“The future is back”. It is with these words that Pierre Louette, CEO of Les Echos Le Parisien Group, presented the sixth edition of Viva Technology. This will be held from June 15 to 18 at Porte de Versailles, in Paris. In 2019, 124,000 people had taken their ticket for VivaTech, the organization hopes for the same this year. Corn VivaTech 2022 will also be hybrid to adapt to the post-pandemic “new world” (after a canceled 2020 edition and a 5th edition restrained by the gauges). All the conferences will therefore be broadcast online (and available for replay until next December). New for 2022: the distribution of this content will be free and open to everyone.
Some 1200 start-ups are expected this year. Three days will be dedicated to professionals and the show will be open to the general public on Saturday. Among the major themes addressed this year, mobility, the environment, digital inclusiveness but also Web3. Speakers such as Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, Catherine MacGregor, CEO of Engie, Bernard Arnault (LVMH) or Sébastien Borget, CEO of The Sandbox have already been announced. To find out more about this new edition, we spoke with Julie Ranty, general manager of VivaTech.
WE TOMORROW: What are the challenges of VivaTech 2022?
Julie Ranty : First of all, we want to regain all the pre-Covid enthusiasm, participation, dynamics and mobilization. We were cut off by the pandemic which forced us to cancel in 2020 and organize a “light” edition last year. We also aim to strengthen the international dimension of this show. Admittedly, this takes place in Paris and we value the French and European ecosystem, but we have an international reach. And then, of course, we have the ambition to do emerge innovative and interesting solutions. Partnerships, coalitions… in a number of areas to respond to the main current environmental and societal challenges.
Finally, at VivaTech, we want focus on web3. The goal is to provide a bit of education, key figures, benchmarks to better understand this real technological breakthrough. We are at a turning point for VivaTech but also for the tech world in general. But you have to know how to take this subject. Identify partners with whom to innovate in Web3 and understand the opportunities that may exist.
Concretely, how are you going to approach Web3 at VivaTech?
We will obviously ask all the current questions and queries about Web3, the metaverse, etc. While being very cautious and relying on objective figures. We will start from what it is possible to do today, from what it will be possible to do tomorrow. What are the expectations and uses of consumers. How it can create new business opportunities, whether in the world of entertainment, luxury, work and business…
We will especially give the floor to those who have been doing research on the subject for years.. I am of course talking about Meta (Facebook) or even Microsoft, who will come and share their views on this with us. We will also welcome LVMH [qui a déjà son ambassadrice virtuelle dans le metaverse, NDLR] or even Sandbox, the first French actor of the metaverse.
Isn’t it a bit premature to talk about a business opportunity for a still very fantasized Web3?
Our position is as follows: there is this technological breakthrough that is coming. It is not known precisely what the size of the market will be in five years. Figures speak of 700 billion but we do not have a crystal ball so be careful. On VivaTech, we want to show what Web3 could look like and present the partners with whom it is possible to launch avenues of development. We are not going to get up one morning and Web3 will have appeared.
The different actors must test by small touches and see how it responds on the side of their users and their users. You have to try, act in a very start-up way and see what happens. This has many virtues because we are sure not to miss a technological revolution. And at the same time not to overestimate the potential of a market either.
The environment will also be at the center of this 6th edition of VivaTech…
Yes, both in the themes addressed and in the measures put in place in the organization of the show to have the lowest possible ecological footprint. Among the 1,200 start-ups that will take part in VivaTech, between 200 and 300 of them have made the environment their priority. And we invited about twenty of them to be part of our “Low Carbon Park EDF”.
It will highlight initiatives committed to the fight against global warming and the energy transition. As part of the show, we will also make every effort to emit as little carbon as possible, and offset it if necessary. We also donate 1 euro for each visitor ticket purchased to a reforestation program.
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