There were no more masks to hide the euphoric smiles of the organizers of the VivaTech show during the presentation this Wednesday morning at the Ministry of the Economy of the new edition of the largest European event dedicated to innovative companies. After a 2020 edition canceled by the pandemic and a 5th edition restrained by the gauges, the show for start-ups and investors returns in a still hybrid version – face-to-face and online – but more substantial and extended by one day. The aisles of the Porte de Versailles halls (Paris, 15th arrondissement) will be filled from Wednesday June 15 to Friday June 17 with professionals in the sector on the lookout for the next nugget among the 1,200 expected start-ups. While the show will open its doors to the general public on Saturday 18. Some fifty mini-events will also take place throughout the capital.
The online platform will, for the first time, be largely open to the outside world and its content (seminars and training, etc.) not reserved solely for holders of an access pass to the show. “This responds to a need to make technology accessible to more people so that they can appropriate digital technology and innovation, which is the real educational vocation of the show”, underlines Julie Ranty, the general manager of VivaTech organized by Publicis Groupe and the Les Echos-Le Parisien group.
The trifecta NFT, cryptocurrencies, Metaverse
This philosophy is reflected in the themes chosen for this 6th edition. The environment and clean mobility will be at the heart of the show with a space devoted to decarbonized projects such as CO² sensors from the Swiss start-up Climeworks or the Japanese inflatable electric motorcycle from Poimo. Second theme: the future of work, in particular telework, and, in the near future, meetings… in the Metaverse. Digital inclusion, particularly of people with disabilities, will be highlighted with the presentation of the promising artificial hand of Esper Bionics, a Ukrainian start-up.
The fair will invite 3,000 middle school and high school girls to inspire careers in a historically unmixed sector. Finally, VivaTech does not ignore, like its American equivalent the CES in Las Vegas, fashionable technologies such as Web 3, more decentralized innovations embodied by NFTs or cryptocurrencies. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen such a major and all-encompassing technological advance, there is a real Momentum that requires deciphering and popularization work”, explains Julie Ranty. We therefore find in the casting of the speakers of the major conferences world sizes such as Sébastien Borget, the co-founder of The Sandbox or Changpeng Zhao, the boss of Binance, the largest virtual currency trading platform. They will share the stage with leaders of the CAC 40 and major international groups. A form of return to normal for a high mass which had, like many salons, played its survival last year. In the end, 140,000 visitors responded.