François Blamont

François Blamont
Blamont in 2014
Born(1944-10-27)27 October 1944
Mazamet, France
Died6 February 2026(2026-02-06) (aged 81)
Paris, France
OccupationBusinessman
RelativesJacques Blamont (brother)
AwardsKnight of the Legion of Honour (1995)
Commander of the National Order of Merit (1991)

François Blamont (French: [fʁɑ̃swˈa blamˈɔ̃]; 27 October 1944 – 6 February 2026) was a French businessman.[1]

Blamont held several high-level roles in both the public and private sector, including as director general of NANE Éditions.[2][3]

Life and career

Born in Mazamet on 27 October 1944, Blamont was the son of lawyer Émile Katz[4] and the brother of astrophysicist Jacques Blamont.[5]

Business

Hydroponic cultivation center in Kourou

In 1966, Blamont developed a hydroponic cultivation center with the cooperation of the Institut de Recherches Agronomiques Tropicales (IRAT) to supply fresh vegetables to the population of the Guiana Space Center in Kourou.[6]

Medical industry

In 1975, Blamont specialised Sopha Médical, one of the SMEs of the Sopha Développement group of which he was the founder[7] and CEO,[8] in medical technological innovations. This SME was created in 1983 from the acquisition of the company Informatek,[9][10] a manufacturer of computer systems for interpreting information provided by a gamma-ray-sensitive camera. Sopha Médical was, for some time, the only French company in its sector equipped with technological innovations in the medical industry sector before experiencing a decline.[11] His group became a French leader in hospital engineering,[12] moreover winning the Export Oscar prize in 1982.[13]

President of the SODETEG Group

In May 1984, Blamont was appointed head of the Société d’Études Techniques et d’Entreprises Générales (SODETEG)[14] by Alain Gomez, president of Thomson, and Noël Goutard, director of the group's Industry branch, in order to implement new industrial, commercial, and financial strategies.[15]

Activities in the public sector

CampusFrance

On 6 November 1998, Blamont was appointed chief executive officer of the State agency EduFrance (now Campus France)[16] by the Minister of National Education, Research and Technology, Claude Allègre, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hubert Védrine, and the Minister Delegate for Cooperation and Francophonie, Charles Josselin.[17] This agency, in the legal form of a Public Interest Grouping (GIP), aimed to promote French higher-education offerings, in association with the higher-education institutions that wished to participate. His appointment was the subject of critical commentary.[18]

Embassy of France in Iraq and the Philippines

In September 2002, Blamont was appointed to the post of Counselor for Cooperation and Cultural Action in Baghdad to the French Interests Section in Iraq by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He held this position until 2004.[17] In September 2004, he was called to the French Embassy in the Philippines, also as Counselor for Cooperation and Cultural Action. He remained there until August 2006.[17]

Conservatoire national des arts et métiers

Between 2009 and 2013, Blamont joined the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM) chair of economics and management of health services directed by Jean de Kervasdoué.[19]

Death

Blamont died in Paris on 6 February 2026, at the age of 81.[20]

Publications

Throughout his career, Blamont defended ideas in the fields of business, health and medical technologies, and education by publishing his reflections in books and national weeklies. Les Aventures d'un Entrepreneur[21][22] is a book of experiences and reflections on exports, research, education, training, and industrial policy through a personal journey. As president of exporting companies, beginning in the 1985s, Blamont became involved in supporting SMEs with strong economic potential, as evidenced by his presidency of Sopha Développement. He defended new exporters who support globalism, those whose activity is international trade and whose market is the entire world.[23] He therefore called for a genuine change in administrative procedures to allow these companies to carry out their activities more easily.[24] Drawing on his experience in the medical technology sector, Blamont believed that the biomedical equipment industry must become an important technological and economic partner for the other actors in the world of health.[25] At the time when the Thomson group sold its medical sector (CGR) to General Electric, Blamont proposed the creation of a French medical holding company, which could prove to be a major stake for France like space, aeronautics, and the military.[24] Following his experience as head of the Campus France agency (then EduFrance), he considered that genuine campuses should be created on national soil associated with the countries of the Mediterranean and the BRICS.[26]

Distinctions

Works

  • L’ exportation des technologies médicales, un scénario pour réussir : rapport au ministre délégué chargé du commerce extérieu (1988)
  • Les aventures d’un entrepreneur (1993)
  • Ce que j’ai vu et entendu à Bagdad (2006)
  • Entreprendre Autrement (2015)

References

  1. ^ "Haut fonctionnaire, intellectuel engagé, figure de la vie locale de la Garde-Freinet... : François Blamont est décédé à l'âge de 82 ans". Nice-Matin (in French). 10 February 2026. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  2. ^ "PARIS / Nomination de François Blamont aux fonctions de directeur général de NANE Editions : une impulsion pour les collections du citoyen". La lettre économique et politique de PACA (in French). 6 January 2014. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  3. ^ de Blanzy, Adrien (6 January 2014). "François Blamont, DG de NANE Editions". L'ADN (in French). Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  4. ^ "Emile Armand Blamont né Katz". Les Français Libres (in French).
  5. ^ Blamont, Jacques (2000). Le lion et le moucheron : histoire des Marranes de Toulouse (in French). Paris: Odile. ISBN 978-2-7381-0777-0. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  6. ^ Dourand-Souffland, Jean-Michel (1 October 1977). "Le jeune homme des palaces". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  7. ^ "Le génie biomédical "made in France" Deux ans après,le coup de semonce lancé par François Blamont, le PDG de Sopha Développement, les pouvoirs publics accentuent leur aide aux technologies de la santé". Le Monde (in French). 4 July 1990. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  8. ^ Baudelaire, Christine (July 1983). "François Blamont, PDG de Sopha Développement". Le Point (in French).
  9. ^ "Lettre du ministre de l'économie, des finances et de l'industrie en date du 17 novembre 2000 au conseil de la société General Electric Company relative à une concentration dans le secteur du matériel médical". Ministry of Economics and Finance (in French). 23 May 2001. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  10. ^ "Informatek ressucit". L'Usine nouvelle (in French). 14 July 1983.
  11. ^ "François Blamont prépare son retour". Les Echos (in French). 23 February 1994. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  12. ^ Decosse, Sophie (26 September 1979). "Blamont, exportateur tout terrain". L'Express (in French).
  13. ^ "SOPHA DEVELOPPEMENT : Comment grandir parmi les géants. François Blamont, Souplesse et risque calculé". L'Exportation (in French). April 1980.
  14. ^ "Nouveau président de SODETEG M. Blamont réclame un partage des tâches du secteur public de l'ingénierie". Le Monde (in French). 21 April 1984. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  15. ^ Laforce, Marguerite (17 January 1986). "François Blamont : Matière grise toujours". La Croix (in French).
  16. ^ "L'Agence EduFrance devient Campus France". Embassy of France, Nicosia (in French). 28 April 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  17. ^ a b c "Département Organisation et Gestion des Systèmes de Santé". École Pasteur CNAM (in French). Archived from the original on 15 January 2025.
  18. ^ Lecadre, Renaud; Thoraval, Arnelle (20 April 1999). "Ce protégé d'Allègre qui fait jaser Bercy. François Blamont nommé à Edufrance malgré son passé discuté". Libération (in French). Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  19. ^ "L'équipe Métiers de la santé". Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (in French). Archived from the original on 31 October 2014.
  20. ^ "Monsieur François BLAMONT". Simplifia (in French).
  21. ^ "Entrepreneur François Blamont raconte". L'Usine nouvelle (in French). 13 January 1994. Archived from the original on 15 April 2025. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  22. ^ "« Les Aventures d'un entrepreneur » par François Blamont". Les Echos (in French). 18 January 1994. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  23. ^ Blamont, François (29 April 1986). "Objectif Terre". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  24. ^ a b "POINT DE VUE Plaidoyer pour une holding médicale française". Le Monde (in French). 29 January 1992. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  25. ^ Blanchard, Sandrine (26 May 2000). "Le premier marché mondial de l'éducation s'est ouvert à Vancouver" (PDF). Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  26. ^ "L'internationalisation participative, clé du succès de nos campus d'excellence". Le Monde (in French). 6 December 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  27. ^ "JORF n° 0113 du 15 mai 1996". Journal officiel de la République française (in French). 15 May 1995. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  28. ^ "JORF n° 0154 du 4 juillet 1991". Journal officiel de la République française (in French). 4 July 1991. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
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