INMA and EM Normandie strengthen their partnership

​Alongside professionals from the crafts and living heritage (EPV) and French luxury goods companies, students in the M2/MSc Marketing and Digital in Luxury and Lifestyle programme at EM Normandie learn how to promote French know-how and enhance its value locally and internationally. Wishing to strengthen this collaboration, INMA, Institut National des Métiers d’Art, wished to add a pedagogical and research dimension by becoming even more involved in the sponsorship, courses and projects of the students while laying the foundations for a research chair dedicated to “French Know-How”.

Since its creation in 1889, INMA has been supporting professionals in the field of arts and crafts and living heritage throughout France and at the crossroads of different areas of excellence, with the aim of promoting and informing them, promoting young talent and encouraging vocations through transmission.
Since 2019, INMA has partnered with EM Normandie to support the students – mainly international – of the M2/MSc Marketing and Digital in Luxury and Lifestyle, based on the Paris campus. This programme is designed to master all aspects of marketing and digital marketing in the luxury sector. Immersed in the backstage of companies that represent French know-how, particularly in Normandy, future graduates are made aware of and trained in the economic and professional challenges of this exceptional sector by its most emblematic players.

A strengthened partnership

EM Normandie and INMA, with their complementary missions and skills, are strengthening their partnership in the following areas:

• The transmission of knowledge through a system of sponsorship of each graduating class by the President of INMA to the new graduate-manager of a luxury House with French know-how. Thus, after Luc Lesénécal, President of Saint James, Jérôme de Lavergnolle, Chairman and CEO of Saint Louis, the oldest crystal factory in France, and Emilie Metge Viargues, President of Christofle, it is now the turn of Marc Durie, head of the high-end shoe manufacturer J.M. Weston, to sponsor the French and international students who will be entering the school year in September 2023. The sponsor’s missions have been strengthened and cover a presence at important moments in the life of the class before and after the school year and at the graduation ceremony, educational support with master classes, consulting projects, case studies or educational illustrations within courses, company visits, participation in dissertation juries, etc., and professional support such as help with interviews or writing CVs, placement in internships or permanent contracts, etc.

“Whatever point you reach in your career, I will always be there to help you, to guide you, to answer your questions, you can count on me”, declared Emilie Metge Viarques, President of Christofle, during the exchanges with her class of students during the visit to the Manufacture on 18 April.

• The focus on expertise, thanks to the contributions of professionals in the field of arts and crafts and living heritage, emblematic of INMA’s French-style excellence, is part of the “French Touch and Know-How” cycle of the programme.

“The students learn in situ the work of the craftsman with a capital A to better work on promoting the know-how of French luxury houses, the houses in which they will work tomorrow,” explains Elodie de Boissieu, Academic Director of the Marketing and Digital in Luxury and Lifestyle programme at EM Normandie.

• The focus is on the professionalization of the students with the co-leading of master classes dedicated to the presentation of the art professions and the French living heritage, French excellence and the professional and career challenges that companies in the sector can represent. The students also have to work in “challenge” mode on the digital strategies of French companies of excellence, particularly from Normandy; each group accompanies an EPV and reports its results to the representatives of INMA and the CEO of its client.

“On the students’ side, they learn how to present their results in the same way as a strategy consultant to his clients. On the company side, it is extremely enriching to get feedback from students from all over the world and at master’s level on their digital strategy,” adds Xavier Long, INMA’s deputy director.

In addition, thanks to the major events organised by INMA to promote and enhance the European Crafts Days, EM Normandie students have the opportunity to meet professionals and deepen their understanding of the sector.

The creation of a dedicated chair

In order to lay the groundwork for a structured research programme on the management of know-how companies, the aim of which is to create a dedicated chair, EM Normandie will produce an annual publication based on the work of MSc students on the progress of strategic thinking on the management of French know-how companies and their specificity, in collaboration with INMA’s Resources & Economic Intelligence division.

INMA and EM Normandie are in the process of developing a “Savoir-Faire” chair project with priority areas of work: management of the French know-how brand, the impact of digital transformation on know-how company strategy, the impact of social/societal and environmental issues on know-how company practices.
“We are pleased and proud of this extensive collaboration with INMA, which will enable the international crafts and living heritage ecosystem to grow, while raising awareness of French know-how companies among students from around the world. In order to provide this future “Savoir-Faire” chair with the resources necessary for its purpose and development, INMA and EM Normandie are currently looking for partner companies interested in the issues outlined. We would like to associate actors with a strong local presence in Normandy with this beautiful project, but we will consider all proposals from companies that have French know-how that needs to be promoted and protected,” adds Elodie de Boissieu.

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