André-Jacques has always been ahead of the game in his business ventures, and he doesn't waste any time. He graduated from the École Centrale de Lyon with honors and earned a doctorate in semiconductor physics at age 24. He then joined the laboratory of the French Atomic Energy Commission (Leti) to coordinate various research programs for nearly 10 years. Industrial transfers and innovation management no longer hold any secrets for him.

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In 1992, André-Jacques co-founded Soitec with Jean-Michel Lamure. Specializing in the production of silicon-on-insulator (SOI), Soitec quickly became a key player in the semiconductor industry. A performance made possible in particular by the creation of a disruptive process for producing silicon-on-insulator wafers (Smart Cut™). After 26 years of existence, Soitec is the world leader in its sector. The company has an 80% market share in silicon for semiconductors. In 1992, Soitec had 2 employees; today, more than 1800 people have been hired and spread across the 5 plants located in France, Singapore and the United States.

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Since retiring from Soitec, André-Jacques has published a book about taking risk in business (see interview on Youtube FR), help a number of start-ups to get off the ground, advised Transmutex from the beginning, and recently became executive chairman of LinkinVax, an innovative vaccine development platform based in France. He remains a senior advisor to the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique.