Station Flins, RE-FACTORY’s incubator, opens its doors
Published on
It’s official, Station Flins is born. Welcome to the innovation center of the regenerative economy by RE-FACTORY, where Groupe Renault and its partners will imagine and develop together a more sustainable mobility.
It is 8:30 am when the 150 or so partners - startups, industrialists, researchers, trainers - gather for the official launch of Station Flins on Thursday 4 March. Although many of them are connected remotely, given the sanitary context, it is at the heart of RE-FACTORY in Flins near Paris that they will develop together innovative solutions based on the circular economy. By pooling the resources, technologies and knowledge of each, from this year onwards, the partners will be working on a number of RE-FACTORY projects: vehicle retrofitting, recycling of parts, materials and electric batteries, and training for new jobs emerging from the mobility of tomorrow.
Hind Arbaoui, Open Innovation Director, Groupe Renault, tells us more.
[caption id="attachment_29932267" align="aligncenter" width="555"] Hind Arbaoui, directeur Open Innovation, Groupe Renault [/caption]
What is behind the Station Flins concept?
"It is a place for sharing resources and expertise between partners committed to building tomorrow's mobility. A greener and more sustainable mobility. To understand this, Station Flins must be placed in the context of RE-FACTORY, which is the first European circular economy site with the objective of being carbon-negative by 2030. When we worked on developing its economic model last year, it seemed obvious to us that the key to the success would be the implementation of an open innovation ecosystem. And a guarantee of speed in execution.
As part of the RE-FACTORY Flins project, we have joined forces with Movin'On Lab, a "think and do" tank bringing together more than 300 mobility players. It therefore seemed natural to us to take them on board with us in the Station Flins adventure."
On which specific topics will you collaborate with the partners?
"We have identified several of them which are at the heart of the RE-FACTORY business model and are represented within the four poles: RE-CYCLE, RE-ENERGY, RE-TROFIT and RE-START.
From March 4th and the inauguration of Station Flins, we are starting to work very concretely on a selection of subjects relating to each of these clusters.
For RE-TROFIT, we are going to look into ways of creating a competitive technical and economic offer for reconversion from thermal vehicles to EVs for the consumer market.
On the RE-NERGY side, we are going to look into questions relating to the second life of batteries, for example: what new uses can we develop? Which ones make the most sense and which are the most profitable?
For RE-CYCLE, our wish is to set up a marketplace of parts to be recycled. Within this marketplace, we will have to think about how we can optimize what goes in - i.e. maximize the collect of vehicles, carcasses and waste - and what goes out: identify the outlets for each part or material. We are currently in discussion with a startup, Inex, which has set up such a marketplace and which presents itself as the "Waste Tinder". They have a nice phrase that says: "One man's waste is another man's resource". And that's what we want to do in the end.
Finally, as far as the RE-START center is concerned, we have decided to focus on training. Bearing the idea that in this reconversion project and beyond training on current jobs, we must also think about training programs for all the new jobs that will emerge with circular economy."
What will make Station Flins specific?
"Today there are more than 300 accelerator/incubators. So it is quite legitimate to raise the question of Station Flins’ comparative advantage.
The first one is that Station Flins is at the center of RE-FACTORY, in other words at the heart of an industrial facility. We will be able to look for value together, and, above all, we will carry out permanent "test & learn" on site, "in vivo" as it were. For example, we are going to set up a garage - with 3D means - semi-industrial booths... We will be on the factory lines to industrialize new products... In other words, we will test together the technologies and processes linked to these new professions.
The fact that we are situated in a factory immediately puts us in a concrete situation. With this incubator we offer a "unique package", which is to be involved in concrete projects that will have real applications in the field. Because if we need to dream, we also want to act.
Another strong point of Station Flins is that it is in the "blue ocean" zone (in reference to “The Blue Ocean Strategy”). While the automobile industry is a beautiful red ocean, in which it is becoming increasingly difficult to find one's place with the intensity of competition, RE-FACTORY is a perfect example of the search for blue oceans, where everything remains to be created.
And finally, a third comparative advantage is the multi-corporate character claimed by Station Flins. Groupe Renault certainly initiated the incubator project, but once launched, it becomes an actor like any other. If we want to change things, if we want to succeed in turning the wheel in a significant way to switch to a new form of economy, the response must be systemic and massive. And to achieve this, we need a strong collective, where everyone brings their own contribution to the edifice. Together, we will invent new sectors, new value chains, and everyone will have to find their place in the process of co-innovation."