Hello Erwin, with your role as an advisor/trainer for the Group’s Drone activities and your passion for aerobatics, you must have your head in the clouds a lot! Can you tell us a bit more about your activities?

As well as my work as a research engineer at ENGIE Lab Crigen, and more specifically with the Future Industry Lab, I conduct missions in the field for different BUs in France and abroad to provide them with drone solutions. Tomorrow, these will become working tools like the rest, enabling us to collect and analyse data to optimise systems in the residential, industrial and operational maintenance sectors… And in my free time, I perform aerobatics in a glider, from March to September (Editor’s Note: Erwin is Vice World Champion in the individuals category). I grew up in an environment very much focused on sporting values – I prefer collective sports to individual sports – as well as the challenge and the search for mastery of a given discipline. I find the same notions in aerobatics: you need to be able to carry out complicated manoeuvres in a fluid and harmonious fashion. An aerobatics team is like a family, and team spirit is paramount to ensure the right balance in competitions. Of course, we also have opportunities to relax as a team. I get so much pleasure out of this activity: it’s amazing how the world stops, how good, calm and rested I can feel while concentrating at the same time… Last but not least, I particularly appreciate sharing and the transmission of knowledge. As an instructor, I train glider pilots and future aerobats all year round. Some of them are very promising by the way!

Do you function in the same way at work?

At ENGIE, I lead a team that focuses on digitally simulating industrial processes and the drones team of ENGIE Drones Lab. Sharing and team spirit are therefore very important to me. And then, like aerobatics, it takes audacity to overcome some challenges, and commitment to position yourself on certain topics at the service of the Group. Trust is also paramount: being able to practice aerobatics as part of the team of France (Editor’s Note: vice-world champion) while simultaneously honouring my professional obligations can only be done with competent colleagues I trust completely. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to practice aerobatics serenely, and I thank them wholeheartedly for their support!

Have you ever been involved in a sporting event organised by the Group?

Not really, but with my colleague Maxime Lecchi we filmed the Avoriaz Raid using a drone. It was physically challenging, because we had to move faster than the participants to be able to offer as many interesting images as possible, while also ensuring security during the shooting.

If you were…

A source of energy:  Wind energy. It’s very similar to what the glider does: detecting and harnessing an energy that’s invisible, but so powerful.

A métier of the Group: Research engineer at Crigen. This is what I‘ve been doing for 11 years and I’ve never been bored. It counts!

Someone famous:  Louis Blériot. He was the first person to cross the Channel with a self-built plane in 1909. He was a passionate dreamer and very good technician who evidently relished the technical and personal challenges!

An innovation: A chemical-free pill to beat depression. You have get the most out of every moment of your life. 

A hashtag:  #AR4ever (it’s for a colleague who’s name I can’t say).