Col. Franck Bilau started his career at the Directorate General for Armaments / Direction Générale pour l’Armement (DGA), in 1992, as a network engineer for the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier then for the anti-air warfare frigate Horizon (FR-UK-IT), until 1997.
He then served as a public procurement officer for 5 years, first as a junior and later as head of R&D contracts for space, telecoms and information systems.
In 2003/2004, Col. Franck Bilau is seconded to the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence to work within public private partnership (PFI) projects. From 2004 to 2012, he is involved in or responsible for large outsourcing contracts and for the 1st PPP contract of the French MOD.
In 2012, he joins the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Défense Nationale (IHEDN) within the Ecole Militaire and runs the « Armament and defence economy » major. This one-year part time curriculum gathers every year 50 high potential personnel, from DGA, from the forces, foreign officers and leaders from higher education, research and industry.
Between 2016 and 2018, then between 2020 et 2023, he works for the industrial affaires of DGA, in charge of intelligence on and support to the French defence supply chain.
He joins the Defence Innovation Agency at its inception in October 2018, until the end of 2020. Upon his return to the Agency in November 2023, he becomes head of the international cooperation unit.
Col. Franck Bilau is a graduate from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées (ENSTA Bretagne – 1992), from University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Master of public law and economy- 2009) and from Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (Company analysis – 2023).