"Yes France will take the turn of 5G", launched Emmanuel Macron, Monday, September 14, in front of digital companies, joking about those who would prefer "the Amish model" and the "return to the oil lamp", the day after the request for a moratorium by 70 elected leftists and environmentalists.
"France is the country of the Enlightenment, it is the country of innovation (...) We are going to wring our necks out of all the false ideas. Yes, France will take the turn of 5G because it is the turning point of innovation ", insisted the Head of State in front of a hundred entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of the" French Tech "gathered in the village hall of the Elysee.
>> To see: 5G, the industry of the third millennium?
He spoke the day after the call for a moratorium on the deployment of 5G by 70 elected officials from the left and environmentalists, including Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Yannick Jadot.
The allocation of frequencies for this mobile technology should begin at the end of the month in France.
"I hear many voices rising to explain to us that we should address the complexity of contemporary problems by going back to the oil lamp! I do not believe that the Amish model can solve the challenges of contemporary ecology ", mocked the Head of State, referring to this American religious community hostile to technology and which lives as in the 18th century.
Start-up reception at the Élysée
In a suit but without a tie, Emmanuel Macron said he was delighted to be back in the start-up world, during the first large-scale event organized at the Elysee Palace since confinement.
"We are demonstrating that we can continue to carry out events during the Covid period", he said, even if we will have to "live with the virus, probably for weeks, maybe years ".
He also recalled that the stimulus plan would target 7 billion towards the digital sector, in particular for the digital transformation of the State.
The Head of State has finally defended a sovereign digital Europe.
"On 5G and many other subjects, we should not depend on any non-European power", he insisted, calling in particular to "reopen the battle on the cloud".
During the evening, three companies which have posted particularly remarkable performances this year will present their activity: the mobile video game publisher Voodoo, which has become a "unicorn" by bringing into its capital the Chinese Tencent, the start-up Mirakl (creation of marketplaces) and Innovafeed (insect proteins).
With AFP
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