Welcome Address: European Commissioner Thierry Breton
Channel: OpenForum Europe
Date: 08/02/2021

Welcome Address of the European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton during the EU Open Source Policy Summit 2021 organised by OpenForum Europe on 5 February 2021. 


Engineer, with a Supélec qualification in computer science, Thierry Breton begins his career as an entrepreneur in the new technologies sector. In 1981, he set up in the United States Forma Systems, an SME which he heads for 5 years. At the same time it publishes a number of science-fiction novels, including Softwar, sold at 2 million copies and translated into a dozen or so languages.

In France, he designs and then designs the Futuroscope, the first science and technology tourism park, between 1986 and 1990. In parallel, he was also elected regional councillor and then Vice-President of Poitou-Charentes from 1986 to 1992.

He runs a number of companies in the market for goods, as well as in the IT sector and new technologies. He was Director of the Strategy and Development, then Managing Director of Bull between 1993 and 1997. He then takes the lead of Thomson Multimedia, a global electronics company. In 2002, he was appointed to the head of the multinational operator France Télécom.

In 2005 he was appointed Minister for Economic Affairs, Finance and Industry of France, which he held until 2007.

Following his ministerial office, he teaches the governance at the Harvard Business School.

In 2009, he became CEO of Atos, a technology and digital service company until 2019.

He chairs ANRT, the National Association for Research and Technology until 2019. He is a member of the Technology Academy.

In 2019 he became the European Commissioner for the Internal Market. It is responsible for industry, services, digital, defence and space, as well as tourism and audiovisual.