Pokémon Go, Télécom SudParis, Marius Preda, Augmented reality

What is Augmented Reality?

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Since its launch, the Pokémon Go game has broken all download records. More than just a fun gaming phenomenon, it is above all an indicator of the inevitable arrival of augmented reality technology in our daily lives. Marius Preda, a researcher at Télécom SudParis and an expert on the subject, explains exactly what the term “augmented reality” means.

 

Does just adding a virtual object to a real-time video make something augmented reality?

Marius Preda: If the virtual object is spatially and temporally synchronized with reality, yes. Based on the academic definition, augmented reality is the result of a mixed perception between the real and virtual worlds. The user observes both a real source, and a second source provided by a computer. In the case of Pokémon Go, there is a definite synchronism between the environment filmed with the camera — which changes according to the phone’s position — and the virtual Pokémon that appear and stay in their location.

 

How is this synchronization guaranteed?

MP: The Pokémon Go game works via geolocation: it uses GPS coordinates to make a virtual object appear at a location in the real environment. But during the Pokémon capture phase, the virtual object does not interact with the real image.

Very precise visual augmented realities exist, which attain synchronization in another way. They are based on the recognition of patterns that have been pre-recorded in a database. It is then possible to replace real objects with virtual objects, or to make 3D objects interact with forms in the real environment. These methods are expensive, however, since they require more in-depth learning phases and image processing.

 

Is it accurate to say that several augmented realities exist? 

MP: We can say that there are several ways to ensure the synchronization between the real and virtual worlds. Yet in a broader sense, mixed reality is a continuum between two extremes: pure reality on the one hand, and synthetically produced images on the other. Between these two extremes we find augmented reality, as well as other nuances. If we imagine a completely virtual video game, only with the real player’s face replacing that of the avatar, this is augmented virtuality. Therefore, augmented reality is a point on this continuum, in which synthetically generated objects appear in the real world.

 

Apart from video games, what other sectors are interested in augmented reality applications?

MP: There is a huge demand among professionals. Operators of industrial facilities can typically benefit from augmented reality for repairs. If they do not know how to install a part, they can receive help from virtual demonstrations carried out directly on the machine in front of them.

There is also high demand from architects. They already use 3D models to show their projects to decision-makers who decide whether or not to approve the construction of a building. Yet now they would like to show a future building at its future location using augmented reality, with the right colors, and lighting on the façades, etc.

Of course, such applications have enormous market potential. By monetizing a location in an augmented reality application like Pokémon Go, Google could very well offer game areas located directly in stores.

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A MOOC for developing augmented reality applications

Interested in learning about and creating augmented reality experiences? In augmenting a book, a map, or designing a geolocation quiz? Institut Mines-Télécom is offering a new MOOC to make this possible. It will enable learners to experiment and create several augmented reality applications.

This introductory MOOC, entitled Getting started with augmented reality, is intended for web production professionals, as well as anyone interested in designing innovative experiences using interactions between the virtual and real worlds: web journalists, mobile application developers, students from technical schools, and art and design schools… as well as teachers. Without having any prior experience in computer programming, the learner will easily be able to use the augmented reality prototyping tools.[/box]

Read more on our blog

Augmented Reality: new standards and new tools

Bitcoin, blockchain, Michel Berne, Fabrice Flipo

The bitcoin and blockchain: energy hogs

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By Fabrice Flipo and Michel Berne, researchers at Télécom École de Management.
Editorial originally published in French in The Conversation France

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The digital world still lives under the illusion that it is intangible. As governments gathered in Paris at COP21, pledging to reduce their carbon emissions to keep global warming below 2°C, the spread of digital technology continues to take place without the slightest concern for the environment. The current popularity of the bitcoin and blockchain provide the perfect example.

The principle of the blockchain can be summarized as follows: each transaction is recorded in thousands of accounting ledgers, and each one is scrutinized by a different observer. Yet no mention is made of the energy footprint of this unprecedented ledger of transactions, or of the energy footprint of the new “virtual currency” (the bitcoin) it manages.

Read the blog post What is a blockchain?

 

Electricity consumption equivalent to that of Ireland

In a study published in 2014, Karl J. O’Dwyer and David Malone showed that the consumption of the bitcoin network was likely to be approximately equivalent to the electricity consumption of a country like Ireland, i.e. an estimated 3 GW.

Imagine the consequences if this type of bitcoin currency becomes widespread. The global money supply in circulation is estimated at $11,000 billion. The corresponding energy consumption should therefore exceed 4,000 GW, which is 8 times the electricity consumption of France and twice that of the United States. It is not without reason that a recent headline on the Novethic website proclaimed “The bitcoin, a burden for the climate”.

 

What do the numbers say?

Since every blockchain is a ledger (and therefore a file) that exists in many copies, the computer resources required for the calculation, transmission and storage of the information increases, as well as the energy footprint, even if improvements in the underlying technologies are taken into account.

The two important factors here are the length of the blockchain and the number of copies. For the bitcoin, the blockchain’s length grew very quickly: according to Quandl, it was 27 GB in early 2015 and rose to 74 by mid-2016.

The bitcoin, whose system is modeled on that of the former gold standard currencies, is generated through complex computer transactions, which become increasingly complex over time, as for an increasingly depleted goldmine in which production costs rise.

In 2015, Genesis Mining revealed in Business Insider that it was one of the most energy-consuming companies in Iceland, with electricity costs of 60 dollars per “extracted” bitcoin– despite benefiting from a low price per kWh and a favorable climate.

Finally, we can also imagine all the “smart contract” type applications supported by the Internet of Things. This will also have a considerable impact on energy and the environment, considering the manufacturing requirements, the electrical supply (often autonomous, and therefore complicated and not very efficient) and disposal.

However, although the majority of connected objects will probably not support smart contracts, a very large amount of connected objects are anticipated in the near future, with a total likely to reach 30 billion in 2020, according to McKinsey, the American consulting firm.

The bitcoin is just one of the many systems being developed without concern for their energy impact. In response to the climate issue, their promoters act as if it does not exist, or as if alternative energy solutions existed.

 

An increasingly high price to pay

Yet decarbonizing the energy system is a vast issue, involving major risks. And the proposed technical solutions in this area offer no guarantees of being able to handle the massive and global increase in energy consumption, while still reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Digital technology already accounts for approximately 15% of the national electricity consumption in France, and consumes as much energy, on the global scale, as aviation. Today, nothing suggests that there will be a decrease in the mass to be absorbed, nor is there any indication that digital technology will enable a reduction in consumption, as industrialists in this sector have confirmed (see the publication entitled La Face cachée du numérique – “The hidden face of digital technology”).

The massive decarbonization of energy faces many challenges: the reliability of the many different carbon sequestration techniques proposed, the “energy cannibalism” involved in the launch of renewable energies, which require energy to be manufactured and have technical, social, and political limitations (for example, the various sources of renewable energy require large surface areas, yet the space that could potentially be used is largely occupied)… The challenges are huge.

TeraLab

TeraLab and La Poste have teamed up to fight package fraud

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As a testament to how valuable data is becoming for companies, La Poste-Colissimo has teamed up with researchers from IMT schools to fight fraud. Through the big data platform TeraLab, launched in 2014, this public-private partnership has made it possible to explore algorithmic solutions to optimize fraud detection. This research demonstrates how important modernization is for organizations.

 

Will data centers replace Sherlock Holmes as the stereotype for a detective? That may sound like an absurd question, but it is a legitimate one in light of La Poste-Colissimo’s choice to turn to a big data platform to fight fraud.  Over the eighteen-month period between January 2014 and June 2015, tens of thousands of euros were paid for claims identified as suspected cases of fraud by the company. Hence its desire to modernize its tools and its technical expertise in fraud detection.

As such, in late 2015 the company decided to work with the TeraLab platform at Institut Mines-Télécom (IMT). La Poste-Colissimo saw this as an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: “We were seeking both collaboration to help us overcome our difficulties handling very large volumes of data and the possibility of a rapid return on investment,” explains Philippe Aligon, who is in charge of data analysis for La Poste – Colissimo. Working on detecting fraudulent claims relying on false declarations that packages have been dropped off makes it possible to combine these two objectives.

Teaching algorithms to recognize fraud

TeraLab first worked on “securing datasets, to ensure La Poste-Colissimo that it was a safe work environment,” says Anne-Sophie Taillandier, director of the platform. After this technical and legal step, all files related to proven fraud were sent to TeraLab. This was followed by a phase of statistical learning (machine learning) based on this data. “We proposed a system that inputs the characteristics of the claim: the amount of the claim, the weight of the package, the cause for non-delivery etc.,” explains Jérémie Jakubowicz, head of the data science center at TeraLab. Using this model, and the characteristics of any claim, it is possible to deduce the associated probability of fraud.

To support this learning phase, La Poste – Colissimo provided TeraLab with a sample consisting of archived data about suspicious packages between January 2014 and June 2015. The company’s anti-fraud officers had already ranked each of the cases on a scale from 0 to 4, from fraud that had been proven by internal services to a very low risk of fraud. TeraLab’s role was to reproduce the same ranking using the model developed.

After analyzing the sample, the 500 claims considered to be the most suspicious by algorithms were sent to the experts at La Poste – Colissimo. “We didn’t use the same approach as them at all,” says Jérémie Jakubowicz. “The experts work mainly on a geographical area, whereas we use parameters like the weight of the package or the postcode.” Despite this, there was a 99.8% correlation between the results of the experts and the algorithms. Based on the sample provided, 282 new cases which had been considered non-suspicious by the company were identified as fraudulent by the TeraLab team, and were confirmed as such in retrospect by La Poste – Colissimo.

Towards integration in the company

The company has therefore confirmed successful proof of concept. The algorithmic method works, and in addition to providing faster detection, its automation reduces the costs of detecting fraud on a case-by-case basis. “There are very high expectations for customer, security and IT services,” says Philippe Aligon. The implementation of this fraud detection tool will be integrated in the plan to modernize La Poste – Colissimo’s IT services and in the acquisition of new big data technologies to process data in real time, making it possible to assess claims instantaneously.

Due to the complexity of integrating big data tools, it is not yet possible to implement the algorithm on a large scale. This is not unique to La Poste – Colissimo however, but is a pattern found in many organizations. As Jérémie Jakubowicz explains: “Even when it’s green light ahead on our side, that doesn’t mean that the work’s finished. Using the results and putting it into production are also problems that have to be solved on the company’s side.” A limitation that illustrates the fact that using big data technologies is not just a scientific issue but an organizational one as well.

At La Rotonde, the scientific mediation is based on experiments

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A venue for exhibitions, mediation, and more generally scientific, technical and industrial culture, La Rotonde is a Mines Saint-Étienne center with a difference. Its role is to share knowledge with different audiences, young and old, who are fans of science or simply curious. For its director, Guillaume Desbrosse, this involves first and foremost encouraging an interest in science, and allowing each individual to apply the investigatory process. For this purpose, La Rotonde bases all its mediations on experiments.

 

“I never should have come here“. These are words that no cultural center mediator wants to hear from the public. Guillaume Desbrosse, director of the La Rotonde Center for Scientific, Technical and Industrial Culture (CCSTI), in Saint-Étienne, aims to inspire the opposite reaction. “We want visitors to feel included, and to realize that they have an important role at La Rotonde, regardless of the level of their scientific expertise” he advises.

Therefore, in order to be as inclusive as possible, the CCSTI focuses on experiments. So, out with traditional signs and their captions and in with a more hands-on approach. At La Rotonde, no exhibition is set up without experiments for the public to carry out, or without mediators to guide the public in understanding the results obtained from any interaction with scientific tools. Besides more direct contact with science, experiments also make it possible to instate a scientific approach and develop critical thinking. “We place the public in the same position as a researcher in a laboratory” summarizes Guillaume Desbrosse.

The hands-on approach is recognized as an asset at La Rotonde. “It is part of our identity, and appeals to the public” he confirms. Perceiving science as something to be enjoyed is an essential component of the vision of the Saint-Etienne CCSTI. Therefore, discovery is a very strong theme in the activities on offer to the various audiences. Moreover, Guillaume Desbrosse insists that “curiosity never killed the cat, quite the opposite!”

 

La Rotonde, a laboratory of ideas and innovation

The team of nine at La Rotonde is not afraid of taking risks. In 2012, the center devised the “Mondo Minot” exhibition for very young children, returning for a second time between February and November 2016. Open from two years of age, this exhibition is a real gamble. “The cultural activities on offer for preschoolers are scarce enough, but in terms of scientific culture, you could even say it’s a wasteland!” points out Guillaume Desbrosse. He goes on to say: “Nobody opens an exhibition from that age. The minimum age for admission is generally three years, but we have worked on offering inclusion from two years of age.”

In the case of this exhibition, particular thought has gone into the surroundings. The team called on the services of scenography designers to devise an elaborate graphic and immersive environment. A yurt has been set up, and the children can pass from one module to another through a somewhat unusual closet. The narrative and the experiments are constructed based on the five senses, offering a fun and educational introduction to science, suitable for such a young audience.

Therefore, La Rotonde is not hesitant about innovating and developing novel mediation methods. In this regard, it fully warrants its status as the center for scientific culture of Mines Saint-Étienne, the school which is also host to the La Rotonde exhibition area. This proximity with the world of research is “a real asset” according to the director of the CCSTI.

 

The team at La Rotonde bases its mediations on observation and a hands-on approach, which engages even the youngest audience.

 

Bringing the public and researchers closer together

Devising experiment-based scientific popularization programs with mediator guidance is no mean feat. Each practical experiment, each module is developed in close cooperation with researchers. “We are experts in popularization, but not experts in science” Guillaume Desbrosse admits humbly. Scientists are even requested to talk to the public about their specialty. “We want to create a link and interaction between science and society, our job consists of devising cultural mediation models and creating the conditions for this encounter” he continues.

Therefore, the team at La Rotonde prioritizes direct contact between researchers and the public, with in-depth consideration on how they can interact. For, behind all this, the aim is also to break the many stereotypes still used to depict scientists. “It is a long-term undertaking, because there are a lot of preconceived notions out there. In the collective unconscious, a researcher is male, generally older, reserved and has little interaction with the outside world” says the director of La Rotonde regretfully.

 

Restoring the image of science

These misconceptions can be combated by bringing female researchers or young PhD students, for example, to the La Rotonde center, but also involving them off-site programs conducted by the CCSTI for schools. The team thus conducted an experiment. Before a researcher came to talk to students in schools, they asked the children to draw how they imagined a researcher to be. Many had the stereotypical view described above. The students then produced another drawing after the scientist’s visit, for a more realistic result. “Meeting a male or female researcher shatters the myth, and offers an opportunity to broaden the scope of possibilities particularly for girls who find it difficult to see themselves in scientific professions” observes Guillaume Desbrosse.

La Rotonde and its team have set their hearts on building or rebuilding an awareness of research and those involved. Guillaume Desbrosse hopes above all to bridge the gap between science and society: “There is a resistance to science, and innovation. My goal is to develop a cultural habit in all audiences, and encourage interest in science.” Behind this aim lies a wish to build a society based on rational thought. This objective can only be achieved through collective effort, in which La Rotonde very much hopes to play its part.

 

Guillaume Desbrosse, directeur de La Rotonde.Guillaume Desbrosse, mediating between science and the public

With an interest in science from a very young age, Guillaume Desbrosse started his university studies in Poitiers to become a teacher. At that time, he discovered a passion for sharing knowledge and obtained a vocational degree in scientific mediation in Tours. This profession provided him with the contact with the public and science that he was seeking.

He joined La Rotonde in Saint-Étienne as a project manager in 2012. Guillaume Desbrosse subsequently developed his expertise in the field of popularization further with a Master’s degree in scientific communication completed in Grenoble. In 2015, he became director of La Rotonde, with the aim of continuing to innovate to promote the cultural mediation of science.

 

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Le+bleuLa Rotonde, a CCSTI with an active role in society and the region

The movement of Centers for Scientific, Technical and Industrial Culture (CCSTI) started in 1979 in Grenoble with La Casemate. It was followed by the Cité des Sciences in Paris in 1986. More CCSTIs subsequently emerged, including La Rotonde in 1999. This center is the only one to be incorporated in a school of engineering: Mines Saint-Étienne. It offers engineering students a glimpse of the promotion of scientific knowledge and sharing with society.

La Rotonde, like any CCSTI, seeks to play an active role in social and economic development by offering citizens the tools to understand major scientific issues of our times. Its local roots allow it to extend its influence particularly throughout the scientific culture network of its region. La Rotonde heads the network in the French department of the Loire for organizing the “Fête de la Science” science festival, coordinating all the activities in the department associated with this event. In addition to its exhibition area within Mines Saint-Étienne, La Rotonde organizes a large number of off-site activities, for schools, cultural centers, and associations, and receives 40,000 annual visitors.

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Recherche partenariale, Carnot TSN, Carnot M.I.N.E.S., Carnot 3

M.I.N.E.S and Télécom & Société numérique Carnot institutes have again been awarded the Carnot label

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Belles histoires, bouton, CarnotOn July 6th, the Secretary of State for Higher Education and Research, Thierry Mandon, announced the recipients of the Carnot 3 Label. M.I.N.E.S Carnot institute and Télécom & Société numérique Carnot institute were among the winners: having both held the label since 2006, they again earned concrete recognition of the quality of their partnership-based research.

 

 

“I am strongly committed to the Carnot label,” Thierry Mandon reminded the audience at the opening of the annual 17/20 meeting of the Carnot network, before announcing the list of the 29 Carnot institutes that received the label and 9 Carnot Springboards (new in 2016) as part of the Carnot 3 call for proposals. Since 2006, this accreditation has sought to encourage partnerships between public research labs and companies, in order to develop technology transfer and innovation.

After getting very good assessments from the National Agency for Research (ANR) for the Carnot 2 period (2012/2015), the two Carnot institutes of Institut Mines-Télécom received confirmation of their quality label for partnership-based research. In practical terms, this Carnot 3 will result in a financial contribution awarded over a period of several years, aimed at supporting the professionalization of corporate relations departments, the internationalization of partnerships, and upstream research.

 

The 2 Institut Mines-Télécom’s Carnots :

Find out more about M.I.N.E.S. Carnot institute, composed of six Mines schools, as well as some teams from Ecole Polytechnique and ENSTA Paris Tech, in partnership with the contract research organization Armines.

Find out more about Télécom & Société Numérique Carnot institute, which encompasses Télécom ParisTech, Télécom Bretagne, Télécom SudParis, Télécom Ecole de Management, Eurecom, Télécom Saint-Etienne, Télécom Physique Strasbourg, two Ecole Polytechnique labs and Strate Design.

 

PLEASE NOTE!

The next Carnot meeting will be the corporate meetings on October 5 and 6, 2016 in Lyon, with the objective of presenting the partnership offering in the area of R&D between the institutes and companies, from SME-SMI to large corporate groups.

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The Carnot label

Carnot 3, Carnot M.I.N.E.S., Carnot TSN

The Carnot label, created in 2006, is aimed at developing partnership-based research, conducting research studies led by public laboratories in partnership with socioeconomic stakeholders, primarily companies (from SMEs to large corporate groups), in order to address their needs.

The Carnot label is awarded to public research structures, Carnot institutes, which simultaneously carry out upstream research activities, enabling the renewal of their scientific and technological skills, while also committing to a proactive policy in the area of partnership-based research that benefits the socioeconomic worlds. The Ministry for Research awards the label to Carnot institutes following a very selective call for applications.[/box]

 

Réseaux sociaux : comment les professionnels les utilisent ?

The use of social networks by professionals

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The proliferation of social networks is prompting professional users to create an account on each network. Researchers from Télécom SudParis wanted to find out how professionals use these different platforms, and whether or not the information they post is the same for all the networks. Their results, based on combined activity on Google+, Facebook and Twitter, have been available online since last June, and in December 2016 will be published in the scientific journal, Social Network Analysis and Mining.

 

 

Athletes, major brands, political figures, singers and famous musicians are all increasingly active on social networks, with the aim of increasing their visibility. So much so, that they have become very professional in their ways of using platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Reza Farahbakhsh, a researcher at Télécom SudParis, took a closer look at the complementarity of different social networks. He studied how these users handle posting the same message on one or more of the three platforms mentioned above.

This work, carried out with Noël Crespi (Télécom SudParis) and Ángel Cuevas (Carlos III University of Madrid) showed that 25% of the messages posted on Facebook or Google+ by professional users are also posted on one of the two other social networks. On the other hand, only 3% of tweets appeared on Google+ or Facebook. This result may be explained by the fact that very active users, who publish a lot of messages, find Twitter to be a more appropriate platform.

Another quantitative aspect of this research is that on average, a professional user who cross-posts the same content on different social networks will use the Facebook-Twitter combination 70% of the time, but not Google+. When used as a support platform for duplications, Google+ is associated with Facebook. Yet, ironically, more users post on the three social networks than solely on Google+ and Twitter.

 

Semantic analysis for information retrieval

To measure these values, the researchers first had to identify influential accounts on all three platforms. 616 users were therefore identified. The team then developed software that enabled them to find the posts from all the accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ by taking advantage of these platforms’ programming interfaces. All in all, 2 million public messages were collected by data shuffling.

Following this operation, semantic analysis algorithms were used to identify similar content among the same user’s messages on different platforms. To avoid bias linked to the recurrence of certain habits among users, the algorithms were configured only to search for identical content within a one-week period before and after the message being studied.

 

Cross-posts are more engaging for the target audience

In addition to retrieving information about message content, researchers also measured the number of likes and shares (or retweets) for each message that was collected. This allowed them to measure whether or not cross-posting on several social networks had an impact on fans or followers engaging with the message’s content — in other words, whether or not there would be more likes on Twitter or shares on Facebook for a cross-posted publication than for one that was not cross-posted.

Since the practice of sharing information on other networks is used to better reach an audience, it was fairly predictable that cross-posts on Twitter and Facebook would be more engaging. Researchers therefore observed that, on average, a post initiated on Facebook and reposted on another platform would earn 39% more likes, 32% more comments and 21% more shares than a message that was not cross-posted. For a post initiated on Twitter, the advantage was even greater, with 2.47 times more likes and 2.1 times more shares.

However, the team observed a reverse trend for Google+. A post initiated on this social network and reposted on Twitter or Facebook would barely achieve half the likes earned by a message that was not cross-posted, and one third of the comments and shares. A professional Google+ user would therefore be better off not cross-posting his message on other social networks.

Since this work involves quantitative, and not sociological analysis, Reza Farahbakhsh humbly acknowledges that these last results on public engagement are up for discussion. “One probable hypothesis is that a message posted on Facebook and Twitter has more content than a message that is not cross-posted, therefore resulting in a greater public response,” the researcher suggests.

 

Which platform is the primary source of publication?

Social networks, Noël Crespi

50% of professional users use Facebook as the initial publication source.

On average, half of professional users use Facebook as the initial cross-publication source. 45% prefer Twitter, and only 5% use Google+ as the primary platform. However, the researchers specify that “5.3% of cross-posts are published at the same time,” revealing the use of an automatic and simultaneous publication method on at least two of the three platforms.

 

Although this work does not explain what might motivate the initial preference for a particular network, it does, however, reveal a difference in content, based on which platform is chosen first. For instance, researchers observed that professionals who preferred Twitter posted mostly text content, with links to sites other than social networks, with content that did not change significantly when reposted on another platform. On the other hand, users who preferred Facebook published more audio-visual content, including links to other social platforms.

This quantitative analysis provides a better understanding of the communication strategies used by professional users. To take this research a step further, Reza Farahbakhsh and Noël Crespi would now like to concentrate on how certain events influence public reactions to the posts. This topic could provide insight and guide the choices of politicians during election campaigns, for example, or improve our understanding of how a competition like the Olympic Games may affect an athlete’s popularity.

 

french tech ticket 660x330

French Tech Ticket : IMT incubators go global!

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The incubators at Télécom Bretagne, Télécom SudParis and Télécom Business School have been selected for the second edition of the French Tech Ticket operation. This international program allows foreign start-ups to be hosted by the incubators at these IMT schools over a 12-month period.

 

70. That’s the number of foreign start-ups that will be hosted from January 2017 by the 41 French incubators selected by the French Tech label as part of the French Tech Ticket program. The hosted entrepreneurs will develop their projects over the course of 12 months, while attending masterclasses and being mentored. The start-ups will also benefit from €45,000 in financial assistance provided by the program.

Among the incubators selected are those at Télécom Bretagne (in Brest and in Rennes), and Télécom & Management SudParis — the incubator of the two Evry schools. The firms selected to be hosted by these sites will benefit from an ecosystem of excellence. The survival rate of start-ups supported by the institute is 89% after 5 years, compared to the national average of 71% after 3 years.

Incubators and campuses that are already global

According to Godefroy Beauvallet, Director of Innovation at Institut Mines-Télécom (IMT), the nomination of incubators in Brittany and the south of Paris comes thanks to the schools already being internationalized. “At Télécom Bretagne, 64% of our PhD students are international students” he explained. On a broader level, 34% of students at IMT schools are international students.

“We already have this international attractiveness in the area of training. We also have this in research through our international partnerships; and with our position in programs such as the French Tech Ticket, we now have this attractiveness in the area of innovation.” added Godefroy Beauvallet. The nomination of these incubators therefore represents an additional asset in the Institute’s international development, creating value.

That’s because behind this operation, connections are formed and knowledge and skills are shared. According to the Director of Innovation, the relationships forged between foreign and French companies are never only one-sided. The proximity of the start-ups in the incubators can lead to the restructuring of teams as well as new projects. Finally, the “connections created in France represent numerous collaborations and potential partnerships, even several years after the hosting phase” concludes Godefroy Beauvallet.

Find out more on Télécom Bretagne’s participation
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Le+bleu

Discover the second edition of the French Tech Ticket operation:

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Electronic voting, Télécom SudParis, Annals of Telecommunications

Remote electronic voting – a scientific challenge

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Although electronic voting machines have begun to appear at polling stations, many technological barriers still hinder the development of these platforms that could enable us to vote remotely via the Internet. The scientific journal, Annals of Telecommunications, dedicated its July-August 2016 issue to this subject. Paul Gibson, a researcher at Télécom SudParis, and guest editor of this edition, co-authored an article presenting the scientific challenges in this area.

 

In France, Germany, the United States and elsewhere, 2016 and 2017 will be important election years. During these upcoming elections, millions of electors will be called upon to make their voices heard. In this era of major digital transformation, will the upcoming elections be the first to feature remote electronic voting? Probably not, despite the support for this innovation around the world – specifically to facilitate the participation of persons with reduced mobility.

Yet this service presents many scientific challenges. The scientific journal, Annals of Telecommunications, dedicated its 2016 July-August issue to the topic. Paul Gibson, a computer science researcher at Télécom SudParis, co-authored an introductory article providing an overview of the latest developments in remote electronic voting, or e-voting. The article presented the scientific obstacles researchers have yet to overcome.

To be clear, this refers to voting from home via a platform that can be accessed using everyday digital tools (computers, tablets and smartphones), because, although electronic voting machines already exist, they do not dispense electors with having to be physically present at the polling stations.

The main problem stems from the balance that will have to be struck between parameters that are not easily reconciled. An effective e-voting system must enable electors to log onto the online service securely, guarantee their anonymity, and enable them to make sure their vote has been recorded and correctly counted. In the event of an error, the system must also enable electors to correct the vote without revealing their identity. From a technical point of view, researchers themselves remain undecided about the feasibility of this type of solution.

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Attitudes of certain European countries toward remote e-voting

infographie europe vote electronique

Yellow: envisaging E-voting; Red: have rejected E-voting; Blue: experimenting with E-voting on a small scale (e.g. in France for expatriates); Green: have adopted E-voting; Purple: demands (from citizens) to implement remote voting

Source of data: A review of E-voting: the past, present and future, July 2016
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Security and trust remain crucial in e-voting

Even if this type of system becomes a reality, scientists stress the problems posed by a vote taking place outside of government-run venues. “If voters cast their ballots in unmonitored environments, it is reasonable to ask ‘what would prevent individuals with malicious intent from being present and forcing voters to do as they say?’” ask the researchers.

Technological responses exist, in the form of completely verifiable end-to-end computer systems capable of preventing forced voting. They can be combined with cutting-edge cryptographic techniques to ensure the secrecy of the vote. Unfortunately, these security measures make using the system more complex for voters. This makes the voting process more difficult and could be counterproductive, since the primary goal of the e-voting system is to reduce abstentions and encourage more citizens to participate in the election.

In addition, such encrypted and verifiable end-to-end solutions do not guarantee secure authentication. This requires governments to distribute electronic identification keys and implies that electors trust their government system, which is not always the case. However, a decentralized system would open the door to viruses and other malicious software.

 

Electronic voting – a societal issue

Electors and organizers must also trust the network used to transmit the data. Although the Internet seems like the most obvious choice for an operation of this scale, it is also the most dangerous. “The use of a public network like the Internet makes it very difficult to protect a system against denial-of-service attacks,” warns Paul Gibson and his co-authors.

The idea of trust reveals underlying social concerns relating to new voting techniques. The long road ahead of scientists is not only paved with technological constraints. For example, there is not yet any established scientific consensus on the real consequences of e-voting on increasing civic participation and reducing abstentions.

Similarly, although certain economic studies suggest that this type of solution could reduce election costs, this still must be counterbalanced through cost analyses for the construction, use and maintenance of a remote e-voting system. The issue therefore not only raises questions in the area of information and communication sciences, but also in the humanities and social sciences. There is no doubt that this subject will continue to fascinate researchers for some time to come.