Since 2025, Aguaro has been a member of Images & Réseaux, a leading competitiveness cluster for digital innovation in the Loire Valley and Brittany regions. Supporting companies from these regions in their collaborative research and responsible innovation strategies and projects, I&R has defined a roadmap based on sovereign, secure and sustainable (3S) digital technologies. Through its project and strategy, it contributes to the major objectives of the Brittany and Loire regions, as well as those defined in the France 2030 programme.

Aguaro was delighted to be interviewed in the latest edition of the I&R's digital magazine.

This was an opportunity to revisit:

• our mission, which is to support digital companies and the IT departments of medium and large organisations, both public and private, in managing and reducing their environmental footprint through a comprehensive system integrating measurements, recommendations, simulations, actions and awareness-raising

• our vision of innovation, which must be responsible, guided by our purpose and inspired by the ‘Tech for Good’ approach

• our solution design approach based on five pillars:

  • Prioritisation by impact

  • Iteration and continuous improvement

  • Transparency and collaboration

  • Eco-design by nature

  • Use of established standards

• Our commitment to transforming digital practices by elevating environmental indicators to the same level as economic indicators in decision-making

• The fact that the environmental emergency goes hand in hand with the imperatives of resilience, sovereignty and security, exacerbated by geopolitical tensions

As the interview is in French, you can find the full translation below.

I&R - In a context where ecological transition and digital accountability are becoming major issues, Aguaro, a Nantes-based software publisher, stands out for its pioneering approach to sustainable digital technology and responsible AI.

A mission-driven company and member of 1% For The Planet, Aguaro offers SaaS solutions that enable CIOs and business managers to effectively reduce their organisations' environmental footprint while improving their performance and resilience. Through thoughtful and responsible innovation, the company combines environmental impact, social commitment and economic efficiency.

Let's find out more!

What does Aguaro do?

We are a software publisher specialising in sustainable IT and responsible AI. Our SaaS solutions are designed for CIO/CTOs in medium and large public and private organisations, as well as companies for which digital technology is central. They enable the reduction of environmental footprints to be managed through a comprehensive system integrating measurements, recommendations, simulations, actions and awareness-raising.

Our solutions cover all digital activities, from infrastructure to cloud services, applications and external services. They also help business managers to monitor eco-design, responsible AI, accessibility and digital sovereignty.

Our clients include Schneider Electric, Michelin, Nantes Métropole, France Télévisions and many others.

What is your vision of innovation?

Our vision of innovation echoes the work of Franck Aggeri and what he calls the ‘new modern religion’. Innovation is too often perceived as an end in itself, a permanent imperative for novelty and performance, most often solely financial.

We believe, on the contrary, that no ‘innovation’ should be considered as such if it contributes, directly or indirectly, to the deterioration of the living conditions of all or part of the population, in the short or long term.

Our choices are guided by our corporate mission and by a fierce determination to extend our capacity for impact (to the best of our modest means). This is obviously easier when we were born ‘Tech for Good’. Our business model, and therefore our innovation model, is intrinsically linked to our raison d'être.

Finally, we believe that responsible innovation requires a humble attitude. It involves accepting slowness, questioning, testing, measuring, adjusting, and sometimes giving up. This is why we are moving very cautiously in our use of AI, trying not to give in to market pressures that would have us blindly ‘adopt’ it for fear of being left behind or even ‘perishing’.

Impact at the heart of technical design

The solution design process is based on five pillars:

1. Prioritisation by impact: only features that directly contribute to the environmental mission are developed, even if this means giving up certain more sophisticated or attractive solutions.

2. Iteration and continuous improvement: features are tested, measured and adjusted to maximise their environmental effectiveness.

3. Transparency and collaboration: technical choices are documented and shared with customers and stakeholders to ensure a collective and responsible approach.

4. Eco-design by nature: from the design stage onwards, the focus is on digital sobriety, limiting unnecessary processing, optimising data flows and using less energy-intensive technical architectures.

5. Use of established standards: standards such as RGESN (General Ecodesign Reference Framework for Digital Services ) or RIA31 (Responsible & Ethic AI Framework) guide technical choices to ensure compliance and robustness.

Transforming digital practices in organisations

Aguaro has identified a key lever for changing practices: integrating environmental indicators on the same level as economic indicators in day-to-day decision-making. Our Add-on ServiceNow solution allows these new metrics to be displayed directly in the tools already used by teams, simplifying adoption and appropriation.

The dual reading of environmental and economic gains, combined with the promotion of responsible behaviour through internal benchmarking, creates a virtuous circle where individual commitment is reinforced by collective emulation. This approach encourages employees, customers and suppliers to take responsibility by making the concrete impacts of each action visible.

What message should be sent to organisations that are hesitant to commit to a responsible digital approach?

Of course, we would like every organisation to commit out of conviction, understanding the ‘One Health’ principle: the health of ecosystems is ultimately our own.

But we also know that this awareness, although necessary, is not always enough to trigger action. That is why we also highlight the associated savings (reduced energy costs, optimised resources, efficiency, lower purchasing costs), risk mitigation and even opportunities for competitive differentiation. It is interesting to note that, conversely, the colossal investments in cybersecurity tools offer no ROI for mitigating a single risk.

While the ecological emergency should be reason enough to mobilise us, it is all the more essential given that this approach brings substantial economic gains as well as a reduction in major dependency risks at a time when sovereignty and security are imperative, exacerbated by geopolitical tensions.

Europe imports more than 95% of its fossil fuels from foreign powers (primarily the United States and Russia). Similarly, the digital industry depends, more than any other, on critical raw materials and rare metals controlled by China, which has a virtual monopoly. As a result, reducing the environmental footprint of digital technology is in reality more about good management at the end of the month than at the end of the world, to borrow – not without irony – the popular expression.

Responsible innovation and future projects

Application portfolio management is a strategic activity for CIOs, not only to control energy costs, ensure security and operational efficiency, or comply with regulatory requirements, but also to reduce the environmental footprint. Aguaro supports its clients, such as Schneider Electric, in optimizing their application portfolios and reducing technical debt. Technical debt and environmental footprint are two sides of the same coin: superfluous, redundant or obsolete applications often have the greatest impact.

To address these challenges and overcome the many methodological, technical and organisational obstacles, Aguaro is leading the Impact'IApp project in partnership with Easyvirt, EVEA, the CEA and the LS2N. This project aims to develop and test an environmental assessment framework based on reliable measurements of the energy and material consumption of digital applications. Unlike traditional approaches, Impact'IApp is based on a collaborative digital hub — a space for exchanging methods, data and connectors between digital solutions — enabling information to be shared between multiple stakeholders and thus offering an accurate and actionable view of the footprint of applications.

Certified by the Pôle Images & Réseaux, the project is entering its final funding phase and is preparing for an official launch this quarter, marking a key milestone in the assessment and concrete reduction of the environmental impact of digital applications.

Images & Réseaux provides us with high-quality support and advice, particularly in terms of access to innovation support mechanisms. The cluster also facilitates access to certain events and stakeholders, both public and private, within the ecosystem.

Aguaro thus demonstrates that a company born out of ‘Tech for Good’ can combine innovation, performance and environmental accountability. By placing impact at the centre of its decisions, the company helps organisations transform their digital practices, reduce their ecological footprint and strengthen their economic resilience. Aguaro's approach shows that combining responsibility and profitability is not a compromise, but a winning strategy for a sustainable and concrete future.

Many thanks to I&R for this invitation and this opportunity to share.