TheESSEC Transition Alumni Club and theESSEC Digital & TechnologyClub, with the support ofACT Alumni, Telecom Paris and Ponts Alumni , invite you to a conference:

Round Table Techno-Discernment
Is another vision of technology possible?

Tuesday, December 16, 6:45 to 9:45 p.m.

🏠 Face-to-face
at Maison des ESSEC, 11 avenue de Friedland, 75008 Paris - Metro George V

🖥️ and online

We live in paradoxical times! The age of artificial intelligence, biotechnology and geoengineering. But also of climate change, the sixth mass extinction, extractivism... An era full of contradictions, in which technology may appear to be a common denominator.

Technology is everywhere, inextricably intertwined with our lives, and even more so since the advent of the smartphone, the pledge of modernity and societal progress. We rely on innovation to solve our problems (including those created by previous innovations). A company that fails to innovate seems doomed to fall behind its competitors.

Technological progress seems inexorable... Even when an innovation raises profound questions, its adoption can be massive. ChatGPT took just two months to reach 100 million users, compared to Instagram's two years...

However, planetary limits and social justice call into question this endless race, and our technological choices, which ultimately structure our relationships with others and with the world.

Is it possible to imagine a world in which technology plays a different role, one that is consistent with the planet's habitability? A world where we are more circumspect and selective when it comes to innovation? A world where we cultivate our capacity for discernment when it comes to technology?

Following on from the ciné-débat on October 14, 2025, we'll be meeting low-tech players who experiment on a daily basis, often on a small scale(https://www.essecalumni.com/en/event/cine-debat-low-tech-a-la-rencontre-des-acteurs-de-la-low-tech/2025/07/21/7530), we'll be exploring with our two speakers the ways in which techno-discernment can be more widely deployed in our societies:

📣 Speakers:

Philippe Bihouix, Chief Executive Officer, AREP Group
A graduate engineer from the École Centrale Paris, Philippe Bihouix has spent more than fifteen years reflecting on the issues of energy transition and the use of non-renewable resources, as well as the technological challenges that arise from them. He is the author of "L'Âge des low tech, Vers une civilisation techniquement soutenable" (Seuil, 2014), more recently of the comic strip " Ressources, un défi pour l'humanité" with Vincent Perriot (Casterman, 2024) and issue 68 of TRACTS magazine "L'insoutenable abondance : Should we believe the prophets of progress? "(Gallimard, 2025).

Mathilde Convert, Foresight Coordinator at ADEME
Mathilde Convert is a generalist agronomist specializing in environmental science and technology, and is in charge of ADEME's foresight activities.narios Transition(s) 2050, which present contrasting economic, technical and social options for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

REGISTRATIONS

Registration is now open on the Essec Alumni website

Please note: places are limited, so don't delay!

This event is open to all.