Research and Development

The Reyrieux-based SME invests a quarter of its annual revenue in R&D.

Patrice Rilly, its CEO, is dividing his time this week between Pollutec in Lyon and the national firefighters' convention in Le Mans. In each field, there are cutting-edge technological innovations.

Natural hazards

It is a classic natural hazard that gave the company its name 40 years ago: lightning.

PARATRONIC specialized in surge protection systems for lightning strikes. It was a promising market "that gave us a good understanding of the needs of those who were putting electronics out in the open," says Patrice Rilly, who took over the company four years ago. From Reyrieux, home to the design office with a team of ten engineers and electronics technicians and the factory, complete sensor systems of all kinds are now produced every year.

Small water cycle

PARATRONIC first made a name for itself among players in the small water cycle sector, moving from protecting water towers against lightning strikes to designing complete management systems: "We have developed several applications to control the entire chain, from level measurement to data acquisition using various sensor technologies, including submerged, ultrasonic, and radar sensors. PARATRONIC has developed all these technologies to offer its customers the right sensors for their needs. We have gradually expanded our offering. These sensors are used to convert physical data into digital data. Behind the scenes, this data must be acquired, which means having a system that puts the sensor in the right conditions and is capable of managing data acquisition and transmission," summarizes Patrice Rilly.

Treated water and white water

This approach was then naturally extended to the field of treated water and subsequently to that of whitewater. For the past 20 years, PARATRONIC has been the company selected by the Ministry of Ecological Transition to provide the data acquisition system for the Vigicrue system, which monitors France’s 3,500 rivers.

Early detection of forest fires

Over the years, thanks to this ongoing research and development effort, the company has expanded its business, explains the CEO: “Our approach remains the same: sensors, data acquisition systems, transmission systems, and a data aggregator that enables simulation software to run. We work with people who deal with landslides; it’s a logical extension of our outdoor expertise.” That’s how PARATRONIC came to develop an early-warning system for forest fires. In this case, the sensors are cameras equipped with onboard artificial intelligence that performs highly advanced image analysis to detect the onset of fires up to twenty kilometers away using just a few pixels. In the Landes region, with 19 surveillance towers, the entire forest—approximately 400,000 hectares—is thus covered.

"With climate change, we are unfortunately in a booming market, but we are doing our part to prevent the worst and find solutions," summarizes Patrice Rilly. PARATRONIC currently has a turnover of €5.7 million and 35 employees.

In Le Progrès on Tuesday, October 7, 2025 | Economic News by H.C.

Photo caption: Patrice Rilly, CEO of PARATRONIC. Photo by Nathalie Oundjian