The ability to innovate
_Innovation at the heart of the Group's history
Number of FTEs (full-time equivalents) dedicated to research
Ginger's expertise has been the source of many innovative research projects since CEBTP was founded in 1933 as an "experimental" laboratory for all construction professions. Over the decades, the Group has been shaped by innovations such as the invention of the curviameter to measure pavement deflection, the invention of the stradograph to measure skid resistance on airport runways, pioneering research projects on water resource management in developing countries and the development of software for climate-energy engineering.
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_A department for research
The Group has always had a proactive policy of developing research. To reinforce this policy, a Research & Development department was set up at the Group level in 2021. Through its projects and research, the R&D department contributes to the development of our methods and professions. The services we provide regularly contribute to the development of new methods and tools to make our research more reliable and effective. All these advances are helping us to move towards sustainable development. Today, the R&D department consists of 20 engineers and several doctoral students. In 2023, Ginger's R&D teams were involved in some 50 projects in a dozen areas related to the environment (soil, inland and marine water, indoor and outdoor air), natural hazards, geotechnics, energy and materials.
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_A Group that contributes to the development of professions
Within the Group, changes are also taking place in our professions through:
- Work and updating of technical notes, for example, in the field of contaminated sites and soils with a management plan and a design plan for soil remediation work.
- Participation in expert committees for regulatory purposes. Participation in Syntec's Sustainable Development Commission.
- Participation in standardisation committees (French National Organisation for Standardisation (AFNOR), French building standards office (BNTEC), French Office for Standardisation of Transport, Roads and their Equipment (BNTRA), etc.).
- The Group's involvement in these committees reflects its commitment to the development of its professions.
_A recent example of innovation: the creation of GingerMap
GingerMap is Ginger's internal mapping tool that was developed and became available in 2020 to collect, centralise and organise a large part of the Group's knowledge in all of its professions. This knowledge is related to soil, water, air, waste, energy, materials and infrastructure engineering, based on data linked to past assignments and therefore produced by the Group in geotechnics, hydrogeology, pollution, etc. The tool also contains over 250 layers of public geographic data on soil, water, air, energy, risks, networks, regulatory zoning, etc. For project management purposes, the group's teams also have access to advanced functions for producing thematic summaries on contaminated sites, groundwater and the Elan Law, among others, with rapid turnaround times and high-quality, consistent presentation.
Available since 2021, the external version of GingerMap enables clients to produce Geotechnical Interpretive Reports (GIRs), which can be purchased individually or by subscription for packages of 10, 20 or 50 GIRs. Primarily intended for real estate professionals, GIRs are detailed reports that provide an overview of soil conditions and existing physical risks associated with a property.
