Speakers
Adrien Frier
Consul General of France in Los Angeles
Adrien Frier
Consul General of France in Los Angeles
Bio:
Adrien FRIER is a diplomat with extensive experience in international relations, strategic affairs, and counterterrorism. He currently serves as the Consul General of France in Los Angeles as of October 2024.
Before taking on this strategic role, Adrien FRIER was the Coordinator of an Inter-ministerial Task Force from February to October 2024. In this capacity, he led and coordinated efforts across various government departments to identify and counter informational attacks, ensuring a cohesive response to strategic communications challenges.
From May 2022 to January 2024, Adrien FRIER served as an Advisor to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, where he was responsible for strategic affairs and overseeing continental Europe. He played a pivotal role in managing significant crisis dossiers, notably during the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Earlier in his career, Adrien FRIER was Deputy Director of the Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime Unit within the Department of Strategic Affairs, Security, and Disarmament from September 2019 to May 2022. Leading a team of 11, he was deeply involved in shaping France's counterterrorism and organized crime policies.
From September 2017 to August 2019, Adrien FRIER served as Political Counselor at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., focusing on European affairs, relations with neighboring countries like Turkey, the Western Balkans, and the Caucasus, as well as Russia, Asia, and the G7.
Adrien Frier further strengthened his diplomatic experience during his tenure as a Transatlantic Diplomatic Fellow at the U.S. State Department from September 2016 to August 2017. His work included monitoring U.S. bilateral relations with Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus.
From April 2014 to August 2016, he served as a Diplomatic Advisor to the Secretary of State for European Affairs, focusing on bilateral relations with EU member states and neighbors, as well as participating in the General Affairs Council in Brussels. He played a key role in preparing and supporting the Secretary of State's missions abroad.
Earlier in his career, Adrien FRIER was an Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Department of the European Union’s External Relations from August 2011 to April 2014, where he worked on issues related to EU expansion, human rights policy, and the negotiation of EU external aid financial instruments.
Frederic Seve
VP North America, CEA based at the Consulate General of France in San Francisco
Frederic Seve
VP North America, CEA based at the Consulate General of France in San Francisco
Originally from Valence in the Rhône Valley, Frédéric Sève was appointed in September 2024 as Vice President for North America at the CEA (Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique), a leading French and European research organization specializing in nuclear energy, health, and semiconductor innovation.
He holds an M.Sc in Applied Physics from Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA, 1998) and an M.Sc in Optics from Institut d'Optique Graduate School (Paris Saclay, 2000, ranked 1st French university in the Shanghai Ranking). He began his career in Montreal’s telecom industry, working in photonics.
After holding various positions in healthcare (DNA chips) and optical design, he transitioned to the space industry, where he led the engineering and quality assembly of the COROT scientific space telescope—a mission dedicated to exoplanet research for CNES, the French space agency.
Frédéric created his own business in 2007, developing optical engineering for the space and car industry with a global and international business approach (i.e.: ELT Telescope, Car Industry Lighting Innovation).
Following over 20 years in the private sector, Frédéric joined the CEA in 2022 as an Industrial Partnership Manager, focusing on strategic areas such as RF communications, autonomous sensors, and technologies for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
In September 2024, he was appointed as strategic VP North America, based at the Consulate General of France in San Francisco.
Frédéric is married and the father of two teenage daughters attending the International School of San Francisco. Passionate about jazz music, alpine activities, and sailing, he balances his professional commitments with his love for adventure and culture.
Corrado Sciancalepore
Business Unit Manager, Silicon Photonics Business Line, STMicroelectronics
Corrado Sciancalepore
Business Unit Manager, Silicon Photonics Business Line, STMicroelectronics
Bio:
Corrado Sciancalepore is STMicroelectronics’ Business Unit Manager, responsible for the Silicon Photonics Business Line, belonging to Optics & RF Division within the RF and Optical Communication product sub-group, since March 2025.
Corrado started his career as Silicon Photonics R&D engineer at CEA-LETI (France) in 2010, where he contributed to foundational work on cutting-edge silicon photonics circuits, III-V-on-Silicon optoelectronics, and VCSEL photonics. In 2020, he was hired by Soitec (France) in charge of the technical marketing and business development of the Photonics and Cloud AI business unit. In March 2025, he was hired by STMicroelectronics where he took the leadership of the Silicon Photonics business unit, encompassing both Silicon Photonics technologies and business development roles.
Corrado was born in Molfetta, Italy, in 1984 and holds a master’s degree in Physics Engineering (2009) from Politecnico di Torino, Italy as well as a Ph.D. in Electronics and Optoelectronics (2012) from the École Centrale de Lyon, France. He is author and coauthor of more than 130 journal articles and conference proceedings, one book chapter, holding 11 patents.
Eric Mercier
Telecom Line Director, CEA-Leti
Eric Mercier
Telecom Line Director, CEA-Leti
Eric Mercier is Telecom Line Director at CEA-Leti as well as Deputy Head of the Wireless Unit. He is active in industrial partnership developments towards technology transfer and also in managing internal CEA-Leti program, amongst which the FAMES WP10 dedicated to demonstrators. Graduated from ENSEEIHToulouse, France, in 1991, and with a 1st experience in the Optical Test Equipment at Wavetek (1992 – 1998, now VIAVI), his main focuses of interest have covered activities from Low-Power IoT transceiver solutions as Marketing & Application Manager for Atmel (1999 – 2006, now Microchip), and later as Project Manager & Laboratory Head Manager at CEA-Leti from 2006. As a promoter of CEA-Leti RF/mmW research activities, he is committed to market & societal needs for next Telecom generation towards new technologies development, understanding how forthcoming scientific developments can be valued to that end.
Vygintas Jankus
MicroLED Partnership Manager, CEA-Leti
Vygintas Jankus
MicroLED Partnership Manager, CEA-Leti
Bio:
Vygintas Jankus works at CEA-Leti, France, as MicroLED and OLED Partnership Manager. He is connecting all the relevant actors in order to accompany the innovative microLED and OLED technology idea through all the necessary steps towards the commercialization in optical communication, datacom, AI, VR/AR, smartwatch, smartphone and other markets.
Eléonore Hardy
Silicon Photonics Partnership Manager, CEA-Leti
Eléonore Hardy
Silicon Photonics Partnership Manager, CEA-Leti
Éléonore Hardy joined CEA-Leti in 2018 as a partnership manager specializing in silicon photonics. She holds a Master’s degree in Engineering and has completed a Master of Science in Management & Innovation. With over 20 years of experience in the optics and photonics industry, Éléonore has held key positions at Philips in the Netherlands and Varioptic, a business unit of Corning, in China.
Throughout her career, Éléonore has demonstrated a proven track record of creating long-term value. She successfully developed laser technologies in France, China, and India for Quantel (now Lumibird) and advanced spectrometer solutions in Europe and Asia for Resolution Spectra Systems (now part of Merck).
Currently, Éléonore is focused on identifying and developing new business opportunities in silicon photonics, with a particular emphasis on high-speed optical interconnects, high-performance computing (HPC), 3D sensing, and advanced computing technologies such as neuromorphic computing and quantum photonics.
