It is still possible to test immutable virtual reality headsets… but with protective masks. Visitors can also tap again on the 1,001 touch screens providing them with information about the show - but they are then responsible for cleaning their hands with hydroalcoholic gel. President Emmanuel Macron was thus able to celebrate - “face-to-face” - his reunion with his “start-up nation”. But this year, the crowd of entrepreneurs, mixed with the army of journalists, did not make the spans impassable on this first day, Wednesday, June 16, of the fifth edition of the Viva Tech show.
This is the new reality of this great Parisian innovation fair which, since its beginnings in 2016, has succeeded in establishing itself as one of the main tech meetings in Europe, once again attracting big names like Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, or Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of Facebook.
These two icons of the sector will respond by video to the questions asked by an interlocutor present, him, in flesh and blood, at the Parc des Expositions of the Porte de Versailles.
“Hybrid” and “confusing”
Half-virtual, half-real discussions which are a compendium of what the organizers have called a “hybrid” VivaTech.
But it is above all a show that hesitates.
He agreed to receive only 5,000 visitors, all having to show a white paw by presenting a negative PCR test or proof of vaccination against Covid-19.
It is the harsh law of the health situation which has, however, not only bad sides.
“This year, we can really try everything,” enthuses a visitor who has managed to get into the prototype flying taxi which is one of the main curiosities of the show.
The giant drones and the prototype flying taxi were among the curiosities of VivaTech that attracted the most attention.
© Sebastian Seibt, France 24
However, the organizers have not abandoned their ambition to stay in the nails of the attendance of the 2019 edition (125,000 visitors in three days) - thanks to a channel broadcasting live the main events of the show, specifies the daily Les Échos, one of Viva Tech's main partners. With 40% of the show “in digital”, the 2021 vintage could even become the precursor of the “salons of the future”. “I am convinced that the next exhibitions will also be hybrid, because they reach ten times more people by mobilizing the same number of employees”, predicts Matthieu Beucher, CEO of Klaxoon, a company specializing in the organization of corporate meetings. , interviewed by Le Parisien.
In the meantime, it remains a bit confusing for visitors.
“An event like Viva Tech should also allow for the establishment of business relationships, but under these conditions, it is difficult to set appointments when you do not know who will be able to come”, summarizes an investor who preferred to keep the anonymity, interviewed by France 24. “I learned that I was in contact a few days ago, and we decided at the last minute to cancel my visit”, explains a spokesperson for an American company who yet had a busy schedule in Paris.
An innovation under the influence of Covid-19?
The show is also reluctant to position itself in relation to the pandemic on the themes put forward. In many ways, touring the start-ups present does not give the impression of going through a historic health crisis. It is always a question of the means of transport of the future, of robots to do everything, "to improve the customer experience" through technology or to find tech solutions to make the world more respectful of the environment.
Nothing new under the sun of VivaTech? In reality, behind the appearances of a salon wanting to turn the page on the pandemic, it appears that a large number of innovations have been influenced by the health crisis. Many of the start-ups present want to make a contribution to the building of professional relations 2.0, with virtual office solutions in spades. The show also gives pride of place to "deep tech", that is to say fundamental innovation without immediate and obvious application to make technological discovery profitable.
And it is no coincidence that major French research centers, such as CNRS or Inserm, have a strong presence at the show, emphasizing the "Deep Tech" aspect of the start-ups they support.
President Emmanuel Macron also took this fundamental research as an example to underline the importance of supporting innovation in France as in Europe.
It is indeed this research that has enabled the emergence of technologies that have proven to be decisive during the pandemic.
This is notably the case with messenger RNA vaccines which, like that developed by the German group Biontech for Pfizer or by the American laboratory Moderna, have been among the most effective in protecting against the disease.
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