Are the French Rebelling Against Risk-Taking And Innovation?

Well (as a french person), I think your hypotheses regarding innovation and risk-taking are quite accurate:
(1) top-down/big systems innnovation are successful in french (I don't know whether the Minitel is a success but Airbus, Arianespace, nuclear technologies or the likes of L'Oreal, Michelin... certainly are)
(2) the entrepreneurial spirit, individual as entrepreneurs are really a failure. The majority of students want to work as employees.

But IMO what is striking is the lack of awareness that innovation (and thus risk-taking) is the core of today's economy, to create successful growth. It is as if nobody had taught/explain them that innnovation is the cornerstone: not school (some would argue that it's not the school's role to teach this), nor the government. And this event stronger for university students (the majority) who are very far from concrete reality (courses are about content and there is a lack of internship). Students from other schools (like 2-years professional degrees called DUT or BTS) are more aware of how things work since they have more connection with companies and work.

This clear lack of pedagogy make those students not aware of the reality of labor and economy. As a consequence, they don't feel like one should take risks and they then think they deserve to have a proper job (coming out from the blue?) as they parents had.

And this misunderstanding is worsened by the fact that they think companies are super-rich and wealthy (as seen on TV, in newspaper...) but they do not realize that the super-wealthy are huge multinationals (CAC40 companies like Total, Michelin, Aventis...) and that most of the companies (98%) are way smaller. This is another misunderstanding: small start-ups or bakery dot not have the same context to hire young people compared to multinationals...

I can't explain it yet, though I heard a lot about it, but I can share eyewitness photos of 'Republique' where I blundered into riot police and a mob on March 28th.

Argh. Are there any French people out there who can explain these street protests to me in terms of risk, innovation or anything else?

So, here is a message sent from Bordeaux (SW of France) by a genuine french former job seeker.

Well,
Here are some unofficial keypoints to understand what is the situation in France:
- The unemployment rate is "sovietically" lowered. A lot of "non active" individuals are simply ommited in the statistics.
- The tax level is one of the highest in the world. VAT 19.6% Tax on companies profits: 33.33%
plus a tax on companies value (professional tax) Tax on petrol > 600% . Our wonderful politicians speak about over 80% on the overall petrol cost.
- The bureaucraty is simply crazy.

The worst of all is that, even with such a tax level, the state is very close to bankrupcy.

And the government has simply created a new kind of contract. All the former ones have simply not worked.
If you meet with young guys preparing a doctorate, a lot of them will say you that they prepare this diploma in order to emmigrate.

French competitiveness is largely based on internships and misqualified employment. You can hire an engineer for the price of a simple worker. There is actually no future for young people. The average time to get a permanent job is eleven years and one of the emerging problem is that a lot of people will become retired without having ever worked. They will have got money from the social services (around US$400.00/month) and got some social contracts.

Personnally, I am engineer, industrial designer and graduated in electronics and I work as an electrician via a temporary job agency since twelve years.
Since January, the 1st, 2006, the activity has reduced significantly.
So, this new contract is simply a peanut. It will not solve anything. And all these students have simply enough to wait for real solutions which never come.
So the lone solution, now, for frenchies is to emmigrate or relocate companies. That's why their community is so important in European big cities.
The true problem would be a situation like in Argentina. Never forget it may occurs!
Best Regards,

Its an old (bad?) joke..."the reason the French will never again rise to a world power is because they don't have a word for entrepreneur." But it hides in humor a lot of understanding.
Risk and the likelihood of failure are anathema to French culture....it is why the rest of us love to immerse ourselves for a while in France. And there is a paradox here that is difficult to deal with. Why is the risk of failure more important than prolonged unemployment? Is your dignity somehow more assuaged with the pittance of social security? Being highly educated and unemployed is something to live with. Being highly educated and a failure by not achieving personal goals is not acceptable. Can it be that the French have never learned to see "failure" in innovation as a teaching tool, arguably a source of more wisdom and understanding than achieving success.
Innovation is a held-in-common human capacity. It is part of the larger human nature for creativity, which the French have in great adundance. Observe French design, which is intimately related in the process of innovation, and shake your head in wonderment that the French are not world competitors in innovation. What is wrong with this picture?

And it seems that everyone has the answer. However it is described, it comes out as a conundrum. And the solution to the puzzle seems to stare all the "knowables" in the face. If innovation leading to economic power is to be pursued vigorously then there must be a way for government support to underwrite a national center for innovation. It an be seen as another form of social security. It is only one idea..and others will have versions of it. But France desperately needs to find a way use its talent, to combine risk/failure and guarantee employment until independent innovation can establish a foothold.