Robert Plana has been University Professor in the field of Internet of Things Technologies. He has occupied numerous top management positions at CNRS, National Research Agency and Ministry of higher education and research. In the private sector, he has been working with Alstom as Open Innovation Director and with GE Digital Europe as the CTO. He is now the Chief Technology Officer of ASSYSTEM Group in charge of the Innovation and Digital Transformation strategies. He is pioneering the convergence between Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Advanced System Engineering for mission critical Infrastructures.