This collective work was supported by the Cercle de l’Innovation et du Management et de l’Expertise (CIME), a French association created in September 2016 with the aim of building and disseminating knowledge in the areas of R&D management, expert and expertise management and managerial innovation in France and worldwide.

CIME is a laboratory of experimentation and innovation supporting talent, experts and expertise management. It comprises:

• – a group of company directors (R&D directors, Human Resources directors), practitioners and researchers interested in R&D;
• – a managerial innovation group, consisting of HR directors, managers, researchers and practitioners interested in the field of organization and people management; and
• – a resource center based on the results of action research, the sharing of experience and co-development.

CIME activities include sustaining and further developing the resource center with the content based on diverse studies, research materials and presentations (available at: www.cime-innovation-management-expertise.com), organizing meetings with peers and proposing opportunities for networking, granting access to first-hand expertise through the presentations of companies’ representatives and academic researchers and capitalizing on the developed knowledge.

As of January 1, 2018, the CIME member companies are:

• – Airbus Group;
• – Boehringer Ingelheim;
• – Crédit Agricole centre-est;
• – Enedis;
• – Groupe EOS;
• – Groupe Saint-Gobain;
• – Groupe SEB;
• – Holding Textile Hermès;
• – IRSN;
• – Naval Group;
• – Nestlé;
• – Poclain Hydraulics;
• – Schneider Electrics;
• – Siniat;
• – Ubisoft;
• – Veolia; and
• – Vinci Energies.

We are grateful to these companies for inspiring the writing of this book and contributing in many ways.

Beyond the current members of CIME, we would also like to thank all the other companies we have worked with in the last fifteen years, who have trusted us, accepted the sharing of experience, exchanged ideas and provided the necessary reflexivity for the progress of professional practices. We sincerely thank the directors, managers and R&D professionals of these companies for opening up for us their R&D centres, devoting their time and inspiring us to complete this book.