JEAN-FRANÇOIS VINCHANT EPIC BRIEFING
Who are your main customers?
If you started again, what would you do differently?
your chosen domain can impact society. It’s this sense of purpose that will help you go to work with a smile each day and give you the resilience to carry on when things get tough.
AC
AC
In the aeronautic space and defence application, we work mainly with private companies but
I bought SEDI-ATI at the age of 54, and maybe I should have done it earlier. On the other hand, I’m very
JV
JV
also with public institutions such as French Government Defence Agency. The same applies to the nuclear energy sector where we have close relations with CEA, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. In the medical sector, we provide private med-tech companies with fibre optic solutions for instrumentation based on fluorescence spectroscopy analysis for diagnostic applications, as well as solutions for laser therapy applications, particularly in phlebology, dermatology, urology, and gynaecology. We also have close relations with research institutions for whom we design and prototype complex optical fibre assemblies for use in ground and underwater telescopes, particle accelerators, dosimetry monitoring, and more recently for quantum photonics, where our fibres are needed for cryogenic environments.
happy with where I am now, and you can only take opportunities when they present themselves.
What’s your advice for the next generation of entrepreneurs?
AC
I think the first thing you need to do is determine which societal issues you are passionate about,
JV
e.g., medical, climate change, energy etc, and then think about the technology you need to tackle those problems. CTOs think about the technology, but as a CEO, you need to have a clear vision about how
Jean-François VINCHANT, CEO and President of SEDI-ATI Fibres Optiques
How do you see the future?
AC
By the end of 2022, it had become apparent that to remain competitive and be seen as a
JV
serious player by our big customers, SEDI-ATI would have to expand via external growth. I therefore took the decision in July 2023, to sell part of my majority shareholding to Yotta Capital Partners (YCP) as a way of securing the necessary investment. I’m still the CEO of the company, but under the agreement with YCP, who are now the majority shareholder, a strategic committee has been formed to oversee future company policy. We are now aiming to increase our turnover to €10 million by 2026, and we have already started new programs to achieve this. The main one is our participation in the ESA’s Ariane 6 vehicle launch project, for which we are building several components. After we’ve finished the qualification, we will go into the production phase for the several launches planned between 2024 and 2029. We are also involved in the French 3F2E (French Fibre Field for Extreme Environment) project, which involves development of special optical fibres with metallic and/or carbon coatings that are radiation resistant. These fibres will be used in optical sensors in nuclear environments, more specifically for nuclear dismantlement and for the new generation of small modular reactors (SMRs).
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ISSUE 36 | Q1 2024
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