Recently, SAP’s chief human resources officer publicly explained that within the group, diplomas were losing relevance in favor of an organization built on competencies. When a major industrial player makes such a shift, it acknowledges a reality: the skill base of an organization and, by extension, of a country, is now a strategic asset. And this is not a slogan: it is an economic signal.
And, talking about skills inevitably means talking about training. And today, talking about training increasingly means talking about reskilling. Not reskilling as a “second chance,” nor as mere social policy, but as a genuine infrastructure of competitiveness.
Operational sovereignty cannot exist without skills
Digital sovereignty is too often described as a matter of cables, data centers, cloud, and networks. All of this matters, of course. But an infrastructure only exists if it can be designed, operated, maintained, and protected over time. Without systems engineers, network technicians, and specialists in cybersecurity and AI, the best architecture remains a pile of bricks.
In this sense, locating equipment locally is not enough if the key skills cannot be found. In cybersecurity, this tension is well documented: ANSSI notes that employers continue to face major difficulties in finding candidates, with demand rising by +49% between 2019 and 2024 (ANSSI’s 2025 Observatory of Trades), despite expanding training. A sovereignty without the capacity to execute remains theoretical.
France nevertheless possesses a considerable, often underestimated, asset: millions of experienced workers, drawn from industry, logistics, services, or support functions, who already master complex environments, operational constraints, and a culture of responsibility.
These profiles can become the engineers, technicians, and project managers that our critical infrastructures require. Provided we build credible bridges between trades, move away from siloed thinking between initial training, reskilling, and employment, and truly treat professional retraining as a strategic investment.
Training for autonomy rather than for the diploma
In this respect, speeding up training is essential. But in the era of AI and increasingly short technological cycles, relying solely on initial education or on entirely degree-based pathways is no longer enough. Skills rapidly become obsolete if they are not maintained, tested against reality, and continuously refreshed.
The answer lies in professionalized pathways, the validation of competencies, and bridges between neighboring trades. Industrial profiles can transition into cybersecurity for operational environments; network technicians into cloud operations; support functions into data and governance. The goal is not to accumulate hours of coursework, but to produce usable skills, at the right level, in the right jobs.
Reskilling becomes a strategic imperative
Ultimately, professional reskilling is no longer simply a training issue or a social support matter. It is a strategic imperative, the only variable capable of scaling rapidly. Relying solely on initial training is like waiting while needs are immediate.
There will be no durable technological sovereignty without a collective ability to massively steer career paths toward the roles that underpin these transitions. This requires governance: mapping critical occupations, clear prerequisites, recognized certifications, alignment of training with employment, and transparent six- and twelve-month results tracking.
This transformation also calls for a clear corporate responsibility. Like SAP, companies must now think in terms of competencies rather than diplomas and fully recognize the value of retraining pathways. Thus, reskilling will cease to be mere rhetoric and become a performance tool serving both businesses and sovereignty.
