EURO-TELL: at UPHF, universities and industry work hand in hand to shape the future

On July 2, 2025, the Institut des Mobilités et des Transports Durables (IMTD) at the Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France (UPHF) hosted the very first industrial meeting of the European EURO-TELL project. A strategic day, bringing together researchers, teachers, industrialists, public and institutional players around a major challenge: reinventing collaboration between the academic and business worlds to better support social, environmental and technological transitions.

At the heart of this meeting, three round tables punctuated the exchanges and laid the foundations for a shared ambition: to build a more sustainable, more inclusive and more human future.

1. Silver Society and Disability

By 2050, France will have nearly 25 million people over the age of 65. This observation, made at the opening of the day, sets the tone: faced with accelerating demographic ageing and a life expectancy in good health that is making little progress, it is becoming urgent to rethink our models of healthcare, support and inclusion.

Around the table, experts such as Laurent Delaby (Université Catholique de Lille), Laura Wallard (UPHF), Jean-Pierre Choël (Promocil) and Laurent Peyrodie (JUNIA) shared their views on the challenges ahead. All agreed on one point: technology can't do everything. While digital tools, artificial intelligence and home automation can make life easier for the elderly and disabled, they are no substitute for human presence, listening and social ties.

The speakers stressed the need for a multidisciplinary and ethical approach, blending human sciences, engineering, medicine and social work. Designing solutions, yes - but with and for users, taking into account their lived realities.

The speakers emphasized the need for a multidisciplinary and ethical approach, combining human sciences, engineering, medicine and social work.

2. Industry of the future for a positive impact on the environment and people

The second highlight of the day plunged into the heart of major industrial change, at the crossroads between climate emergency, digital revolution and skills evolution.
Around Marion Daupeyrous (MEDEF Hauts-de-France), Christian Courtois (CERAMATHS), Jérôme Martinez (AIF), Jalal Possik (ICL) and Frédéric Motte (Regional Councillor, President of REV3), the exchanges drew up a shared observation: the current industrial model needs to be rethought in depth.

More than a simple technological adaptation, a real paradigm shift is needed. It's about building an industry:

• more sober, capable of reducing its carbon footprint,
• more circular, fully integrating the logic of recycling and reusing resources,
• and more human, where know-how is valued and career paths rethought.

The discussions highlighted the new industrial dynamics driven by Industry 4.0 - connected, automated, intelligent - and Industry 5.0, which puts people, ethics and the environment back at the heart of innovation.

Artificial intelligence in particular was cited as a driver of transformation, but one whose integration raises challenges: technological mastery, talent training, and anticipation of its social and economic impacts.

In this rapidly changing landscape, training emerged as a key lever. Work-study programs, as well as hosting PhD students in companies, were hailed as structuring tools for bringing the academic world closer to concrete needs in the field. Training differently to transform sustainably: this is the key to an industry that innovates without excluding.

This stronger link between universities, companies and local authorities was presented as an essential condition for the success of this transition, which can neither be purely technical nor centralized. It must be collective, territorialized and forward-looking.

This strengthened link between universities and local authorities was presented as an essential condition for success.

2. Humanly intelligent city, territories and mobilities

The final part of this day broadened the reflection to the scale of territories, with a key question: how can we make cities more liveable, inclusive and supportive?

For Véronique Flambard-Vigeant (Université Catholique de Lille), Mirentxu Dubar (INSA), Rodolphe Deborre (Rabot Dutilleul) and Olivier Delattre (Valenciennes Métropole), the city of tomorrow cannot be reduced to connected sensors or digital applications. Above all, it must be a shared living space, where everyone can move around, find accommodation, access culture, health and work.

Mobility took center stage in the debates - whether physical (for the elderly or disabled), economic (to combat precariousness), or social (to promote equal opportunities).

The projects presented highlighted the value of experimenting locally, co-constructing with citizens and combining urban planning, ecology and social justice in a single dynamic. A truly intelligent city is first and foremost a city that is human, open and adaptable.

EURO-TELL, a forward-looking dynamic supported by UPHF

This day, punctuated by the presence of personalities such as Abdelhakim Artiba (President of the UPHF), Patrick Scauflaire (President-Rector of the Université Catholique de Lille) and Valérie Six (Regional Councillor in charge of innovation), illustrated the power of interdisciplinary and intersectoral dialogue.