Author: Svetlana Stotskaya
Viva Technology is Europe's biggest startup and tech event, and the seventh edition took place from June 14 to 17, 2023, at Expo Porte de Versailles in Paris. The event attracted more than 150,000 visitors at the venue and 405,000 online visitors from 174 countries, who were able to discover hundreds of world-exclusive innovations and attend the speeches of the greatest speakers on the international scene.
The VivaTech News channel broadcasted live interviews with key speakers and personalities from the tech world, as well as reports on the latest trends and innovations showcased at the event. The channel reached more than 5 million viewers worldwide. The event also featured 11,400 startups, 2800 exhibitors and more than 450 speakers who shared their insights on the current and future challenges of technology.
Image Credit: Svetlana Stotskaya
Here are a few highlights of this edition.
Panel discussions and keynotes
More than 6,000 people in a supercharged atmosphere followed the conversation between Elon Musk, CEO and founder of Tesla and SpaceX, and Maurice Lévy, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Publicis Groupe, at the Dôme de Paris. Musk talked about his vision for the future of humanity, his projects for Neuralink and his views on artificial intelligence.
Image Credit: Svetlana Stotskaya
The panel discussion on "The Future of Sport" in partnership with Global Sports Week, which brought together leaders from the sports industry, such as Lucien Boyer, President at Global Sports Week; Sacha Brunet, VP at Two Circles; Louise Ekland, Jornalist at Ekland Group; Marie-Amélie Le Fur, President at Comité Paralympique et Sportif Français; Pierre Rabadan, Deputy in Charge of Sport, the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Seine; Mairie de Paris; Jean Pierre Siutat, Vice President at CNOSF; Muhammad Yunus, co-founder at Yunus Sports Hub. They discussed how technology is transforming sports and creating new opportunities for athletes, fans and society.
As a marketer, I was waiting for the talk “Luxury and Sport: Will the Marriage Last?” with Malik Abu-Ghazaleh, Chief Digital Officer at Tiffany & Co; Romain Campus, Product Group Manager at Tag Heuer; Thibault Lemaire, Innovation Manager at Louis Vuitton; Louise Ekland, Journalist at Ekland Group. One of the topics of the talk was the collaboration between Nike and Tiffany & Co, which resulted in a limited-edition release of Air Force 1s with premium leather and the iconic Tiffany Blue® color. The panelists also discussed the partnership between Louis Vuitton and Epic Games, which brought the luxury brand’s designs to the virtual world of Fortnite.
Image Credit: Viva Technology / Global Sports Week
The panel discussion “Founder’s Story - Future-proofing SMEs: Strategies for Success” brought together Jérôme Kieffer, CEO, KPMG France; Luciana Lixandru, General Partner, Sequoia; Arthur Waller, CEO, Pennylane. They addressed such questions as the following: How can small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) survive and thrive in a rapidly changing world? What are the key challenges and opportunities they face? How can they leverage innovation, digital transformation, and sustainability to gain a competitive edge?
Startup contests
VivaTech 2023 also hosted more than 50 challenges, with a strong international presence, covering topics such as sustainability, diversity & inclusion, the future of work and the future of sport.
The Next Unicorn Awards celebrated the best European startups in the 5th edition of VivaTech 2023. The winners were Pennylane (Fintech), Defined.ai (Deeptech), Oviva (digital media), Matsmart (impact), Wallapop (marketplace) and Pigment (Saas B2B), who received awards for their high potential to scale up.
The AfricaTech Awards, a joint initiative by VivaTech and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), recognized and supported the most innovative startups in the Climate Tech, Health Tech and FinTech sectors that are based or working with Africa. The winners were Kubik for Climate Tech, Curacel for FinTech and Waspito for Health Tech.
The Female Founder Challenge, organized by VivaTech and 50inTech with the support of Axa, Mazars and Société Générale, awarded Zuzanna Stamirowska, the founder of Pathway, a French deeptech startup that provides a Python framework to easily build data products.
One of the most famous awards at the conference is the LVMH Innovation Award, a prestigious recognition for startups that collaborate with LVMH Maisons and offer innovative solutions in six different domains. The winners are selected by a jury of experts and receive the Grand Prize, which includes mentoring and support from LVMH teams. This year, the jury also awarded a special prize for the most outstanding startup in the field of Artificial Intelligence. The LVMH Innovation Awards challenge in 2023 was won by Save Your Wardrobe, a platform dedicated to repairing and maintaining clothes.
Image Credit: Svetlana Stotskaya
To bring together the European ecosystem in a green way, the Tech on Tracks initiative, led by VivaTech and SNCF, enabled dozens of startups, investors and journalists to travel by train to Paris.
For its attendees, VivaTech 2023 was a unique opportunity to celebrate technology as a force for good and to connect with the global tech community, demonstrated its commitment to sustainability by reducing its environmental impact and promoting social inclusion and diversity in tech.
About the Author
Svetlana Stotskaya is a marketing and brand strategist passionate about technology innovation.