Viva Technology 2019: more than 124,000 attendees from all over the world

The world’s top innovation leaders were on hand. In more than 150 sessions, some 450 speakers – entrepreneurs, leading business fi gures, investors, academics – discussed the impact of tech on the economy and society. Among them: Jack Ma (Alibaba Group) - Ginni Rometty (IBM) - Antonio Neri (HPE) - Ken Hu (Huawei) - Garry Kasparov (Avast Security Ambassador and former world chess champion) - Young Sohn (Samsung) - three European commissioners: Margrethe Vestager (European Commissioner for Competition), Carlos Moedas (European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation) and Pierre Moscovici (European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Aff airs, Taxation and Customs).

And also : Jean-Paul Agon (L’Oréal) - Anousheh Ansari (X-PRIZE) - Bernard Arnault (LVMH) - Jacques Aschenbroich (Valeo)- Andy Baldwin (EY) - Sébastien Bazin (Accor) - Sophie Bellon (Sodexo) - Julia Bijaoui (Frichti) - Thierry Bolloré (Renault) - - Usain Bolt (Médaillé olympique) - Thierry Breton (Atos) - Matt Brittin (Google) - Thomas Buberl (Axa) - Pascal Cagni (Business France) - Patrice Caine (Thales) - Flora Coleman (TransferWise) - Jean-Philippe Courtois (Microsoft) - Alex Dayon (Salesforce) - Philippe de Chanville (ManoMano) - Daniel Dines (UiPath) - Pierre Dubuc (OpenClassrooms) - Xavier Durand (Aircall) - Börje Ekholm (Ericsson) - Gerri Elliott (Cisco) - Clémence Franc (Novagray)- Jacquelline Fuller (Google.org) - Catherine Guillouard (RATP) - Sophie Heller (BNPP) - Mehdi Houas (Talan) - Xavier Huillard (Vinci) - Linda Jackson (Groupe PSA) - John Kerry (former Secretary of the State of the United States) - Omar Khan (Magic Leap) - Casper Klynge (Tech Ambassador for Denmark) - Marie Kyle (Bima) - Isabelle Kocher (Engie) - Yann Le Cun (Facebook) - Bernard Liautaud (Balderton) - Dr Kai Fu Lee (Sinovation Ventures) - Carine Magescas (AngelPad) - Frédéric Mazzella (BlaBlaCar) - Sébastien Missoff e (Google) - Vas Narasimhan (Novartis) - Ameet Nathwani (Sanofi ) - Nunu Ntshingila (Facebook) - Emily Orton (Darktrace) - Melanie Perkins (Canva) - Thomas Plantenga (Vinted) - Jonas Prising (ManpowerGroup) - Marc Pritchard (P&G) - Stéphane Richard (Orange) - Holly Ridings (Nasa) - Eva Sadoun (LITA.co) - Amnon Shashua (Mobileye) - Kevin Sneader (McKinsey) - Yair Snir (Dell Technologies) - Nik Storonsky (Revolut) - Jean Todt (FIA) - Roxanne Varza (Station F) - Cédric Villani (mathématicien et député) - Martin Villig (Bolt.EU) - Natalia Vodianova (Elbi) - Philippe Wahl (La Poste) - Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia) - Keith Weed (Unilever) - Yonatan Winetraub (SpaceIL) - Bedy Yang (500 Startups).

Discussions focussed on major trends shaping the world of tomorrow, delving into artifi cial Intelligence, 5G, blockchain, quantum computing, connected healthcare, the new space race, mobility, the environment…. Among the main thematic pillars of this fourth edition of VivaTech:

• Tech for Good: Examining how to make technology work for the common good and have a positive impact, with a reenactment on the opening day of VivaTech of the commitments from the Tech for Good Summit the previous evening at the Élysée Palace
• United Tech of Europe: Building an ecosystem to rival the American and Asian tech juggernauts and helping European startups to achieve the scale of giants
• Women in Tech: Remedying the persistent underrepresentation of women in tech and startups?
• Jobs: Supporting entrepreneurs in overcoming one of their main challenges, hiring the right talent
• AfricaTech: Exploring the tech opportunities for the African continent

Acting members of the French government were among the many personalities attending VivaTech in 2019:
Elisabeth Borne, Minister in charge of Transport; Sophie CLUZEL, Secrétaire d’Etat chargée des personnes handicapées; Gérald Darmanin, Minister of Action and Public Accounts; Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy and Finance; Florence Parly, Minister of Defence; Muriel Pénicaud, Minister of Labour; Brune Poirson, Secretary of State to the Minister of State, Minister for Ecological and Solidarity Transition; François de Rugy, Minister of State, Minister for Ecological and Solidarity Transition; Marlène Schiappa, Secretary of State to the Prime Minister, in charge of gender equality and the fight against discrimination; Frédérique Vidal, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation; Emmanuelle Wargon, Secretary of State, Minister for Ecological and Solidarity Transition. Cédric O, Secretary of State in Charge of Digital, was in attendance with his cabinet for all three days of VivaTech.

Other important French political figures were also present: Xavier Bertrand, President of the Hauts-de-France Region; François Bonneau, President of the Centre Val de Loire Region; Christian Estrosi, Mayor of Nice; Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris; François Hollande, former President of France; Lilla Merabet, Vice-President of the Grand-Est Region; Patrick Molinoz, Vice-President of the Bourgogne-Franche Comté Region; Renaud Muselier, President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur Region; Patrick Ollier, President of the Grand Paris Metropolitan Area; Valérie Pécresse, President of the Ile-De-France Region; and Nadia Pellefigue, Vice-President of the Occitanie Region, Jean Rottner, President of the Grand Est Region

Numerous international politicians also visited VivaTech:
Hakob Arshakia, Minister of Telecoms and IT, Armenia; David Gruen, Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australia; Chenmeta Kan, Secretary of State of Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Cambodia; Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Canada; Dorothée Bär, Minister of Digital, Germany; Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary to the Ministry of de Electronic and IT, India; M. Rudiantara Minister of Communication and Information, Indonesia; Marco Bellezza, Legal Advisor on Communication and Digital Innovation to the Deputy Prime Minister, Italy; Yoshihiko Sozaki, State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan; Yukari Sato, State Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan; Moulay Hafid El Alamy, Minister of Industry, Investment, Commerce and Digital Economy, Morocco; Prince Constantin van Oranje, the Netherlands; Ndiaye Diop’, Minister of Digital Economy, Sénégal; Pyung-oh Kwon, President and CEO of Kotra, South Korea; Stina Billinger, Secretary of State for Industry and Innovations, Sweden; Martina Hirayama, State Secretary of Training, Research and Innovation (SEFRI), Switzerland; Yu-Chin HSU, Deputy Minister for Science and Technology, Taiwan; Mohammad Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, United Arab Emirates; Omar Al Olama, Minister of State Minister of State for AI, United Arab Emirates; Jeremy Wright, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, United Kingdom; Michael Kratsios, Deputy Chief Technology Officer and Deputy Assistant to the President for Technology Policy at the White House, United States.

A total of 21 countries and territories presented their startup ecosystem:
Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia with the Misk Foundation, South Korea, Sweden, United Kingdom, Wallonia. 11 countries and territories attended VivaTech for the first time:
Algeria, Armenia with UGAB, Brazil, China (Shanghai and Nanjing), Denmark, DRC, Mauritius, Senegal, Spain, Quebec, Taiwan.
Africa was an honoured guest at Vivatech again this year with a dedicated program track, the presence of 160 startups from the continent, and the Africatech Lab with Sanofi, Total, Vinci Energies and Société Générale.

VivaTech’s footprint extended far beyond the Porte de Versailles in Paris, reaching a total of 231 million people from 16th to 18th May 2019 (+100% over last year!) in more than 130 countries. Content created by VivaTech on the Internet received more than 3 billion unique views in only three days! A record for this type of event.

Viva Technology shares the success of this fourth edition with its major partners and extends its appreciation for their deep commitment, particularly with regard to the startups that they welcomed on their booths:
Platinum Partners since the very beginning: BNP Paribas, Google, La Poste, LVMH, and Orange;
Gold Partners: Accor, Atos, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco, EDF, EY, HPE, Huawei, L’Oréal, ManpowerGroup, RATP Group, Sanofi, SAP, SNCF, Sodexo, TF1 Groupe, Thales, Valeo, Vinci Energies, the Centre-Val de Loire Region and the Région Sud
and also : Air Liquide, Alibaba, Axa, Bouygues Group, Capgemini, Citroën, Dell Technologies, Engie, Facebook, IBM, Intel, JCDecaux, KPMG, Microsoft, Misk Foundation, Oracle, Renault, Samsung, Salesforce, Talan and Total
Special Partners: Amazon Web Services (AWS), EY, ManpowerGroup, McKinsey & Company, Nielsen and the Ile de-France-Region

With more than 13,000 startups at VivaTech and some 2,300 showcased or pitching, even more innovative young companies were drawn to VivaTech this year. There was a visible increase in the quality of the startups present in the Labs, country pavilions and corners, and a heightened presence of more mature startups.

Three-thousand-three-hundred VCs came to VivaTech in 2019, a dramatic increase over 2018 (+50%), among them the world’s most active venture funds (Accel, Balderton, Softbank Vision Fund, Atomico, Partech, Felix Capital, etc.) with qualitative programs. Of particular note was the success of the Female Founder Challenge and Office Hours devoted entirely to female founders of startups, as part of the Women in Tech initiative.

Also present were founders or CEOs of some of the world’s biggest accelerators, among them: Said Amidi (Plug and Play), Carine Magescas (Angelpad), Patrick Dezeuw (StartupBootcamp), Siobhan Dullea (MassChallenge), and Jenny Fieldings (Techstars), Bedy Yang (500 Startups).

Lastly, the first edition of the Next European Unicorn Awards, in partnership with Accel, Les Echos and the Wall Street Journal, allowed us to showcase Europe’s enormous potential for scaleups. Thirty scaleups all based in Europe were finalists. The winners: Payfit (BtoB SMB), Snyk (BtoB Enterprize), Vinted (BtoC), Algolia (Deep Tech), Olio, and Openclassroom (ex aequo Tech 4 Good). The Grand Prize was won by Openclassroom for traction potential, impact and leadership.

Visitors to the Hall of Tech could discover the latest innovations transforming their sectors and making an impact on their daily lives, brought by major tech players and hundreds of game-changing startups.
Flying taxis, scooters, electric scooters: New mobility was very much in evidence, with innovations from Renault, Volkswagen, Valeo, Bosch, HPE, Jaguar, the new Citroën concept car, and in the Mobility Park sponsored by Engie: Aeromobil, HoverTaxi, Ascendance Flight Technologies, Hyperpoland and Twiice.
Some highlights: the Anymal, Antbot (CNRS), Da Vinci robots in the Robot Park sponsored by EDF; the Delair image-and-data recognition drone in the AI Innovation Park sponsored by Intel; immersive and spectacular Virtual Reality experiences such as the PSG VR Arcade with mk2 or Black Eclipse in the XR Park sponsorised by Oracle; and innovations to help preserve the environment with Etree, Omniflow and Hexagro in the GreenTech Park.

The Female Founder Challenge organized in partnership with with 50inTech: Two hours of meetings between female startuppers and VCs and a pitch contest for the biggest VCs. The winner is Vivian Nwakah, MedSaf.
The third annual LVMH Innovation Award was awarded to 3DLOOK. The prize was awarded by Bernard Arnault and Ian Rogers.
The EU Prize for Women Innovators, in the presence of Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, was awarded to Michela Puddu, Martine Caroff, Irina Borodina et Shimrit Perkol-Finkel
The FAMAE “Precious Water” Grand Prize from the FAMAE Foundation and the launch of the Make.Org “Give Every Young Person A Chance”initiative on Saturday
The Talent Center by ManpowerGroup, where job-seekers and recruiters could meet up. With more than 2,000 job offers, this was the place where coaching, training and meetings boosted career prospects for étudiants
The first edition of the Next Startupper Challenge, which rewarded the Neolithe project at the École Polytechnique and Ok Alfred at École 42, and whose prizes were awarded by Frédérique Vidal, France’s Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
The biggest Hackathon in Europe, organized once again by TechCrunch with the support of EDHEC, Eramet, Sanofi–Cegedim–IBM, Galeries Lafayette, Publicis Sapient and Corvid by Wix, rewarded the startup Myneral.me
The CMO Forum bringing together the greatest leaders in marketing, communication and media throughout the day on May 17, a series of debates held in partnership with McKinsey and Nielsen
The largest hackathon in Europe, once again organized with TechCrunch with the support of EDHEC, Eramet, Sanofi-Cegedim-IBM, Galeries Lafayette, Publicis Sapient and Corvid by Wix, awarded the startup Myneral.me.
The Women in Tech Conference brought together female “Role models” – entrepreneurs, actors, YouTubers – to discuss the place of women in tech and elsewhere in society, along with some comic relief from Bérengère Krief.
The Tribunal pour les Générations Futures (Court for Future Generations), organized by quarterly French magazine Usbek & Rica, hosed a debate on the theme “Has the Internet Killed Democracy?” in a format that mixed content, entertainment and a public vote
Sogeti Esport Series, a major E-sport event with two competitions: Rocket League (RL) and Super Smash Bros Ultimate (SSBU)
Viva Live with The Avener, a major concert presented by EDF and VivaTech in partnership with Le Parisien

VivaTech will once again gather innovators from around the world for three days in 2020, for an even more ambitious fifth edition.

“This fourth edition is one for the record books! Growing even bigger was a challenge but it paid off and represents a decisive step in VivaTech’s development. Bringing together even more startups, top speakers and visitors from around the world, VivaTech has emerged as the leading European beacon for the global tech scene.
The energy and enthusiasm that was perceived by participants and visitors also makes it a unique event. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all those who have given us their support these past four years: sponsors, partners, exhibitors, investors, media, startups, and of course the visitors – professionals as well as the general public. I would also like to commend the exceptional work by the devoted teams under Julie Ranty and Maxime Baffert, co-General Directors of VivaTech.”

– Maurice Lévy,
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Publicis Groupe and co-founder of VivaTech with Groupe Les Echos - Le Parisien

“VivaTech’s success provides concrete proof that France is capable of creating a sustainable international event, one that attracts the biggest names in tech who are creating tomorrow’s world. Thanks to partners from 95 different countries who have lent their support this year, we can say that VivaTech has brought the whole world to Paris. My thanks go to all the teams. The collaboration between the Publicis and Les Echos-Le Parisien groups is a real strength. Once again, our media editors mobilized to cover the event: Les Échos, Les Échos Start, Le Parisien, The Innovator, Capital Finance, and Radio Classique.”

– Pierre Louette,
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Groupe Les Echos - Le Parisien

Béatrice Germain - press@vivatechnology.com
Léa Roos - +33 (0)1 44 82 45 49 - vivatech@publicisconsultants.com
Elsa Perretti - +33 (0)1 44 82 45 54 - vivatech@publicisconsultants.com