RIST is an independent consultancy and training firm founded in 2008 as a spin-off of the Institute for the Management of Research and Innovation (IMRI), an organization co-founded by the Paris Dauphine University and the CEA.
RIST’s mission is to provide organizations with support in the management of research and innovation, using approaches inspired by the best academic work and the best management practices available. RIST fosters close relations with the Paris Dauphine University and with several prestigious research institutions in other parts of the world. RIST has an R&D Division (“Rist Lab”) which applies available knowledge in the development of original methods tested directly with its closest partners.
RIST is a hypogroup consisting of a parent company and single-member subsidiaries. The team has around forty members, with a mix of nationalities and professional backgrounds. Seven national cultures are represented (Armenia, Brazil, China, France, Morocco, Switzerland, USA), and the operations are international, with a particular focus on China, France, the Maghreb, Switzerland and the USA. The team also includes researchers from universities and management schools (sociologists, management scientists, economists, technologists), consultants accustomed to working with researchers, and R&D or Innovation Directors of large groups trained by RIST in consultancy (“Hermès” programme). The consultants have high-level expertise in specific industries (primarily the automobile, aeronautics, environment, cosmetics, chemicals, media, and optics industries), which they cross-compare and combine. RIST is also attentive to maintaining a balance in the gender and age of its members. It aims for diversity, permeability, mixing, interfaces, uncompartmentalized worlds (Deleuze’ concept), intelligent benchmarking, intellectual pleasure and jubilation, all of which, combined, create an innovative environment into which our partners are invited.
This approach is combined with an ability to implement the tools developed, and a high level of efficiency put to the service of value creation, for both the partners and the firm.
In the same spirit, RIST works with leading groups, with large SME’s that have a high level of R&D, with small SMEs that have few resources, and with public or semi-public research organizations. It emphasizes the activation and enhancement of (often asymmetrical) relations between these different actors, as well as the innovative forms of their internal functioning.
RIST is governed by a Management Committee consisting of the directors of the main subsidiaries around the Group’s CEO. RIST also has its own Scientific Committee [link with the site’s Research page]. The hypogroup has been designed to foster each individual’s initiative and fulfilment, while at the same time strengthening synergy and cooperation within the team.
RIST’s consultancy and training generally include matters of strategy, organization and change management. RIST is also directly involved in implementing its products via training, in the creation of HR systems, in coaching, and so on.
RIST consultancy and training are always customized and developed jointly with our partners. To guarantee this relational quality and adaptation to each particular context, RIST proposes no off-the-shelf products or methods. Instead, it presents its outputs and skills, which then serve as a starting point for discussions.
