Maurice Lévy
Chairman of the Supervisory Board
PUBLICIS GROUPE
About Me
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AfricaTech Awards
VivaTech is organizing the third edition of the AfricaTech Awards. This pan-African initiative recognizes and supports startups striving to make a positive impact in three important areas: Climate Tech, E-commerce/FinTech and Health Tech. One winner per category will receive their prize on stage. Come discover who the three winners will be in this third edition of the AfricaTech Awards, in the presence of Edouard Mendy, the patron of this year's event. 2024 Finalists : Climate Tech - HysperTech - Schoolz - Solar Dev E-Commerce & FinTech: - agriBORA - Inclusivity Solutions - SecondStax Health Tech: - Rology - Thalia Psychotherapy - Zencey
Unlocking Power for Good
The global energy transformation is happening; the question is whether it is happening in time to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. While billions are being poured into AI companies with promising opportunities for humanity and businesses, Climate Change remains our most existential issue. Just like AI and startups, decarbonization demands finance and blitzscaling. The 68th United States Secretary of State and former Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry talks about his hopes for innovation to source and scale solutions, why climate finance matters, and why we need the private sector to do more if it is going to unlock the biggest economic opportunity since the Industrial Revolution.
AI, Media and the Peril of Democracies
This year, as more than 2 billion voters around the globe head to the polls, the democratic process is under siege and freedom is in decline all over the world. The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the threat of a potentially escalating conflict over Taiwan, all have one thing in common: The further weakening of democratic nations, with the United States and Europe as the main targets. One reason for this erosion is trade policies that allow for asymmetric standards that benefit non-democratic nations like China. At the same time, the rise of artificial intelligence and large language models further challenges the status of our somewhat fragile media industries. Join Mathias Döpfner as he discusses the profound impact of media, AI, and global conflicts on the future of democratic nations, why we should stop doing business with dictators, and why publishers should embrace AI as a technology.
CMO Summit Welcome & Opening
AI Safety and Democratic Governance (remote)
The rapid pace of progress in AI has led top experts of this field, notably Professor Yoshua Bengio, to revise downwards their estimates of when AI will reach human levels of broad cognitive competence in many domains. These major milestones, which could arrive as soon as the next few years, are full of fascinating possibilities. However, unlike some other influential voices, Professor Bengio calls for caution and reminds us that these rapid advances also entail major societal risks that we must treat with at least equal importance. How can we scientifically and socially prepare ourselves to face these risks? Which national and international democratic governance frameworks are needed to mitigate them?
AI: The View from China
The CEO and co-founder of Baidu, China's top search engine and one of the world's most popular websites, is also a longtime proponent of AI, eagerly anticipating the arrival of “millions and millions of new, AI-native applications that we probably cannot even imagine.” Come hear how China’s leading AI player sees the future.
Opening & Welcome
With the Olympic Games around the corner, we are thrilled to welcome you to Paris for our 2024 edition to celebrate the champions of tech, discover the latest innovations, network together and debate the topics that matter most. Let’s kick off these 4 days of insightful conversations and glimpse into our future.