Cédric O
Secretary of State for the Digital Sector
In office
31 March 2019 – 20 May 2022
PresidentEmmanuel Macron
Prime MinisterÉdouard Philippe
Jean Castex
Preceded byMounir Mahjoubi
Personal details
Born (1982-12-18) 18 December 1982
L'Arbresle, France
Political partyLa République En Marche!
RelativesDelphine O (sister)
EducationLycée du Parc
Alma materHEC Paris

Cédric O (born 18 December 1982) is a French politician of La République En Marche! (LREM) who served as Secretary of State (junior minister) for the Digital Economy in the governments of successive Prime Ministers Édouard Philippe and Jean Castex from 2019[1] to 2022.[2][3]

O is a cofounder of the artificial intelligence startup Mistral AI.[4]

Early life and education

Cédric O, son of a French mother from Lyon and a Korean executive, was born on 18 December 1982.[5] He is the brother of Delphine O, former member of the National Assembly for Paris's 16th constituency.[6]

After graduating from Lycée du Parc, he enrolled at HEC Paris and graduated in 2006.[7]

Business career

In 2007, O started working as communications manager for the Operationelle corporation.[8] Between 2014 and 2017, he was project manager for the Safran aircraft & rocket engine manufacturing company.[7]

Political career

Along with future La République En Marche! cadres Ismaël Emelien and Benjamin Griveaux, as well as HEC alumnus Stanislas Guerini, O participated in the campaign team of Dominique Strauss-Kahn for the 2006 French Socialist Party presidential primary.[9]

After serving as political adviser to finance minister Pierre Moscovici,[5] during the presidency of Socialist François Hollande, O was appointed treasurer of the La République En Marche! party in Emmanuel Macron's 2016–17 presidential campaign.[10] In November 2017, O assumed the duties of political advisor to Macron and prime minister Édouard Philippe.[10]

Also since November 2017, O has been part of LREM's executive board under the leadership of the party's successive chairmen Christophe Castaner and Stanislas Guerini.[11]

On 31 March 2019, O was appointed Parliamentary Undersecretary for the Digital Economy, serving under the leadership of minister Bruno Le Maire. In this capacity, he has invited tech CEOs to meet with the French president about the so-called “tech for good" project, as well as venture capitalists to Paris to promote to them the purported benefits of investing in the French "tech ecosystem."[12] Cédric O convinced Facebook to allow French regulators to investigate the company's moderation processes,[13][14] and also arranged a meeting between Macron and Mark Zuckerberg.[15]

On 26 July 2020, O was appointed State Secretary of Digital Transition and Electronic Communications. Among his tasks was the installation of the future 5G network in France.

Life after politics

From 2022 to 2023, O served on the European Space Agency’s High-Level Advisory Group on Human and Robotic Space Exploration for Europe.[16]

Other activities

Political positions

Amid efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in France, O was one of the early supporters of the government's proposal for a state-supported “StopCovid” contact-tracing app project.[18] He later publicly accused Apple Inc. of undermining the effort by refusing to help make its iPhones more compatible with the app.[19]

In a joint statement in October 2020, O and his Dutch counterpart Mona Keijzer called for a European Union authority to regulate large technology companies and argued that such an authority should be able to prevent digital platforms from blocking access to their services “unless they have an objective justification.”[20]

References

  1. ↑ Harriet Agnew (October 25, 2019), Paris overtakes Berlin for tech start-ups after boost from Macron Financial Times.
  2. ↑ Jean-Baptiste Daoulas and Chez Pol (8 March 2022), Le secrétaire d’Etat au Numérique, Cédric O, arrête la politique Libération.
  3. ↑ Peter O'Brien (27 May 2022), France’s ex-digital minister slams Apple — and the American dream Politico Europe.
  4. ↑ https://sifted.eu/articles/brunch-with-cedric-o
  5. 1 2 Braun, Elisa (2 April 2019). "Qui est Cédric O, le nouveau secrétaire d'État au numérique?" [Who is Cédric O, the new digital State secretary?]. Le Figaro (in French). Paris. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  6. ↑ Pietralunga, Cédric (31 March 2019). "Cédric O, un proche conseiller d'Emmanuel Macron au secrétariat d'Etat au numérique" [Cédric O, a close consultant of Emmanuel Macron as Parliamentary Undersecretary for the digital economy]. Le Monde (in French). Paris. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  7. 1 2 "Cédric O: Biographie". Government of France website. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  8. ↑ des Déserts, Sophie (27 April 2018). "Les hommes du président:La bande de copains qui a porté Macron à l'Élysée" [The president's men: The group of friends who brought Macron to the Élysée]. Vanity Fair (in French). Paris. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  9. ↑ Hoarau, Leia (31 March 2019). "Remaniement : qui est Cédric O, remplaçant de Mounir Mahjoubi ?" [Rebooting: who is Cédric O, replacing Mounir Mahjoubi?]. RTL (in French). Luxembourg. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  10. 1 2 Perreau, Charlie (1 April 2019). "Qui est Cédric O, le nouveau secrétaire d'Etat au Numérique ?" [Who is Cédric O, new Parliamentary Undersecretary for the Digital Economy?]. fr:Le Journal du Net (in French). Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  11. ↑ Le Conseil de La République En Marche ! La République En Marche!, press release of 16 October 2017.
  12. ↑ Rossignol, Aurélie; Lombart, Gaël (1 April 2019). "Cédric O, le nouveau « geek » du gouvernement" [Cédric O, the new government geek]. Les Echos (in French). Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  13. ↑ "Réguler internet ? Cédric O est "100% d'accord" avec Zuckerberg" [Regulate the internet? Cédric O is '100%' in agreement with Zuckerberg]. L'Express (in French). 1 April 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  14. ↑ Dillet, Romain (3 April 2019). "How France's new digital minister plans to regulate tech". TechCrunch. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  15. ↑ Rossignol, Aurélie; Lombart, Gaël (1 April 2019). "Remaniement : 5 choses à savoir sur Cédric O, nouveau secrétaire d'Etat au Numérique" [Reboot: 5 things to know about Cédric O, new state secretary for the digital economy]. Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  16. ↑ N° 11–2023: Independent advisory group presents report on European space revolution to ESA European Space Agency (ESA), press release of 23 March 2023.
  17. ↑ Members European Council on Foreign Relations.
  18. ↑ Mathieu Rosemain (17 April 2020), French COVID tracing app will not ready when parliament debates it Reuters.
  19. ↑ Sudip Kar-Gupta and Michel Rose (5 May 2020), France accuses Apple of refusing help with 'StopCovid' app Reuters.
  20. ↑ Mathieu Rosemain and Douglas Busvine (15 October 2020), France, Netherlands call for an EU watchdog to regulate tech giants Reuters.
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