The Talan Method: research as a driver of innovation

Positive Tomorrow

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Putting research to work for innovation
Our Research and Innovation center
Research as a strategic driver for Talan
Case studies
HRS4R Accreditation
At Talan, our mission is to help you accelerate your transformation through research and innovation.

We are committed to moving the needle for your organization and acting as an agile problem-solver. To that end, we bring our hands-on approach, a diverse range of expertise, and teams dedicated to putting people at the heart of every solution.

What does putting research in service of innovation mean to us?

At Talan, research and development sit at the core of how we think about innovation.
It means exploring and mastering emerging technologies before they become industry standards. By testing these innovations within our center, we build deep knowledge of how they work, both in theory and in practice.
This forward-looking approach allows the group to integrate new advances into its offerings quickly. Research directly shapes our business strategy, ensuring that our solutions are modern, battle-tested, and precisely aligned with our clients' challenges.

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Our Research and Innovation Center

Innovation and research are part of Talan's DNA. That conviction took shape in 2019 with the creation of a dedicated Research and Innovation Center, designed as an engine for anticipation and transformation across the Group. The Center drives applied research projects with real-world impact, covering areas such as generative artificial intelligence, technology governance, data valorization, and the environmental and societal footprint of digital technology.

This work is sustained by ongoing engagement with the broader scientific and technical ecosystem. The Center collaborates with academic research labs, startups, and industry partners to enrich its work and test its hypotheses against the state of the art. This active posture, reflected in scientific and general-audience publications and a regular presence at specialized conferences, positions Talan as a credible voice in applied research.

At the same time, we keep our research grounded in the Group's operational reality. The Center acts as a solution incubator for Talan and its clients. By identifying real internal needs and using them as direct test beds for our research, we validate emerging technologies under real-world conditions and turn theoretical concepts into mature, production-ready tools. This rigorous validation gives our clients the assurance they need: innovations that are robust, secure, and immediately actionable.

All of these developments are systematically aligned with Talan's CSR commitments. By embedding digital sobriety and social utility criteria from the design stage, we ensure that technological performance serves a sustainable and responsible vision, one that is in step with today's societal challenges.

To carry out these missions, the Center brings together around twenty PhDs from a wide range of scientific disciplines. This diversity drives collective momentum and cross-pollination of expertise. It is this scientific rigor, embodied by our teams, that underpins the quality and relevance of our innovations.

Talan has always been committed to the development of responsible and ethical technologies. For this reason, the Research and Innovation Center is a co-signatory of the Numeum Manifesto for Ethical AI and the Arborus Orange International Charter for Inclusive AI.
 

manifesto for ethical aiInternational Charter for Inclusive Artificial Intelligence.
Manifesto for ethical AI    International Charter for Inclusive Artificial Intelligence

The Research Center by the numbers, 2025 highlights:

23

ongoing projects

14

conferences

40

 publications

23

courses and trade shows

18

internal workshops

Research as a strategic driver for Talan

The Research Center does more than explore what's next, it shapes how we approach the present, informing decisions across the Group and for our clients.

Bridging science and industry

Our long-term vision is to connect academic rigor with the operational realities of business. By working closely with labs and universities, we translate theoretical concepts into levers of industrial performance, ensuring that innovation is built to last.

Turning research into tangible impact

For Talan, innovation means delivering real, measurable value. Research acts as an early-warning system, helping us anticipate technological disruptions, in AI, quantum computing, energy, and develop solutions that serve people and the environment.

An operational standard

Our methodology requires that emerging technologies be tested against technical reality before any commercial proposal is made. By validating these solutions internally first, we filter out hype and retain only what is proven. This upstream validation de-risks our clients' projects and guarantees the deployment of tools that are mastered, reliable, and immediately effective.

Case studies

Spark

Building an intelligent assistant for SAP

Context and challenge
With 15 years of expertise in our SAP service center, Talan holds a substantial body of knowledge. However, our teams were running into recurring issues and a growing backlog of historical data that was difficult to navigate manually, slowing down the resolution of incidents that had already been solved before.

 

Solution:
We developed a consulting assistant built on a RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) architecture.

  • Innovation : Pairing generative AI with synthetic data generation layers to clean, anonymize, and structure raw historical data.
  • Application : A semantic search engine capable of querying the service center's history to surface proven, field-tested solutions.

Key results:

  • Operational efficiency: Reduced average resolution time for client requests.
  • Knowledge management: Smoother knowledge sharing across consulting teams.
  • Upskilling: A project that became a vehicle for training teams in real-world generative AI usage.

Disability & AI

Technology in service of inclusion

Context and Challenge

The process of obtaining RQTH status (French recognition as a disabled worker) is often perceived as complex or intrusive. Many eligible employees forego this recognition due to a lack of information or fear of the process, limiting the effectiveness of corporate inclusion policies around hiring rates and workplace accommodations.

 

Solution:

The Disability AI project is a digital pre-screening tool powered by autonomous AI agents.

  • How it works: The tool engages employees to confidentially and sensitively assess their potential eligibility, ahead of any human interview.
  • Goal: To democratize access to information and remove psychological and administrative barriers.

Expected Outcomes:

  • Greater accessibility: A simpler, smoother declaration process for employees.
  • CSR impact: Higher uptake of RQTH status and better support for employees with disabilities.
  • HR support: A decision-support tool that helps HR teams focus their inclusion efforts more effectively.

Hope

Artificial intelligence for corporate environmental responsibility

Context and Challenge

As part of strengthening its CSR strategy, Talan wanted to be able to estimate the carbon footprint of projects as early as the proposal stage. The market lacked a solution capable of predicting this impact before a project kicked off, making it difficult to embed concrete environmental criteria into commercial decision-making.

 

Solution

HOPE combines generative AI with reference datasets (ADEME, INSEE, ISO) to extract the information needed to estimate the carbon footprint of project proposals.

  • Innovation: Advanced natural language processing techniques to extract implicit information from unstructured documents.
  • Reliability: AI paired with public reference frameworks to fill information gaps with standardized assumptions, producing robust estimates.

Expected Outcomes:

  • Proactive CSR: The ability to factor in carbon impact as a decision criterion from the commercial phase onward.
  • Scientific advancement: Unlocking technical barriers in LLM-based analysis of long, complex documents.
  • Transferability: A modular architecture reusable for other predictive analysis use cases on business documents.

Talan becomes the first private company to earn HRS4R accreditation

The Talan Research Center has received HRS4R accreditation (Human Resources Strategy for Researchers), a European label recognizing research institutions committed to providing excellent working conditions and career development opportunities for researchers.

Recognizing and supporting researchers has become a strategic priority for research centers aiming to build a culture of excellence, responsibility, and international openness. In this context, the HRS4R strategy, driven by the European Commission, provides a rigorous framework for improving HR practices within research institutions, in line with the principles of the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers.
The implementation of the HRS4R strategy within Talan's Research and Innovation Center was built on a participatory, iterative, and structured approach, engaging a dedicated working group alongside key stakeholders from HR, CSR, legal, scientific, and managerial functions.

Note: As of January 2026, Talan's R&I Center has 18 members, including researchers at all stages: from doctoral candidates to senior PhDs.

Below are selected findings from the surveys conducted as part of the accreditation process in 2025 and 2026.

Gender parity within the team

Gender diversity across the R&I Center is tracked annually through an anonymous, voluntary digital vote.
As of January 2026, the gender breakdown within the Center is shown in Figure 1. The evolution of this breakdown between 2025 and 2026 is shown in Figure 2.

Schéma de Répartition des genres au sein du centre R&I de Talan en 2026

Figure 1: Gender breakdown within Talan's R&I Center, January 2026

Figure 2 : Evolution de la répartition des genres au sein du centre R&I de Talan entre 2025 et 2026

Figure 2: Gender breakdown evolution within Talan's R&I Center, 2025 - 2026

 

Nationality representation

Nationality diversity within the R&I Center is tracked annually through the same anonymous, voluntary digital vote.
As of January 2026, the nationality breakdown within the Center is shown in Figure 3. The evolution of this breakdown between 2025 and 2026 is shown in Figure 4.

Schéma de Répartition des nationalités au sein du centre R&I de Talan en 2026

Figure 3: Nationality breakdown within Talan's R&I Center, January 2026

Figure 4 : Evolution des nationalités au sein du centre R&I de Talan entre 2025 et 2026

Figure 4: Nationality breakdown evolution within Talan's R&I Center, 2025–2026

Training

Employees in the R&I Center have access to technical training, language courses, professional certifications, and courses through Udemy. Mandatory compliance training is also provided, covering topics such as: Equal Opportunity, GDPR, and the Right to Disconnect.
As of January 2026, training activity is distributed across three main areas: technical training, language and personal development, and compliance training.

Workplace Wellbeing

As part of its commitment to improving professional and managerial practices, and in pursuit of higher standards for working conditions and behavior, employees of Talan's R&I Center participated in a wellbeing survey. The assessment was designed to better understand how team members feel about their day-to-day work, their needs, and their expectations regarding quality of working life, recognition, professional support, and career development. Responses were collected on a strictly confidential basis to identify priority areas for building a research environment that is ethical, inclusive, and attractive for the long term.

The online survey covered the following criteria:

Critères de l'enquête portant sur le bien être

Conducted in January 2026, this survey identified several significant behaviors and trends positively associated with workplace wellbeing. The results paint a picture of an environment perceived as supportive and motivating in daily work, and serve as a foundation for identifying gaps and implementing targeted action plans. Detailed results are published internally.

Talan Research Center's Path to HRS4R Accreditation

Innovating through research is at the heart of the Talan method. 

By adopting the Positive Tomorrow by Talan approach, we integrate research and development into all our projects, ensuring innovative and sustainable solutions. This approach allows us to deliver exceptional results tailored to each client's unique needs and contribute to a better future.

Research Center Report

Report Research & Innovation Center 2024

Cover of the 2024 business report of the Research and Innovation center

Report Research & Innovation Center 2023

Cover of the 2023 business report of the Research and Innovation center