Viva Technology: Over 100,000 people from all over the world at the rendezvous for innovation and startups!

With even more innovations presented, prestigious international partners and inspirational guests, Viva Technology has, for its third edition, surpassed all of its objectives and has established itself as the unmissable international rendezvous for innovation.

Paris, 27th May 2018 - Viva Technology, the global rendezvous for startups and leaders, took up the challenge to raise the bar even higher this year. More than 100,000 attendees participated in the 3 days of VivaTech

(2 days reserved for professionals and 1 day open to the general public) and were able to meet and initiate collaborations with the 1,800 startups either exhibiting or pitching, 1,900 investors and thousands of business leaders, as well as 1,900 journalists from around the world.

Viva Technology had the honor of receiving the President of the Republic Emmanuel MACRON for the inaugural address. The day before, President MACRON met global technology leaders for the «Tech For Good» summit. President MACRON was accompanied by the President of the Republic of Rwanda, Paul KAGAME.

Among the many personalities who visited VivaTech in 2018, we note several members of the government: Elisabeth BORNE, Minister of Transport; Benjamin GRIVEAUX, Secretary of State to the Prime Minister, Spokesman of the Government; Bruno LE MAIRE, Minister of Economy and Finance; Jean-Baptiste LEMOYNE, Secretary of State to the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs; Florence PARLY, Minister of the Armed Forces; Muriel PENICAUD, Minister of Labor; Marlène SCHIAPPA, Secretary of State to the Prime Minister, in charge of Equality between women and men; Frédérique VIDAL, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation. Mounir MAHJOUBI, Secretary of State in charge of Digital, had settled at VivaTech during the 3 days with his Cabinet.

VivaTech also notes the visit of representatives of the regions: François BONNEAU, President of the Region, Centre Val de Loire; Anne HIDALGO, Mayor of Paris; Renaud MUSELIER, President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte- d’Azur Region; Patrick OLLIER, President of Greater Paris Metropolis; Valérie PÉCRESSE, President of the Ile-De- France Region.

Robert DAVIES, Minister of Industry, South Africa; Bruno NABAGNE KONE, Minister of Communication, Digital Economy and Post, Côte d’Ivoire; Moulay HAFID EL ALAMI, Minister of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy, Morocco; S. ISWARAN, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Singapore; Mikael DAMBERG, Minister of Enterprise and Innovation, Sweden; Mauro DELL’AMBROGIO, State Secretary for Training, Switzerland; Cina LAWSON, Minister of Post and Digital Economy, Togo; Anouar MAAROUF, Minister of New Information Technologies, Tunisia; Matthew HANCOCK, Secretary of State for Digital, United Kingdom; Louise MUSHIKIWABO, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean de Dieu RURANGIRWA, Minister of Information and Communication Technologies, Rwanda and Rwanda Development Board: Clare AKAMANZI; Pierre Moscovici, European Commissioner.

Conversations around VivaTech have far exceeded the walls of Porte de Versailles. In total, 113 million people were affected by VivaTech content from the 24th to 26th of May (+ 101% since last year), in more than 155 countries. All content broadcasted by VivaTech achieved over 1.4 billion views in just 3 days! A record for an event of this nature.

The biggest global players in innovation were present. Through more than 150 conferences, over 300 entrepreneurial speakers, top business leaders, investors and researchers discussed the impact of digital on the economy and society: Mark ZUCKERBERG, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Facebook; Ginni ROMETTY, Chairman, President and CEO, IBM; Satya NADELLA, Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft; Dara KHOSROWSHAHI, CEO,

Uber; Eric SCHMIDT, Technical Advisor & Member of the Board, Alphabet Inc.; Chuck ROBBINS, Chairman and CEO, Cisco; and Bill McDERMOTT, CEO, SAP; Stewart BUTTERFIELD, Co-Founder and CEO, Slack; Frédéric MAZZELLA, Founder and President, BlaBlaCar; and also Stéphane RICHARD, Chairman and CEO, Orange; Isabelle KOCHER, CEO, Engie; Bernard ARNAULT, Chairman and CEO, LVMH; Patrice CAINE, CEO of Thales Group; Florent MENEGAUX, CEO of Michelin; Jean-Paul AGON, CEO of L’Oréal; Jacques ASCHENBROICH, CEO of Valeo ...

The debates highlighted the major trends that are shaping the world of tomorrow with key themes such as

«Tech for Good» or how technology can be a positive force for society,, the great leap forward of the African continent, the future of artificial intelligence or the latest marketing trends. At the time of the GPRD, Isabelle FALQUE-PERROTIN, President of the CNIL was able to discuss all facets.

Viva Technology shares the success of this 3rd edition with its major partners and wishes to thank them for their strong commitment :

• The platinum partners: BNP Paribas, Google, La Poste, LVMH and Orange;
• The major partners: AccorHotels, Airbus, Cisco, Engie, EDF, EY, ManpowerGroup, McKinsey, PMU, RATP Group, Sanofi, SNCF, Sodexo, TF1 Group, Valeo, Vinci Energies, Facebook, IBM, L’Oréal and the Ile de France region are loyal to Viva Technology since its first edition. They were joined this year by Microsoft, Softbank Robotics, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Auvergne Rhône Alpes Region, Centre Val de Loire Region, SAP, Thales and Total.

All of them hosted more than 1,800 startups to launch successful collaborations that are the strength of VivaTech: incubations, prototypes financing, mentoring or investments.

In the Hall of Tech, attendees were able to discover the latest innovations that will transform their business and impact their lives, driven by tech giants and hundreds of innovative startups.

Some of the other must-sees: Airbus’ self-contained land and air vehicle Pop.Up, Cybedroïd’s Alice robots, and Unsupervised’s Aida, the reproduction of the US space station with HPE, the model quantum computer of IBM, immersive virtual reality experiences in the Alibaba VR Park, Valeo’s innovations for drivers and passengers and Jaguar’s electric cars.

VivaTech was honored this year with the presence of pavilions from all over the African continent: Rwanda, Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal (via Jokkolabs). Conferences highlighted the new faces of the African continent such as Viola Llewellyn, Co-Founder and President, OVAMBA SOLUTIONS INC, Aphrodice MUTANGANA, General Manager, KLAB; or Rebecca Enonchong, CEO, APPSTECH.

The French Development Agency has also unveiled its new support system for African start-ups to support the emergence of the unicorns of tomorrow from the continent.

With the CEO Forum, the largest global companies, also partners of VivaTech, were able to discuss their digital transformation strategy in front of a large and attentive audience.

The CMO Forum and the Google CMO Track were an outstanding success thanks to the presence of Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer of P&G; Tony Rogers, CMO of Walmart; Clive Sirkin, Chief Growth Officer of Kellogg Company; or David Shing, Digital Prophet AOL; Sébastien Missoffe, VP and Managing Director Google France and many others…

Viva Technology is particularly committed this year to themes on talent, recruitment and human resources in general. VivaTech’s partners and startups published on Talent Connect - the jobboard developed by ManpowerGroup - more than 700 job offers to recruit the many talents present at VivaTech; 3,500 applications, most of which have been submitted.

Recruitment, coaching and support schemes for business creation particularly appealed to young people who were more than 18,000 to go to VivaTech.

• Two Sparknews «Positive Impact» challenges took place at VivaTech on the circular economy and inclusion; Mundao, Dycle and Alchemists won the FAMAE Foundation’s «Make our Planet Green Again» Grand Prize; Great Cause Make.Org «Give a chance to every young person» rewarded The Passport of Commitment, with the Audience Award and the Grand Prize among VivaTech’s 28 partners’ initiatives.
• The TechCrunch Battlefield, in partnership with Michelin, elected Wingly, the best startup in Europe
• Europe’s biggest corporate hackathon, also with TechCrunch, in partnership with IBM, Leboncoin, Microsoft, Renault, Talan and Gefco rewarded the best projects.
• The Girls’ Power conference, in partnership with ELLE magazine, brought together more than 1,500 young women sharing their desire to break into entrepreneurship.
• A large «Fortnite Battle Royal» tournament organized by the PMU in partnership with L’Equipe newspaper
• A great concert by the band ALB presented by Sony Music
• The second edition of the LVMH Innovation Award awarded Oyst. The award was presented by Bernard Arnault, Chief Executive Officer and Ian Rogers, Chief Digital Officer of LVMH.

VivaTech will bring together innovators from all over the world for 3 days in 2019 from the 16th to 18th of May for a fourth edition even more ambitious.

« The success of VivaTech is concrete proof that France is capable of creating an international event, to build on the long-term, and to attract the greatest names of Tech and those who create the world of tomorrow. Thanks to partners from 95 different countries who have supported us this year, we can say that, with VivaTech, it is the whole world that comes to Paris. » Said Pierre Louette, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Groupe Les Echos
- Le Parisien.

« When partnering with Les Echos, and with the personal support of Bernard Arnault and our first founding partners - BNP Paribas, Google, EY, La Poste and Orange, we created VivaTech.  We had the ambition to make it an important rendezvous for startups, innovation and for great debates about technology, we did not think that so fast - in just 3 years - VivaTech would become the world’s most important rendezvous. Paris and France are now on the global map for technology, innovation and startups in a remarkable way with the support of the President of the Republic and major global players. «It’s the place to be» has been repeated over and over again by a lot of people and I’m very proud of it. I would like to thank all of those who provide us with support: sponsors, exhibitors, investors, media, startups and, of course, attendees, professionals and the general public. Over 100,000 attendees are an important step, and all the teams headed by Julie RANTY and Maxime BAFFERT
- Co Managing Directors, deserve to be warmly congratulated. Yes, you can work in France, win and become a global reference! » Said Maurice Levy, Chairman of the Supervisory Board Publicis Groupe