2014 is a special year for Alcatel-Lucent: this year, we will celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the partnership between our company and AIESEC. In those 10 years,  450 young people were directly impacted through the partnership and had the opportunity to develop their skills in a multi-cultural environment in more than 25 different countries.

10 years is also a good time to take a step back and think: what is the purpose of this partnership? What are we trying to achieve together? Is this purpose still relevant in today’s organizational context, both for Alcatel-Lucent and for AIESEC ?

Those might seem like simple questions but answering them can be harder than expected.

First of all, let me explain what Alcatel-Lucent does. We build the equipment that allows you to call your friends and family across the world,  to access your emails on your phone, to watch a video on your computer… and to do that in mere seconds. We’re not telephone operators or computer design companies but we are the ones that give them a reason to exist. We’re the “behind the scenes” guys, enabling you to get the most of this ever-changing interactive world we live in. Simply put, we aim to connect people around the world.

We also believe technology should be affordable, accessible and sustainable. As we are trying to realize the potential of a connected world, our innovations need  to reach out to the whole wide world for them to truly have an impact. This means that sustainability in our products, in our workforce or in our way of doing business is an imperative for us.

Simply imagine: what if every child around the world had access to the Internet and was able to receive primary education? Or what if mobile phones could help prevent HIV by providing up-to-date information and care for people in hard-to-reach parts of the world?

We don’t want to simply imagine this; we want to make it a reality.

In this ever-expanding  and complex digital universe, we want to seize the changes that are happening  and build on them to create the technologies of the future. To remain pioneers, we must shift and focus on our core strengths and innovation technologies.

And for this to happen, we need people who can think out of the box, challenge limits, be creative and bring results.  What better place to find these young talents than through AIESEC!

The value that  we see in the partnership is not just measured in terms of number of internship experiences; it’s also measured by the talent development we see in each and every one of these interns and in the dynamic they bring to the company. The internship experience provided by AIESEC allows young people to discover themselves, who they are and what they want from life. It gives them a sense of direction and strong self-awareness by challenging their lives. And this fast development is a key element for Alcatel-Lucent.

Breakthrough technological innovation: this is what we do at Alcatel-Lucent.

So when I’m asked “why does Alcatel-Lucent partner with AIESEC?”, the answer is simple. “Because we believe AIESEC brings us a unique connection with talented young people who want to help us change people’s lives”. Simple, yet powerful.

This is why we partner with AIESEC – and more importantly, why it matters.

This post was brought to you from Laurence Dumont, the Global Coordinator of the Alcatel-Lucent partnership with AIESEC.   

If you are interested in applying to an AIESEC internship with Alcatel-Lucent or any of our other partners, please check out the opportunities available at here.