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Thales Solidarity Programme

Technology and innovation to serve three focus areas

The Thales Solidarity programme supports initiatives across the Group that aim to leverage innovation and technology to serve three focus areas, which draw on Thales’s culture, expertise and ambitions:

  • Education and professional integration, to promote science education and facilitate access to the training and jobs of the future
  • Digital citizenship, to encourage responsible use of digital technology and prevent risks for individual citizens and for society
  • Environmental protection, to improve prevention and the resilience of populations to critical environmental risks and to encourage the creation of local solutions

The projects supported aim to provide underprivileged groups or those in at-risk areas with more equal opportunities. 
 


Education and professional integration

To make the scientific and technical skills of the future accessible to all

The technological revolution and the urgency of climate change have made it critical to speed up the development of scientific and technical skills in a time when basic maths and science knowledge, as well as interest in scientific careers, are declining and continue to show a significant gender gap: only 35% of higher education students studying STEM subjects are women (UNESCO 2017).

The use of digital technology in education is now indispensable, calling for a complete rethink of our approaches to teaching to ensure that students acquire skills they can use for the rest of their lives. But remote learning is still out of reach for at least 500 million students (UN Statistics Division).

The next generation, in all its diversity, must develop a solid foundation of digital knowledge and be able to innovate and create collective solutions in order to play a responsible role in sustainable development. 

617 million

youth around the world lack basic maths and reading skills.

Only 3%

of ICT (Information Communication Technology) graduates worldwide are women

WE SUPPORT
  • Science and technology teaching and the creation of a culture of innovation
  • Professional development and access to science and technology careers 
  • Classroom innovation to prepare for the world of the future
FOR THE BENEFIT OF
  • Children and youth from underprivileged areas or who struggle in school and girls who self-select out of STEM careers
  • Teachers and those responsible for career development and training
  • People who are excluded from the job market or in retraining

Some projects and charities we support

Training Mexican public school teachers in digital and scientific skills

This project is led by Movimiento STEM, a Mexican charity whose mission is to develop, connect and promote STEM education in Latin America. With the Thales Solidarity programme’s support, the project’s goal is to provide online training sessions for public school teachers in Mexico, supporting them in deploying a teaching approach that promotes and develops STEAM skills for students.

This project, sponsored by Patricia N. (Mexico City, Mexico), was a winner of the Thales Solidarity 2021 call for employee projects.

Most teachers in Mexican public schools have little knowledge of science and digital technology, even as these skills become indispensable in the world of work.

Based on this observation, the project offers a learning framework for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) for teachers. The 40-hour online training, spread over three months, together with the support of a mentor, explores how to approach solving an innovation challenge in six steps in the classroom, while developing digital, scientific and creativity skills and instilling an inclusive, holistic mindset. The aim is that teachers will eventually be able to apply the STEAM methodology to their students in order to develop 21st century skills including digital literacy, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. The project targets 32 primary school teachers from Mexico City neighbourhoods and, indirectly, around 3,200 students aged 6 to 12. Movimiento STEM aims to promote STEAM education in Mexico and Latin America and ultimately influence public policy.

The valuable contribution of Thales STEM Ambassadors in the United Kingdom

In recent years, Thales in the UK has been working with Primary Engineer to deliver STEM outreach to schoolchildren nationwide. With the support of Thales UK STEM Ambassadors, the partnership works with teachers to inspire the next generation to consider careers in STEM. 

This initiative is supported by employee skills-based volunteering.

This partnership includes several activities. Each year, a panel including Thales UK STEM Ambassadors  grades and shortlists entries for the “If I was an Engineer” competition, which invites students from primary and secondary schools to identify a problem in the world around them and propose an engineered solution. In another initiative, Ambassadors partner with teachers to help them develop the skills they need to talk to their students with confidence about STEM. Over the 2019-20 academic year, 20 Ambassadors worked with over 500 students across 15 schools close to the Thales sites in Cheadle and Belfast. 

Enabling dyspraxic children to realise their full potential at school with digital tools

The charity Le Cartable Fantastique fights for equal opportunities and school inclusion for children with disabilities, and in particular dyspraxia, by developing educational materials and digital tools, available free of charge on its website. 

This charity is supported by the MicroDON payroll giving programme in France.


Digital citizenship

Giving everyone access to digital technology

The digital transformation has created new inequalities in access to technology and information about its use which prevent some citizens from exercising their online rights and fulfilling their responsibilities. Indeed, 48% of the world’s population still does not have internet access, and 17% of European citizens have no computer skills at all. The digital divide is also accentuating vulnerabilities to various risks – fake news, cyberattacks, personal data theft – and brings with it the responsibility to ensure that all citizens have the education and training they need to protect themselves from the dangers of the digital world. 

48%

of the world's population does not have Internet access

57%

of European citizens have basic computer skills, while 17% have none at all

WE SUPPORT
  • Responsible use of digital technology to mitigate personal and societal risks
  • Digital inclusion through basic skills acquisition 
  • Citizen engagement in society through non-profit tech solutions
FOR THE BENEFIT OF
  • The groups most affected by the digital divide: the elderly, rural populations, the disabled, and vulnerable and socially excluded groups 

  • People exposed to digital risks
  • Civil society organisations engaged in promoting participatory citizenship

Some projects and associations we support

Even though mastery of digital tools is seen as an essential key to social and professional integration, the 140,000 people supported by social insertion agencies in France lack these skills, heightening their exclusion from the job market and their vulnerability. As an extension of the programme supported by Thales Solidarity in 2021, the Défi Insertion project aims to open up digital opportunities to employees hired under social insertion programmes to enable them to acquire the minimum digital skills that they need for their social and professional integration, by providing them with tools and training and working with the agencies supporting their social insertion.

Pilot project supported by the Thales Solidarity Fund in 2021 and 2022.

Digital technologies to confront prejudice, promote community engagement and build digital capacities

This initiative, led by the Association internationale de mobilisation pour l'égalité (AIME), aims to fight against the cultural and technical barriers associated with digital technology. Run in collaboration with partner NGOs in various countries, interactive workshops will bring together 90 young people to raise their awareness about digital citizenship and interculturality. Complementary e-volunteering missions will strengthen the digital capacities of partner organisations in Asia, Africa and Latin America. 

This project, sponsored by Emilien B. (Vélizy-les-Bois, France), was a winner of the Thales Solidarity 2021 call for employee projects. Thales employees can also contribute to this initiative through e-volunteer missions.

Narrowing the digital divide for isolated communities affected by humanitarian crises

In 2021, Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) teams provided assistance to victims of severe flooding in western Germany and the powerful earthquake in Haiti last August. They set up high-speed satellite connections to provide rapid assistance to victims and facilitate the work of rescue organisations such as the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders (MSF). They also continued to provide assistance to people on migration routes in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Central America and at the Lesbos refugee camp in Greece. 

Since 2016, Thales employees in France have been supporting Télécoms Sans Frontières through the French payroll giving programme MicroDON.


Environmental protection

Supporting the ecological transition

The climate emergency, the depletion of natural resources and the loss of biodiversity are more critical than ever before. New digital technologies are not neutral: the share of digital technology in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions represents 3% to 4% (The Shift Project, 2021) and, according to a 2020 report by the UN, e-waste has increased by 21% in just five years. Collaboration with civil society can yield myriad solutions, such as developing low-tech citizen technology that consumes less energy, repurposing hardware and software for environmental solutions and using data science to analyse critical situations. 

3 times

more natural disasters in the last 30 years due to climate change and biodiversity loss

4%

of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by the use of digital technology 

WE SUPPORT
  • Populations’ resilience to environmental risks
  • Environmental damage prevention and management
  • The creation of local, low-tech, non-profit solutions
FOR THE BENEFIT OF
  • People in areas most impacted by environmental damage and risks 
  • Those involved in raising citizen awareness of environmental issues 
  • Civil society actors developing impactful solutions, including students, scientists, social entrepreneurs and more

Some projects and associations we support

Raising awareness of environmental issues and the importance of pollinators in the Auriol area

The Association Eco-citoyens de la Vallée de l’Huveaune works in and around the town of Auriol to protect the environment, through projects such as shared gardens, beekeeping and waste elimination. This project aims more specifically to set up two new smart apiaries  both to collect data for participatory research but also to raise awareness among children and the general public about environmental issues and the preservation of bees.

This project, sponsored by Laurence L. (La Ciotat, France), was a winner of the Thales Solidarity 2021 call for employee projects.

Getting Thales employees involved in Tech for Good

Our partner Latitudes offers Thales France employees the opportunity to take part in a short course to learn more about the social and environmental issues associated with digital technology. Through informational emails and an online training session, the course tackles the various facets of digital technology and identifies ways to take action for more responsible, diverse, human-friendly, committed, accessible and citizen-friendly technology. For example, on the subject of responsible technology, they recommend ways to limit environmental impact and imagine technologies that are more energy efficient and respectful of life. 

The Thales Solidarity charitable fund supports Latitudes’s Tech for Good Enthusiasts pilot project. These sessions are offered through the skill-based volunteering programme.

Protecting the forest and human beings around the world

The charity Cœur de Forêt aims to preserve the forest and its biodiversity by supporting local populations in implementing sustainable agriculture and forestry and by restoring ecosystems in degraded forests (France, Madagascar, Bolivia and Indonesia) 

This charity is funded through the MicroDON payroll giving programme in France.


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