Sustainability at Thales

Thales Solidarity programme

At Thales, we actively encourage young people to pursue careers in science through Thales Solidarity, our community engagement programme. The programme is backed by a charitable fund in France, relies on the dedication and generosity of our people and includes initiatives supported by Group entities all over the world.

Thales is at the heart of the world's major scientific innovations. Through the prism of its activities and its various businesses, the Group observes every day the essential role that science and technology play in human progress and the world’s sustainability. However, vocations for scientific and technical careers are not up to the challenge, and we still deplore a certain lack of curiosity and knowledge among the general public. Our conviction is that progress in this field must be inclusive and benefit the entire population. In other words: scientific and technical careers should be accessible to all.

Our mission: demystifying STEM and inspiring vocations

Through our Thales Solidarity programme, we aim to promote science and technology to all communities, particularly those that are the most distant from it:

By supporting young students’ careers and inspiring vocations through the STEM* for ALL programme;
by raising young students’ awareness of STEM (especially the most excluded) through employee commitment;
and by bringing science and technology to the wider public

*Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

STEM for ALL award

Each year, 50 students are selected to receive a grant of 5,000 euros and a year of support from Thales mentors. True 'Vocation Makers,' the mentors provide them with an in-depth understanding of what it means to work in a company and in the STEM field.

More about STEM for ALL and how to apply

Employee commitment

Thales Group, with its 83,000 employees, represents a true wealth of knowledge in both STEM and other fields. The Thales Solidarity programme facilitates the commitment of employees, who are keen to share their know-how and experience of the Group's various businesses, by offering different ways of mobilising.

Employees can get involved in two ways:

by sharing their expertise through volunteer missions such as mentoring young people and promoting STEM awareness,
by taking part in solidarity initiatives such as the MicroDON payroll giving programme (‘Arrondi sur salaire’) in France, one-off fund-raising events or donations in kind on Giving Tuesday.

Through its global initiatives to remove some of the mystery around science and technology, Thales is inspiring young people to pursue careers in STEM, helping to bring through the next generation of engineers and scientists.

Amélie Ravier - Managing Director, Thales Solidarity

Volunteer engagement

Our employees are encouraged to share their skills in STEM with young people and distant public. They are also invited to support young people in their schooling and career orientation.

Elles Bougent is an association that encourages young women to choose careers in industry and technology. More than 500 female Thales employees share their experience with young talents by giving talks in schools or inviting pupils and students to Thales establishments.

Elles Bougent

Technovation Girls is an international competition that encourages girls aged 10 to 18 to develop their innovative skills and interest in technology. Working with mentors, they learn in teams to code and design mobile applications to provide solutions to their community and global challenges. A final event celebrates the best solutions and teams, chosen by a local jury.

Technovation Girls

Organised by Primary Engineers, the competition invites pupils aged 3 to 19 to imagine what problem they would like to solve if they were an engineer, and to create an engineer's drawing and letter to explain their ideas and inventions. Thales employees are invited to talk to the class about their profession, to inspire them, and then to help judge the entries.

Primary Engineers

This workshop, run by the Latitudes association, raises awareness among middle and high school students of the issues and professions involved in the digital world through a two-hour immersive workshop. Through a collaborative card game, teenagers are invited to ask themselves questions about their digital uses, to understand their social and environmental impacts, and to adopt responsible practices.

Future of Tech programme Latitudes

MicroDON payroll giving programme

Employees in France can take part in the payroll giving programme, an innovative fund-raising tool that allows them to donate cents from their salary, with an option to donate up to 10 euros each month, to support an associative project. Thales supports them by matching their donations. The amounts collected are paid in full to the beneficiary associations chosen by the employees.

The 11 associations financed by the MicroDON payroll giving programme in France ('Arrondi sur salaire') :

Latitudes
La main à la pâte
Le Bleuet de France
Bibliothèques Sans Frontières
Cartable Fantastique
Cœur de Forêt
e-Enfance
Planète Urgence
Pour un Sourire d’Enfant
Secours Populaire
Télécoms Sans Frontières

+3 million euros

collected since the launch of the MicroDON payroll giving programme (2016)

Partners and projects financed by the Thales Solidarity Charitable Fund

Thales Solidarity participated in the IPhO 2025 as a Sponsor (Platinum), and awarded five Thales "STEM for All" prizes to students who have distinguished themselves by their great motivation for STEM despite the social challenges they face.

First held in 1967, the International Physics Olympiad is the world’s most prestigious physics competition for young people under twenty. It brings together over a thousand participants from nearly 90 countries to celebrate physics and support the students who will shape the science of tomorrow. The 2025 edition, which took place in France, brought together nearly 400 young people from all over the world, around very high-level physics papers.

More about Thales Solidarity and the 2025 IPhO

Agir pour l'École, an association committed to school support, provides volunteer teachers with paper and digital pedagogical tools. These tools comply with the recommendations of researchers in educational sciences and cognitive psychology.

Thales Solidarity supports the deployment of the project "Agir pour les Maths”, for children aged 5 to 6, which aims to combat early school failure by giving all children the necessary foundations for learning mathematics and science.

Agir pour l’École

Partners and projects supported by various entities across the Group

The mission of ‘Elles Bougent’ is to promote gender diversity in industrial and technological companies by encouraging girls to choose technical professions. It puts female mentors in touch with schoolgirls and female students to promote scientific and technical professions, and demonstrate that these careers are accessible to women.

Elles Bougent

Primary Engineer creates programmes for young people and teachers to develop their skills and commitment to science and technology. The association organizes the ‘If I was an Engineer competition’, which invites primary and secondary school pupils to identify a problem in the world around them and propose a technical solution.

Primary Engineers

Every year, Technovation organizes an international competition, for girls aged 10 to 18, aimed at developing their innovation and leadership skills and encouraging them to take an interest in the technology sector. Working with mentors, teams learn to code and design mobile applications to solve the challenges facing their communities.

Technovation

Local solidarity actions

Giving Tuesday, the global day of generosity, solidarity and commitment, has been celebrated within the Thales Group since 2021, on November’s last Tuesday: every year, nearly 50 sites in more than 10 countries organize solidarity activities such as food drives, collections of hygiene products, toys, clothing, or even books for the needy, as well as meetings with solidarity associations.

Throughout the year, numerous collections of financial or in-kind donations are organized in various countries, involving several thousand employees and benefiting local associations such as Asthma + Lung in the UK, Cravate Solidaire in France and Toys for Tots in the USA.