As in every year since 2005, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has just published its ranking of the 50 most innovative companies in the world. No French company is included, and the top spots are occupied by American tech giants.
A ranking marked by the Covid-19 pandemic
Based not on the number of patents filed, but on the declarations of 1,600 company directors worldwide, this year's ranking of the 50 most innovative companies in the world is marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Pfizer breaks into the top 10, making a rapid and unprecedented ascent, and 10 pharmaceutical and MedTech companies join the top 50. There were only 4 in 2020, and 1 in 2010.
The top spots are occupied by American tech leaders, with Apple in first place, followed by Alphabet (Google), Amazon and Tesla.
While 4 companies from the automotive sector and 8 from the consumer goods sector are included in the ranking - sectors in which France is well represented - not a single French company made it into the world's 50 most innovative.
France missing from the top 50
Mikaël Le Mouëllic, Associate Director at BCG, points to a number of reasons for the lack of representation of French companies, despite the fact that France has more listed healthcare start-ups than Germany.
First explanation: deeptechs and all those startups specializing in disruptive innovations lack a real ecosystem in which to evolve, like Silicon Valley, but also Boston, the ecosystem that enabled Moderna to develop its vaccine against the Sars-CoV-2 virus.
Another explanation put forward by Mikaël Le Mouëllic relates to the need to align with the standards imposed by China, which, with Xiaomi, Huawei, Alibaba and Tencent, counts 4 companies in the top 50. Many companies consider it essential, for example, to align the schedules of their research and development centers with those in China.
Finally, we need to invent a new way of organizing companies in France, to enable innovation to flourish. Business leaders, rather than being in a position of control, would do better to let small teams steer innovation, if necessary including customers in the development and testing phases.