Paris, March 9, 2020 - Viva Technology, Europe’s leading startup and tech event, is back again from June 11th to 13th, making Paris the tech capital for three days of networking and innovation.

 VivaTech is aware of the evolving coronavirus situation and our thoughts are with all those who are affected around the world. As VivaTech is scheduled to take place more than three months from now, the current dates stand, June 11-13. The health and safety of our visitors, partners and teams is our first priority. VivaTech management will continue to be in regular contact with the relevant authorities to enable us to follow and to comply with all of their recommendations. The entire VivaTech team is working hard to make sure this 5th edition will be a resounding success.
 
Viva Technology, the event created by Publicis Groupe and Les Echos-Le Parisien Group, has risen to the top of European tech events and occupies a prominent place on the calendars of world leaders in technology, innovation and startups. We are very grateful to all those who made this success possible: our teams, our partners-exhibitors, our great speakers. We are proud to have welcomed to our stages Jack Ma, Satya Nadella, Ginni Rometty, Eric Schmidt, Mark Zuckerberg, French Presidents François Hollande and Emmanuel Macron, and other major world leaders, in addition to our founding partners without whom none of this would have been possible: BNP Paribas, Google, LVMH, La Poste and Orange.
 
For our fifth edition VivaTech wants to go further by being an even more eco-responsible event, by giving an even more important place to women, and by promoting the emergence of scale-ups and the development of startups. In the last case, many emerging companies have succeeded in concluding contracts or financing thanks to VivaTech. Our ambition is to strengthen the global dimension of our event and to continue to be a leading platform for the world of startups and for the whole ecosystem of innovation and Artificial Intelligence, for the benefit of humanity.
 
Five thematic pillars will provide the structure during the three days of VivaTech this June, with inspiring debates, new tech innovations and networking moments.

1 - Technology for the planet
 VivaTech engages alongside UNESCO, bringing our know-how in open innovation and in collaboration with startups. VivaTech is launching an exclusive startup challenge to support UNESCO’s mission and provide concrete solutions to some of the major challenges facing humanity. Three challenges will be addressed:
- Risk reduction from natural disasters linked to climate change
- The fight against disinformation through the use of artificial intelligence
- The protection of World Heritage via its digitalization in order to make it accessible to all. 

This challenge illustrates our conviction that greater cooperation between the actors of the world of tomorrow is urgent and necessary to face major global challenges.

A “Hack for Good” Hackathon will bring together more than 500 participants from around the world for 36 hours to tackle environmental and societal challenges.

• The "XTC Challenge" backed by Samsung and its partners. This international startup competition will reward innovations aligned with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, with an endowment of US$1 million. The FAMAE Foundation's "Food For Good" challenge will distinguish an innovative solution that offers a sustainable and healthy diet for all.
• Two new Parks, Greentech Park and Smart Cities Park, will present concrete solutions to address the challenges of combating global warming and living better in cities, with support from technology.
• Innovations will include Hydraloop, a domestic waste water recycling solution; Merveilloeufs, the very first ready-to-use, vegetable-and-mineral-based egg substitute; and The Tower Garden of Urban Picking, a vegetable tower 10 times more productive than what’s possible with conventional methods.
• Among the leading experts onstage: Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of Lanzatech, Gunter Pauli, economist and director of the Zeri Institute, and Bertrand Piccard, explorer and president of the Solar Impulse Foundation

 
2 - Diversity and inclusion: Bringing decision-makers together to accelerate change

• VivaTech is setting up an Equality Lounge, a space for pitching, coaching, mentoring and networking to encourage and accelerate the career paths of women entrepreneurs.
• Back for its second edition, the "Female Founder Challenge", in partnership with 50inTech, offers the winners a chance to connect with the largest investors to accelerate the growth of their startups.
• Some inclusive innovations will also be showcased: Kurage (CNRS), a functional electro-stimulation solution for people with paralysis; Lexilife's pulsed light lamp that makes reading easier for people with Dyslexia; Esper Bionics, a new generation of intuitive, intelligent and affordable robotic prosthetic hands; and a VR experience from Chaos, offering a dive into the mysterious world of the human brain and boosting awareness of psychic disorders.

 
3 - Deep tech, breakthrough innovations and the potential to transform our societies

• As part of its strategic partnership with VivaTechnology, McKinsey & Company is publishing a series of articles looking at six areas of technology that are potentially the most disruptive: Quantum Computing, Connectivity &5G, Cloud computing, Cybersecurity, AI and Digital ID.
• Among the innovations to discover at VivaTech this year: Clinatech's Brain Computer Interface project, which drives a thought-by-thought exoskeleton; SideROS (CNRS) for the treatment of resistant or recurring cancers; and AlienGo from Unitree, a robot capable of negotiating complex terrain. Also not to be missed: MindScent innovation developed by Guerlain in partnership with researchers from Nantes captures our emotions thanks to a neural helmet allowing us to find the fragrance that best suits our desires of the moment.
• On the speakers’ side, VivaTech's stages will host Bo Ewald, President and CEO of ColdQuanta; Anne Martel, COO of Element AI; and Kalina Raskin, Managing Director of CEEBIOS

4 - Mobility, moving ourselves into the future

• Mobility will be in the spotlight with the top 10 startups in the final of the "European Startup Prize for Mobility", supported by the European Commission and the European Parliament.
• There will also be an opportunity to discover concrete solutions such as CAPS, a mobile aerial capsule that transports people from one station to another and allows them to reserve through an app;  Tee Bike, a wheel that allows any bike to become electric; and a new approach to urban logistics with the Fleasy cargo aircraft drone.
• Citroen, Accor and JCDecaux are teaming up to launch the world premiere of “The Urban Collectif”, promising totally new kinds of urban experiences.

 
5 - European digital champions: Showcasing the most promising scaleups in Europe

• VivaTech, in partnership with five major international investment funds (Accel, Balderton, Idinvest, Northzone and Partech) and investment bank GP Bullhound, is for the first time publishing “Top 100 Scaleups”, a list of 100 scaleups selected from 19 countries that have been identified as having the potential to become future unicorns. From this list will be drawn the finalists for the VivaTech "Next Unicorn Awards", in the context of our "Scaling up" conference track.
• VivaTech will welcome onstage Julia Bosch, Founder and CEO of Outfittery; and Jean-Charles Samuelian, Co-Founder and CEO of Alan; and Tao Tao, COO of GetYourGuide.

Also not to be missed are sessions on democracy, data, the role of digital in the arts and culture, and the launch of the 30Best label, created by VivaTech to reward the best hardware innovations.
More room for networking: A new Marketing Village brings together leading companies offering Martech and Adtech solutions, and an enlarged Investors lounge opens in 2020 to promote meetings between the most promising startups and the best international VCs.

VivaTech adds to its ever-growing and prestigious list of partners for this fifth edition:

• Platinum : BNP Paribas, Google, La Poste, LVMH, Orange
• Gold : Accor, Atos, Citroën, EDF, EY, French-German Tech Lab, HPE, Huawei, L’Oréal, ManpowerGroup, Microsoft, MiSK Foundation, RATP Group, Région Centre-Val de Loire, Région Sud, Salesforce, Sanofi, SNCF, Total, VINCI Energies
• Silver : Air Liquide, Axa, Capgemini, Dell Technologies, Engie, Facebook, Groupe Bouygues, IBM, JCDecaux, Klaxoon, KPMG, McKinsey & Company, Num-Alim, Oracle, Royal Canin , Samsung, Veolia, Volkswagen We.
• Among the many partners joining VivaTech for the first time this year: Dassault Systèmes, European Investment Bank, Novartis, and Procter & Gamble

 Among the first top speakers announced:

• Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman & CEO, L’Oreal; Bernard Arnault, Chairman & CEO, LVMH; Mitchell Baker, Chairwoman & interim CEO, Mozilla; Sébastien Bazin, Chairman & CEO, Accor; Megan Clarken, CEO, Criteo; Vincent Cobée, Citroën Brand CEO, PSA Group; Jean-Pierre Farandou, Chairman & CEO, SNCF; Catherine Guillouard, Chairman & CEO, RATP Group; Ken Hu, Deputy Chairman, Rotating Chairman, Huawei; Paul Hudson, CEO, Sanofi; Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman & CEO, EDF; Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman & CEO, Total; Stéphane Richard, Chairman & CEO, Orange; Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President & CEO, IBM; Brad Smith, President, Microsoft; Young Sohn, Corporate President and Chief Strategy Officer, Samsung Electronics; and Evan Spiegel, Founder & CEO, Snap

VivaTech strengthens its international dimension with the Afric@Tech zone and several new country pavilions:

• Making their debut at VivaTech: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Tunisia
• Also attending: Algeria, Armenia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, European Commission, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Morocco, Quebec, Senegal, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, and Taiwan

Numerous regions of France will highlight the benefits of their ecosystems:

• Métropole du Grand Paris; Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes; Région Bourgogne-Franche-Comté; Région Centre-Val de Loire; Région Grand Est; Région Hauts-de-France; Région Île-de-France; Région Normandie; Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine; Région Occitanie; Région Pays de la Loire; Région Sud; Outre-Mer Network