Orange is one of the world's leading telecommunications operators with sales of 42 billion euros in 2019 and 147,000 employees worldwide at 31 December 2019, including 87,000 employees in France. The Group has a total customer base of 266 million customers worldwide at 31 December 2019, including 207 million mobile customers and 21million fixed broadband customers. The Group is present in 26 countries. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services

Engage 2025 strategic plan

In December 2019, the Group presented its new "Engage 2025" strategic plan, which, guided by social and environmental accountability, aims to reinvent its operator model. While accelerating in growth areas and placing data and AI at the heart of its innovation model, the Group will be an attractive and responsible employer, adapted to emerging professions.

A global research and innovation network

Orange's researchers explore technological breakthroughs, new uses and innovative business models. They invent the technologies required to deploy the networks and services of the future in a world that is fully Digital and Human. Orange is now the primary private-sector player in digital technology research in France.

Orange is developing open and influential research that sets us apart in order to:

• shine a light on the future, identify risks and failures, explore and build opportunities, influence our ecosystems,
• build strategic assets, skills, intellectual property, standards, partnerships,
• fuel innovation for our products and services and improve the effectiveness of our infrastructure.

Area of research

As tomorrow's world will emerge from the interaction between the physical world and the digital world, Orange is convinced that research should be integrated, to identify and guide technological breakthroughs and uses in order to build key assets.

This approach is reflected in the work being conducted on three "integrated research" platforms :

• ambient connectivity (Plug'in): the development of virtual network functions and both independent and effective network management,
• the Internet of Things (Thing'in): the discovery of objects, the operation and enhancement of relationships between objects,
• the smart home (Home'in): the design of an intelligent and smart "place of your own".

What resources underpin our research ?

• 740 Orange researchers including 135 doctoral/post-doctoral staff with various skills (engineers, technicians, designers, sociologists, developers, etc.).
• Leading European operator for patent filings with 230 new inventions protected in 2019.
• 150 partnership with cutting-edge research centres, laboratories, academia, industry…

and participation in more than 60 cooperative research programs, with French, European or global players.

• Orange is involved in 7 competitivity clusters, The Institute of Research and Technology B<>Com, 2 joint laboratories with CNRS and INRIA, and 6 academic chairs.
• 140 scientific publications per year, recognition from researchers across the globe in journals and international conferences.