Viva Tech 2018 Preview

Paris – 14th February 2018 – Internationally renowned, business accelerator, even more immersive experiences...A preview of what will shake up Porte de Versailles for Viva Technology this year, May 24th – 26th, 2018. 

Global VivaTour of Innovation 

Explorers of innovation, Viva Technology’s teams travelled to 24 cities in some of the most dynamic tech hubs on the planet. The various meetup events gathered thousands of entrepreneurs, from all corners of the globe, who will be at VivaTech this May. More than 10 countries including Israel, South Korea and Russia will also present their most prominent startups and latest innovations from their respective ecosystems at VivaTech. 

Afric@tech: Digital Revolution 

A new dynamic ecosystem is emerging, represented for the first time at VivaTech in the Afric@tech zone that will host the 100 most promising startups in Africa, with a dedicated Lab, country pavilions, challenges and a specific conference track. 

Partners have renewed their commitment to VivaTech this year and are joined by new international corporations. 23 major international companies and leaders in their sectors, will host more than 1,000 startups on their «open innovation» labs to accelerate their digital transformation and provide opportunities for growth. 

Platinum Partners: BNP Paribas, Google, La Poste, LVMH and Orange 

Gold Partners: AccorHotels - Airbus - Engie - ManpowerGroup - PMU - RATP Group - Sanofi - SNCF - Sodexo - TF1 Groupe - Valeo - Vinci Energies 

Joining VivaTech for the first time: HPE, Région Auvergne Rhône Alpes - Région Centre Val de Loire - SAP - Thales. 

In addition, the Ile de France Region will again be a «Hosting Partner», thus renewing its support for the event and devoting its role in strengthening the international appeal of France. 

Startup challenges: the best opportunities for collaboration and innovation New customer experiences, new mobility solutions, cybersecurity, smart business ... these strategic business issues are at the heart of the challenges proposed by VivaTech’s partners. 100 challenges have been launched on the platform challenges.vivatechnology.com, accumulating already over 4,000 participations of which 55% are international candidates. 

An exclusive partnership with TechCrunch: Startup Battlefield and Europe’s largest “Corporate Hackathon” TechCrunch, the eminent media of Silicon Valley, will be at VivaTech with its TechCrunch Battlefield to elect the best startup in Europe. The 15 selected startups will pitch their projects on stage in front of a jury chosen by TechCrunch and the winner will fly to the World Finals in San Francisco in September 2018. 

VivaTech and TechCrunch will also gather 1,000 hackers for 24 hours, who will be «cracking» the issues of major corporates, as part of the largest corporate hackathon in Europe. 

In continuous support of startups, the «Accelerate» Zone area will offer additional business opportunities for them. In particular, «Office Hours» will promote meetings between the largest investors in France, Europe and around the globe, such as Accel Partners, Partech Ventures or Balderton Capital, with the startups present at VivaTech.

• 2 Professional Days the 24th and 25th May & 1 General Public Day the Saturday 26th May 
• 1 000 exhibiting startups 
• 23 sectorial labs 
• 100 themed challenges + 4 000 participants including 55% from international startups 
• 8 conference tracks spread across 4 stages with 150 sessions and 300 speakers 
• Africa@tech: 1 dedicated lab, 100 startups expected 
• 1 VivaTour, 24 stops in the leading innovation capitals around the world 

The "Hall of Tech", the centre of innovation at VivaTech is back with the biggest players in Tech. The «Discovery» Zone, in partnership with EDF, will host a selection of the best startups in the world specialized in smart cities, robotics and hardware. Visitors will be able to discover the latest innovations that will shape the future of art, sports and medtech. They will also be able to understand the issues of the Industry 4.0 and the use of artificial intelligence with Google, Facebook IBM Watson and Microsoft.

Here are 3 spaces that are not to be missed: 

- the Tech Park, to meet 10 crowd-stopping robots in a specially designed area

- the VR Park, a 100m2 area dedicated entirely to virtual reality experiences

- the Mobility Park, where attendees will be able to test out the latest prototypes of self-driving cars.

Finally, with the space for Pepper World, SoftBank Robotics Europe will present with its developers all the latest innovations in services, uses and «man-machine» interactions.

Unmissable experiences! 

Robots will be in the spotlight: They’ll take part in the Tech Parade and the Mega Tech Show. They’ll also be joined by Battlebots! Robots entirely imagined and built by participants will compete on the Arena. Moreover, the organization of a huge eSports tournament on Saturday, during the general public day, with a preselection of players, will be sure to excite gaming fans. Not to mention the creation of a giant escape game in the Hall of Tech, which will be a fun way to discover a selection of innovations presented at VivaTech.

Providing inspiration with the first major international speakers

A rich and exciting program will bring together over 300 top speakers from around the world. Among the first key figures announced this morning at the Quai d’Orsay are Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President and CEO of IBM, Chuck Robbins, Chairman and CEO of Cisco and Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP.

A focus on what’s new in 2018 The CEO Forum will see VivaTech’s major partners detail their strategies and challenges of digital transformation, Future Tech will be dedicated to emerging technologies, such as quantum computing, and finally the CMO Forum will discover the latest trends in terms of marketing/advertising related to the latest technological advances. 

VivaTech will be able to count on the notable presence and support from 01Net, African Business, Afrique Magazine, Africa News, BFM TV, Bloomberg Media Group, CNN, DowJones, Engadget, EuroNews, i24 News, Le Matin, Les Echos, Le Parisien, Paris Match, Oath, RMC, Tech Crunch, The New York Times, TF1, LCI, True Africa, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, WIRED UK, and many more.