Let us specify it from the start: the title is not stolen. VivaTech, organized at the Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles, in Paris, has indeed beaten, for its 7th edition, a world attendance record. From June 14 to 17, more than 150,000 visitors from 174 countries walked the aisles where young shoots, major national research centers and Big Tech rubbed shoulders.
At equal duration, no one does better. Not even the gigantic Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, USA. Same success online, since the show claims no less than 919 million people reached via its social networks. Was it because of the appearance of Elon Musk, that an army of hardcore fans would follow to the ends of the universe? At the bottom of the air, with this generative AI revolution occupying the heads of a new generation of brilliant entrepreneurs, like Arthur Mensch, of Mistral AI, seen alongside Emmanuel Macron? Or does this fine score simply reflect the return to grace of technology fairs, supplanted by digital events during the Covid-19 crisis?
Whatever the reasons, the news is good to take. Because Paris, “capital of world tech”, is an assertion which, ordinarily, can make you smile. On the one hand, because Silicon Valley remains the true epicenter of the sector. On the other hand, because of the Sino-American rivalry which tends to make the tech scene of the Old Continent invisible. VivaTech shows it: yet it is more alive than ever.