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Good evening, everyone.

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Our societies are changing,
they change all the time, constantly.

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And we can - we might - agree on the fact

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that the innovator is the most important
person for change in our societies.

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I don't agree, and I will tell you why.

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But first, I will talk to you
about my region.

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This is Auvergne.

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This is Auvergne too, and so is this.

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These are local dwellers in Auvergne,

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and that is the Puy de Dôme.

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At the foot of Puy de Dôme
lies a small town, Clermont-Ferrand.

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It is into this small town
that I'm taking you, in 1889.

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In 1889, the Michelin brothers
started a business,

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Michelin&Cie, not a very original name.

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They based it on an innovation
developed by an English man, Dunlop,

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who discovered
the vulcanization of rubber.

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And from this innovation
- that was not their own -

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they were to develop tires,
first for bicycles, then for cars,

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and then truck tires,
airplane tires, etc., etc.

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But as years went by,

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at the beginning of the 20th century,
when cars appear,

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they had a brilliant idea:
put tires on car wheels.

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It changes everything!

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That changes everything
in terms of comfort,

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it changes everything in terms of safety,

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and changes everything
in terms of axletree breakage, etc.

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So basically, their future was bright,

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those two entrepreneurs living
in the small town of Clermont-Ferrand.

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Well no! Well no! Why, then?

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Because at the beginning
of the 20th century,

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when you have a car,
you basically don't use it.

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You are very happy and proud,
you drive a little, but not a lot.

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Since you don't drive a lot,
you don't wear your tires out,

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so there is no market for tires.

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So the small company in Clermont-Ferrand
remained a small company.

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Then the Michelin brothers understood

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that to sell tires,

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they had to convince the people
who had bought a car

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to use it.

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It will begin with the road map.

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This is the first time
a non-military map is made.

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It explains how to go
from Strasbourg to Orleans,

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but it is not enough,

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because, from Strasbourg to Orleans

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even if you start realizing
the way you are going to take,

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why would you go?

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So they will make an inventory
of every natural or man-made wonder

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you can see in France, and later in Europe
and in the world, it's the Green Guide!

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It's the green guide
that will take people

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to Mont Saint-Michel,
to Arcachon Bay.

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Fine, you have the road to take you there
you know why you're going there,

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but there is another problem:
what are you going to do on the long way?

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You have to stop to eat, to sleep,

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and this is the red guide!

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The red guide that indicates
the restaurants and hotels, etc.

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And the last thing they will do,
perhaps the most surprising of all,

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they will install every kilometer,
on the main roads of France,

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a kilometer marker that indicates
the distance, the direction,

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and the name of the nearest village.

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Two small entrepreneurs in Auvergne,
lost, out there,

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will install kilometer marks
throughout France,

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so that you, who, at the beginning
of the 20th century, have bought a car,

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get to wear out your tires to go and see
the Mont Saint-Michel bay,

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and that you eat and sleep on the way
otherwise you don't go on the road.

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So this poses a question:

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this impasse in which innovation lies,

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this impasse
that the Michelin brothers solved,

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well, it requires a special mindset,

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and we are going to use
the Melcion matrix to describe it.

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Imagine two axes:

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a horizontal axis,
which is the axis of autonomy,

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freedom and the control
of one's own destiny.

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On this axis, entrepreneurs
are all at the top,

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with all the freelancers,

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all the people who want
to work only for themselves.

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The axis of autonomy, freedom,
the control of their destiny.

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Imagine now a vertical axis, it is
the axis of the desire for achievement,

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the axis of achievement in the US way,

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of the permanent need
to advance one's plans

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one after another, after another,
after another and another.

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Entrepreneurs are all
at the top of the second axis too,

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along with managers.

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Except that, you understand, when you are
at the very top of the horizontal axis,

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and at the very top of the vertical axis,

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you are at the top right
of the Melcion matrix.

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And here you have two unfulfilled needs:

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the first is to continue to find
solutions, again and again.

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It is to transfer

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innovation into practice.

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And so this desire
for freedom, for autonomy,

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this allows entrepreneurs

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to have the ideas
of a transgressive business model,

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because, let's not kid ourselves,

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no one paid for the kilometer marks
nor the printing of the road maps,

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the selection of the various sites
to visit in France,

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nor the list of hotels and restaurants,

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no one, except the entrepreneurs,
who paid out of their pockets.

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And once they had done this,
what happened?

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Well, the market exploded
in France, in Europe, in the world.

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Today, Michelin is a business
operating in 170 countries

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and with 110,000 employees.

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Not bad for two little Auvergne guys
who started at the foot of Puy de Dôme

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or rather for their descendants!

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The idea I wanted to give you today,

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is that the innovator has
a very important role in our society.

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But those who put
innovation into practice,

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those who build business models

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that allow to create businesses
on the basis of innovation,

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these are the entrepreneurs.

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And so entrepreneurs
have a responsibility.

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You have a responsibility.

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The evolution of our societies,
the changes in our societies,

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rest on you, the entrepreneurs!

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Good luck to you!

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(Applause)