Press release

Sylvain Boucher, Veolia’s Delegate for France, was unanimously elected by the Board of Directors at the end of France Water Team’s General Assembly held in Montpellier today, Friday, September 17th, 2021, to succeed Anne Ribayrol-Flesch. He will lead France Water Team’s activities for the next two years, with the aim of consolidating the development of the water specialty ecosystem and its competitiveness, both at the regional level, with the three founding clusters*, and at the national, European and international levels.
A graduate of the École normale supérieure de la rue d’Ulm, the École nationale des ponts et chaussées, the University of Paris VI and the University of Orsay, Sylvain Boucher (59) joined Veolia Environnement in 2007, first in the Water Division, and then at the end of 2009 as a director reporting to the CEO and secretary to the Executive Committee, after 20 years of service to public authorities and the State in the fields of transportation, housing, land use planning and construction. Deputy to the interdepartmental delegate for the development of housing supply at the Ministry of Employment, Social Cohesion and Housing, he joined the General Directorate for Urban Planning, Housing and Construction at the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Planning in 2006. Chief engineer of the Ponts et Chaussées, he began his career in 1988 at Matra transports where he participated in the development of the automatic light vehicle (metro). Elected in 2015 to the presidency of the AQUA-VALLEY competitiveness cluster, Sylvain Boucher was appointed to the board of directors of France Water Team when the cluster was created in 2019, as Deputy Chairman. Since 2021, he has also chaired the French Association of Environmental Engineers and Technicians (Afite).
“We are in the process of emerging from a long and complicated health context that has strongly impacted our working environments, underlines Sylvain Boucher, President of France Water Team. The economic and human impacts have not yet been fully identified, but they will be significant for the entire French and international economy. Like other industries, the water ecosystem is mainly composed of start-ups, small and medium-sized businesses, along with ETIs, large companies and research and training institutions, all of which collectively make up the internationally recognized French water school, which is so dear to us. It irrigates the territories and our mission as an intermediary body is to federate them, to help them and to accompany them, with regional and national institutions, in their main concern: the return to the market and their development. It is a great pride, with AQUA-VALLEY, DREAM Eau & Milieux and HYDREOS, to invest and engage with all members of our specialty ecosystem, with the support of our regional partners, to advise them in the mobilization of funding for regional, national or European plans for recovery and transformation. Our objective is to structure, animate and develop the specialty ecosystem, which collectively constitute the companies and institutions, to enable them: to stay ahead by developing, alone or together, new processes, products and innovative services, to identify and mobilize the levers of their growth, to open, expand and develop their market at national and international level. The governance of France Water Team, with directors who reflect the diversity and richness of our industry, is resolutely committed to this goal and they will be our ambassadors in the Regions, in France and internationally.”
*AQUA-VALLEY, DREAM Eau & Milieux and HYDREOS
France Water Team, serving the French water industry
France Water Team was created in 2019 by the AQUA-VALLEY, DREAM Eau & Milieux and HYDREOS clusters to optimize their cooperation and pool their resources and skills. France Water Team constitutes a complete ecosystem dedicated to innovation and intends to impose the excellence of the French water sector in Europe and internationally. With 457 members – including 400 companies of all sizes and research and training institutions involved in the water sector – the France Water Team competitiveness cluster has supported 229 projects since its creation, with the aim of developing solutions to meet the challenges of the future: resilience of resources to climate change, the fight against emerging pollution, the renewal of infrastructure through “intelligent” water networks, the energy and ecological transition, and the digital transition of the water industry. The cluster organizes 40 events each year, half of which are held in the regions, in close proximity to local water stakeholders.
About France Water Team
The France Water Team association, labelled by the French State on February 5th, 2019 as a Water Industry Competitiveness Cluster, brings together the ambitions of AQUA-VALLEY, DREAM Eau & Milieux and HYDREOS under a federative model. Together they serve the innovation challenges of the water sector, which are the preservation of water quality and the management of water quantity.
This federative organization allows to further support the innovation and growth objectives of water SMEs in France, Europe and internationally, and to develop a better interface with the institutional players at these three levels.
The federation preserves the territorial anchoring of the 3 structures AQUA-VALLEY, DREAM Eau & Milieux and HYDREOS and their involvement in the economic life of the regions Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée, Sud Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Centre – Val de Loire and Grand Est. At the heart of the federation’s action, the links with their members, partners and local financiers are always the priority.
France Water Team forms an innovation ecosystem of 457 members, including 400 companies of all sizes and specialties and 57 research and training institutions, in constant interaction.
More information on: https://france-water-team.com/
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