Patrick Olivier, new director of Télécom Paris

04 March 2025

Patrick Olivier is appointed Director of Télécom Paris by an order dated 14 February 2025 by the French Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty.

He assumes his role as head of this leading engineering school of the Institut Mines-Télécom (IMT) and the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris) on 1 March 2025 for a 5-year term.

Our country needs to seize the technological opportunities offered by eco-energy transitions, from the electrification of applications to the integration of AI in all areas of industry and everyday life. These are the challenges that the younger generation wants to take up. Télécom Paris is at the heart of this revolution, which will be as much technical as societal, training the talent our economy needs and conducting cutting-edge research. Running this prestigious school also means bringing this ambition to the international stage, drawing on the strength of the IMT and IP Paris teams.

Patrick Olivier, director of Télécom Paris

Biography

An « Ingénieur Général des Mines », he is a graduate of the École polytechnique (1994), Télécom Paris (1997) and Mines Paris (1997).

Since 2022, Patrick Olivier has headed the Ecological, Industrial and Agricultural Transition division of the General Secretariat for Investment, which is responsible for rolling out the €54 billion France 2030 plan under the authority of the French Prime Minister. The cluster supports the major levers of transition, such as the production of low-carbon energies, the decarbonisation of industry, the transformation of agricultural practices, low-carbon mobility, sustainable cities, and the production of critical metals and bio-based materials. It is deploying measures to support research and major industrialisation programmes, including training for the professions of the future.

Previously, he held a number of senior positions in government and the private sector. He headed the Regional Department for the Economy, Employment, Labour and Solidarity (DREETS) Hauts-de-France (Lille Region, 2020-2022), contributing to the economic recovery plan and public employment policies. He has also worked in the field of digital health, as Managing Director of the French subsidiary of IVBAR, a start-up specialising in health data analysis, which is now part of the European Logex group.
His career has included strategic responsibilities at the Elsan group, one of the leaders in the private hospital sector, and at the Île-de-France (Paris Region) Regional Health Agency, where he contributed to the transformation of digital infrastructures and healthcare systems. At the Ministry of Health, he was responsible for the reform of hospital financing and the Hospital 2012 investment programme. He also worked at the Ministry of Industry and Digital Transition on issues of technological sovereignty and innovation.

Duties of the new director

As head of Télécom Paris, Patrick Olivier’s mission will be to steer the strategic directions to implement the school’s strategic plan, adopted in February 2023, in line with the overall strategy of IMT and IP Paris.

He will align the School’s actions with the commitments defined in the Objectives and Performance Contracts of the two institutions, taking into account the resources available. Patrick Olivier will also be responsible for mobilising the Télécom Paris teams in large-scale collective projects and helping to strengthen the school’s position in the fields of digital technology and the ecological transition.

Patrick Olivier will be a member of the College of Directors of the IMT schools and will sit on its board of directors. He will also be a member of the Executive Board of IP Paris and will sit on its board of directors.