At the service of the Basque Country Digital cluster

Basque Country Digital cluster coordinator Marie-Chantal Duguine supports digital companies and helps develop the organisation’s structure. Interview.

What was your career path before joining the Basque Country Digital cluster?

After studying physics and chemistry, I went on to complete my training with a course specialising in electronics and then in industrial IT engineering. After that, to meet the requirements for positions at the Bayonne Basque Country CCI (chamber of commerce and industry), I studied business administration and coaching. Thanks to these studies, I went on to teach physics and chemistry, then worked for five years in a company producing printers in the Paris area. A career opportunity for my husband allowed us to come back to the South-West. I continued my career by managing a training company and as an electronics teacher in an association providing professional training for adults (AFPA).

And your journey to ESTIA?

I joined the Bayonne Basque Country CCI following a fact-finding mission for the institute of software and systems (IDLS), the organisation that preceded ESTIA. After being part of the first ESTIA team, I was then academic manager for the EGC (now KEDGE), and then for the company creation service, and then finally I returned to ESTIA Entreprendre to support business creators.

What is your role at the Basque Country Digital cluster?

I am now independent and work directly for the Basque Country Digital cluster. I am responsible for coordinating the cluster and help Jean-Louis Melin, its President, in structuring it. It’s a part-time position in which I firstly have to understand what companies are looking for, and then bring them together in trade groups to find solutions that will add value to their expertise and to innovate. It’s a group service that differs from individual support for companies, which is not something I provide in this role.

What’s the latest news from the cluster?

Two of the cluster’s companies will soon receive the “Responsible Digital Enterprise” certification. From January 2017, we are going to create new working groups devoted to agility within companies, and for professions associated with mobile applications and web agencies. We will launch a project to share printing systems with the help of a partner who will conduct an audit to reduce the costs of this service for companies. Work on the design of a training platform similar to the cluster’s jobs platform will also begin. Continuing in the field of human resources, we are developing a partnership with the job centre to optimise our recruitment and promote the cluster to job seekers.

Find out more: http://www.pays-basque-digital.fr/