Ministry of Employment, it is a simple and practical tool for advancing equality between women and men within the company. It enables the measurement of pay and status gaps and highlights the areas for improvement when these disparities are unjustified. Below 75/100, the company must implement corrective measures.

A presence spread throughout the territory for proximity to the sector players

Since its creation, the Institute has been keen to consider the specific nature of each of the maritime façades and to establish itself locally. This proximity to the academic players in the sector strengthens France Energies Marines’ scientific excellence and the alignment of its activities with the expectations of the blue economy.

• The majority of the staff is based at France Energies Marines’ Headquarters in Brest within the Campus Mondial de la mer.
• Two offices have also been created to enable the team to develop effective synergies with their local contacts. The Atlantic Office, located on the Ecole Centrale Nantes campus, aims to develop partnerships with the abundant ORE ecosystem in the Pays de Loire region. The Mediterranean Office, located in the Ecole Centrale Méditerranée premises, aims to support the development of floating wind farms in the Gulf of Lion. The Estern Channel – North Sea Office, located on the premises of the Université Le Havre Normandie, created to support the deployment of wind energy off the Normandy coast.

Chair and Executive Committee

Site Characterisation R&D Programme

Design and Monitoring of Systems R&D Programme

Environmental Integration R&D Programme

Farm Optimisation R&D Programme

Support Services