The reason I accepted,
the honour of becoming
Godfather to the Class of 2015 graduates
is relatively simple.
UTC is a university of technology
which takes the best of all worlds
the world of the French Grandes Ecoles
and the world of the University.
and integrates their specific forms of excellence
not only into its pedagogical approach
but also in terms of the search for innovation
while building the best possible contacts with the enterprises
taking an active role in
both research and also
in the quest for innovation.
Indeed, there is a direct sort of interdependence
to work together on a wide range of various research themes and and associate development themes
in such a way that we really become
a pole in favour of innovation.
I was elected in 2004 with a programme proposing
that we build the 21st Century industries in Picardie
and one of the driving forces here
is your University, UTC.
R & D lies at the core of the target
that aims at creating activities
and job openings for tomorrow with high-added value,
and this too is one of the roles of UTC.
So, it was absolutely natural for me to accept and I didn't hesitate one second,
to come and salute the young graduates of this University,
to wish you all the success that you truly deserve
for your careers and to share a few ideas with you,
and point out some important markers,
"advice" - I don't really like this term
because experience is a torch 36
that only lights up the person holding it.
It is always a little presumptious to
hand out advice.
It is better, I feel, to give examples,
and to share experience ...
but above all I came to wish you "long life" and "good luck"
in your future activities and professions,
hoping too that one day our paths
will meet again.
A great many things remain to be invented; we have not
yet recovered from the 1989 crisis when the Berlin Wall came down
nor from the financial crisis in 2008
that affected financial capitalism severely.
The time has come to invent a new world.
And I hope that today's young engineers
will want to say that not only they have the
talents to create new objects,
but also - and we talked about this for manpower management questions -
to be among those who will invent
new ways to analyse and perceive the outside world,
and organise it
in such a way that "living together"
becomes a reality again and not
just a hopeless utupia.