Sekoya: Shared sustainable innovation at the heart of Eiffage's actions

Stéphane Martins, responsible for sustainable development and water referent at Eiffage: In a nutshell, what does Sekoya mean to me? It’s an effervescence.

[On screen appears] Sekoya, innovation at the heart of the action, 2026 edition. Encounters along the water.

Stéphane Martins: Sekoya is the innovation event of the Eiffage group, which brings together many players. And today, we are talking about water because water is life. It is an increasingly pressing issue. We are here to sometimes debate in a quite powerful way and find solutions together to move forward, preserve water and so we are very happy to welcome everyone today.

Hélène Barou Maxwell, development manager at Spark Lab: I think the event is very rich in exchanges. It’s quite nice that there are different spaces: a round table space where different people come to testify on a subject, the confluence meeting space where everyone can exchange in a more informal way and also the workshop space, which is even more advanced in terms of collective intelligence to reflect on these different topics, so it mixes different universes.

François Dapilly, head of transversal innovation and operational support at Eiffage: Fishbowl was an innovative format we wanted to implement for this year’s Sekoya. It looks like a jar since we can imagine a room surrounded by chairs from which ideas will be picked up. A form of public debate, a giant debate, and it ultimately makes the debate both dynamic, and I think it’s a really informal nature, precisely because of this accessibility. That allows us to be a little less conventional in what we say. It’s simpler in fact, and simplicity ultimately leads to a good understanding of the subject.

Hélène De Vestele, director of Nuova Vista: It’s an extremely interesting event with a common thread around the water that is reflected in the names of different rooms, spaces and experiences. Beyond that, to put this issue on the table in a context where not all environmental issues are popular, and just for that reason alone, it is an important and memorable event.

Mariam Mouffak, responsible for sustainable development at Nové: I remember that everything was very relevant and well chosen, and that the hardest part was being able to choose on the schedule what to participate in. I am also energized to see everything that is being done at Eiffage. I see that a lot of things are being done. It feels good. It’s inspiring.

Romain Brisson, site manager at Eiffage Génie Civil: So, I came to Sekoya because I was interested in the subject of water due to ground issues we encounter daily and I told myself that coming here to Sekoya to find solutions to our problems, that might be a good idea. I think that the solutions must also come from people on the ground. So it’s up to us to capitalize on everything we’ve seen today and everything we’ve learned to try to find the solution that might suit us best.

Hélène Barou Maxwell: Confluence is a space that was designed in any case to gather a whole bunch of actors around the table so they could meet. We really like the workshops with different exercises to really feed the discussions. The idea was really to map out everyone’s ideas on this wonderful poster. Then, as a result, there were meetings between different stakeholders on issues related to water, whether it is our dependence, the measure, and so on.

Vincent Mendes, CEO of Willie: The Sekoya event is incredible. You can get cultured, be informed, inspired, and learn about all the topics around water, and water is complex; everything comes together here in a great setting with the right people. Honestly, it’s great.

François Dapilly: We talk about water, but it’s the energy, people’s energy working on sustainability projects because water is a bit invisible sometimes or at least secondary, and that’s why, as soon as we talk about it, it’s essential. And so there you go, I find that putting it back thanks to an event like Sekoya at the center of our issues, I am extremely proud of it and I am very happy that people are participating in this way. 

A video from the Eiffage Group