The French have always been at the forefront of technology - it's just that the British hate to admit it!
They had a version of the internet up and running in the early 1980s, a decade before the internet was generally available to the public in other countries. It was called the Minitel and very useful it was too!(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel)
The French also developed and implemented the chip and pin system for credit and debit cards long before other countries.