R&D engineer, PhD in systems safety · Trainer in responsible digital technology
Nicolas Burger
I build digital tools to improve industrial performance, and I teach how human societies can develop while staying within planetary boundaries.
About
Engineer, teacher, curious citizen
I am an R&D engineer at Optimistik and product manager of OIBus, an open-source data collection product that helps improve industrial performance (energy, material loss, quality, etc.). I have been teaching since 2016, in class and through MOOCs, on the dependencies of industrial systems, the Earth system and rebound effects.
I care about the role engineers play in society, about how we, as humans, interact with technology and with each other, and about participatory democracy as a way to make societal and technological choices. I also believe innovation can be boosted by cultural, linguistic and scientific diversity: that is the idea behind Portraits 2 Passages, which I co-founded to explore territories and live real human adventures.
Focus areas
Industry & planetary boundaries
Industry through its data
Energy, material loss, emissions and quality data to improve industrial performance; teaching planetary boundaries, LCA and rebound effects.
Learning design
Active learning, in class and online
End-to-end design of workshop-based courses (objectives, retrieval practice, group work, quizzes); MOOC teaching; ten years of teaching in higher education.
Product & coordination
Steering a product and its stakeholders
Product owner since 2016: roadmaps, prioritisation, coordination between development, operations and industrial customers; co-organiser of the Citizen Assembly on scientific knowledges (IESF).
Risk analysis
System dependencies and availability
PhD on the trade-offs between security and availability; mapping a system’s upstream and downstream dependencies, ranked by criticality.
Projects
Optimistik · since 2020
OIBus
The open-source product that collects data from industrial sites (PLCs, historians, sensors) for the OIAnalytics platform. I am its product manager: roadmap, prioritisation and the link with customer teams.
Co-founder · since 2018
Portraits 2 Passages
Lou, Diane and I met at UTT. Together, we organise local trips by hitchhiking and without money: since 2021, participants have set off to discover lesser-known places (Mayenne, Indre, the canton of Lucerne…) and the people who live there, and we publish their stories on video. We also offer training in responsible digital technology: planetary boundaries, Doughnut economics, techno-diversity, Green IT, responsible design.
IESF · 2025 – 2026
Citizen Assembly on scientific knowledges
Modelled on citizens’ assemblies, 50 PhDs and doctoral candidates met over several months to make recommendations on how scientific knowledge is produced, shared and received. Under the High Patronage of the President of the French Republic.
Teaching · since 2022
Responsible digital technology
The “Designing responsible digital technologies” course at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and classes at CNAM, in person and as MOOCs: planetary boundaries, Doughnut economics, LCA, rebound effects, the commons.
Experience
Experience and education
Work
Since Aug 2020 · Chambéry
R&D engineer, OIBus product manager
Optimistik, publisher of the OIAnalytics industrial data platform
- Product manager for OIBus, the open-source product collecting data from industrial sites (PLCs, historians, sensors): roadmap, prioritisation, link with customer teams.
- Upgraded the data contextualisation and analysis tool used to improve industrial performance: energy, material loss, stack emissions, quality.
Sep 2016 – Jun 2020 · Troyes
R&D engineer, product owner
Vigilock
- Owned the IoT infrastructure for industrial applications.
- Built the business model and roadmaps for several projects.
Jan 2014 – Sep 2016 · Troyes
Freelance IoT engineer
Freelance
- Designed secure wireless communications and monitoring solutions for connected devices (local, remote, SaaS).
Teaching
Since 2022 · Paris
Course: “Designing responsible digital technologies”
Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne · Master’s · 42 h per year
- Reliability of scientific sources, planetary boundaries, Doughnut economics, the commons, digital impacts in industry, LCA, dependencies, rebound effects.
- Active learning: retrieval practice, group workshops (draw your Doughnut, define a digital commons, assess a service), quizzes, written reflection at the end of each session.
Since 2022
Responsible digital technology, in person and as MOOCs
Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM) · engineering degree · 40 h per year
2016 – 2025 · Troyes
Cryptography
Université de technologie de Troyes (UTT) · Master’s and engineering degree · 24 h per year
- Symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, hash functions, signatures.
Involvement
Since 2018 · company since 2024
Co-founder of Portraits 2 Passages
Cultural, solidarity-driven hitchhiking races; training in responsible digital technology
Feb 2025 – Feb 2026
Co-organiser of the Citizen Assembly on scientific knowledges
Ingénieurs et Scientifiques de France (IESF)
- Organisation and management, from selecting participants to delivering the report; programme design.
- Funding strategy and relations with partners and policymakers.
- Facilitated in-person and online sessions: workshops, deliberations, debriefs.
Sep 2024 – Sep 2026
Chair of the PhD Committee
Ingénieurs et Scientifiques de France (IESF)
Jun 2022 – Jun 2025
President of UTT Alumni
Alumni association of the Université de technologie de Troyes
Education
2017 – 2020
PhD in systems optimisation and safety
UTT · Security vs. availability trade-offs in communicating embedded systems
2014 – 2015
MSc in Information Systems Security
UTT
2010 – 2015
Engineering degree in Systems, Networks and Telecommunications
UTT · 2015 Ellipse Prize for academic excellence and student involvement
Technical skills
Topics taught
Languages
- French
- native
- English
- C2
- German
- A2