- il y a 22 heures
Perspectives on Investment and the Innovation Landscape
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TechnologieTranscription
00:00Je suis très heureux aujourd'hui, à ViverTech,
00:03donc je suis très heureux de faire ce panel avec ces trois speakers.
00:08Nous avons John Chambers qui est le CEO de JC2 Ventures
00:12et le CEO de Cisco.
00:15Nous vous connaissons très bien.
00:17Clara Chappaz, vous êtes le directeur de La French Tech.
00:20Et Michèle Schaeffer, vous êtes le président de l'Europe Innovation Council.
00:26Merci encore.
00:28Jean, je pense que vous avez déjà été ici quelques fois.
00:31C'est comme votre troisième, fourth ViverTech?
00:34Elle m'a apporté pour la question.
00:37C'est mon 8e ViverTech.
00:39Chaque fois, j'ai eu l'occasion de présenter les awards de l'Unicorn.
00:43J'ai fait un panel en front de ce sujet sur comment devenir un Unicorn.
00:47C'est incroyable.
00:49Et félicitations à la France sur combien vous avez allé, sur la leadership.
00:53Et chaque goal que vous avez allé, comme un pays, vous avez overaché en termes de la technologie.
00:57Donc, je m'aime bien ici.
00:59Et c'est juste mieux.
01:00C'est maintenant le numéro un show, comme vous le savez, en Europe, par exemple.
01:04Merci.
01:05Donc, nous allons parler de la perspective de l'Innovation et d'investissement.
01:09Mais, first, vous pouvez me dire un trend ou une technologie
01:14que nous devons payer attention à dans les prochains mois,
01:18mais vous n'êtes pas allowed à dire AI.
01:21OK?
01:21OK.
01:22Jean.
01:22La première chose que nous allons avoir beaucoup de problèmes
01:25sur tous les entreprises et gouvernements dans le monde,
01:28c'est la cyber-sécurité.
01:29Et ce qui s'est passé, c'est que tout le monde
01:33qui est disponible dans le gouvernement et le business
01:36est présenté le mot à l'innovation de l'État.
01:40Il est entré à la salle, alors, qu'elle a décidé de nous discuter sur le marché
01:43et à tous les tests de l'Innovation,
01:44dans l'indemnage de l'innovation,
01:48dans la base du peste,
01:54il en une sorte deettre de l'innovation
01:56que les élections soient importantes,
01:58on peut-être que les entreprises ne sont pas à faire.
02:00Alors, je vais nous m'arrêter,
02:02non seulement afin d'avoir un élément,
02:03Nous avons mis à l'arrière de l'arrière du gouvernement et des leaders après le comment, mais je dirais
02:10que c'est l'arrière de l'arrière pour investir pour l'année prochaine,
02:14parce que l'AI permet de la défense de cyber-sécurité et, unfortunately, les gens qui ont utilisé l'arrière
02:19de l'arrière de l'arrière.
02:21Clara ?
02:22Je vais parler de la technologie greente.
02:23Nous avons l'arrière de la classe de la France, qui est un programme où nous soutenons les 100 startups
02:36en France.
02:37Et, pas à l'arrière de la surprise, le meilleur secteur dans ce programme est la technologie greente,
02:43parce qu'il y a des challenges de nous, et je pense que nous allons parler de ça.
02:50C'est que Europe est uniquement posé à tackle ces challenges,
02:53parce qu'il y a toutes les régulations qui ont été mis en place,
02:56qui ont créé des hurdles et qui ont créé des opportunités,
03:00parce qu'il y a toutes les technologiques,
03:03toutes les sciences que nous avons besoin de les start-ups,
03:06en ce qui concerne les solutions que nous avons besoin.
03:09Et aussi parce que notre DNA,
03:12je pense qu'il y a une culture de pensée sur le climat,
03:16et le impact que nous avons sur le planète.
03:19Et donc, l'idée est que nous pouvons trouver des solutions sur la technologie,
03:23qui est probablement de ce que nous voulons atteindre à l'entrepreneur.
03:27Et, juste pour vous donner quelques exemples,
03:29ces entreprises sont très diverses.
03:32Ils vont de Vercors, en France,
03:35qui a créé une fabrique,
03:37pour produire des batteries électriques en France,
03:41qui est une start-up qui aide les entreprises
03:44qui comprennent leur footprint de carbone,
03:47qui mesurent,
03:47mais, plus importantement,
03:48acte sur ça.
03:49Donc, vous avez des technologies dans tous les différents aspects
03:53de ces challenges.
03:55Et, l'année dernière,
03:56seulement 30% de la total quantité
03:59qui a été créée par les entreprises,
04:01par les start-ups en France,
04:02qui a été créée par ces types de technologies.
04:05Et pour vous, Michel ?
04:06Je suis près de Clara.
04:08Donc, je pense qu'il est essentiel
04:10que nous avons, en Europe,
04:12plus d'autonomie dans les combustibles,
04:15dans les polymers,
04:16et dans les proteins.
04:17et ces sont exactement les trois ingrédients
04:21qui ont fait que beaucoup de pays
04:22perdre la guerre.
04:23Et, en Europe, nous n'avons pas de ressources fossiles,
04:26donc nous devons transformer nos agricultures
04:29pour être le provider de biomaterials
04:32et de proteins,
04:33parce que nous avons besoin de ça
04:34pour vivre plus longtemps.
04:38Et l'EIC,
04:39c'est fondant beaucoup de start-up,
04:42beaucoup d'innovation,
04:43et je suis sûre qu'il n'y a pas beaucoup de gens
04:47qui connaissent ça.
04:48Je veux dire.
04:50Donc, quels sont les secteurs
04:52que vous financez,
04:53et lesquels que vous planchez
04:55pour financer dans le futur ?
04:57Il y a une différence
04:58entre ce que nous voulons financer
05:00et ce que nous financerons.
05:01Donc, notre mission
05:02que nous avons obtenu
05:03de l'Union européenne,
05:05de les membres,
05:05est de financer,
05:06principalement,
05:07technologiques de Green Deal
05:08et desquels
05:09et justement,
05:10on a un,
05:10une qui foule,
05:11batteries,
05:13storage systems,
05:14la deuxième première,
05:16biomaterials,
05:17la troisième deuxième,
05:18c'est qu'on va dire,
05:18c'est que nous avons
05:19de l'électricité de l'énergie
05:23et de la première,
05:26le troisième,
05:27c'est le changement
05:28d'une valeur en fait au много
05:30de notre bénéficie,
05:32de nombre dans la machine
05:33c'est l'électricité.
05:35C'est ce qu'on va ce qu'on va
05:38parce qu'on a plus de jeunes qui ont plus de jeunes qui ont plus de jeunes.
05:43Donc nous devons faire rébalancer.
05:45Et un de mes travail comme le président de l'EIC,
05:47qui est une board de advisory,
05:48c'est de voir comment on peut changer plus de notre fondation
05:52à, par exemple, les choses qui sont essentielles
05:55pour mes enfants et mes grands-parents.
05:57Et ce n'est pas, par exemple, d'autres men comme moi,
05:59mais d'autres.
06:01Donc, il y a une rébalancing à faire.
06:02Dans le fondation, je dirais,
06:04le fondation, le Quantum, et aussi le Greentech,
06:07c'est un plus grand.
06:08Donc, dans les 10 milliards d'euros que nous devons gérer,
06:12le balance est un peu mieux.
06:13Mais dans le nombre d'applicants,
06:16je conseille à tous dans le Greentech à essayer,
06:19les autres, un peu moins.
06:22Greentech n'est pas un sujet dans les USA ?
06:24Il devrait être un sujet.
06:26C'est intéressant.
06:28Si vous allez tout le monde,
06:29le Premier ministre Modi,
06:30qui a une des architectures les plus agressives
06:32des architectures pour la digital economy,
06:34et nous devons être le plus grand
06:35dans le monde.
06:36Il a construit une politique plateforme
06:38sur la technologie et la façon dont vous
06:40implementez.
06:41Et il a essayé,
06:42comment l'indépendez-vous,
06:43comment l'indépendez-vous,
06:44les mistakes que nous avons fait en Europe,
06:46les USA, et en Chine,
06:47à ce qu'ils nous devraient.
06:49Mais, en plus,
06:50la technologie,
06:51que nous avons vu,
06:52et qu'il y a beaucoup de discussion,
06:54je veux dire,
06:55je veux dire,
06:56c'est un signal,
06:57que nous n'avons pas assez vite
06:58sur l'AI dans l'Europe.
06:59La venture capital world here
07:01only put 12%
07:03of their most recent quarter's investment
07:05in AI.
07:06The US is at 38%
07:07and going to 80%.
07:08So,
07:09as we think about
07:10what do we do,
07:11the opportunity is upon us.
07:13We're really owning AI,
07:15and I think Europe can,
07:16but I think we've got to move fast there.
07:18And to your point,
07:19second,
07:20going back to it,
07:21cyber security.
07:22But it can do everything
07:23from agriculture
07:24to how you think,
07:25entirely different
07:26about the energy issues
07:27and pollution issues,
07:28as well.
07:29Clara,
07:29do you agree?
07:30We are far behind
07:32in terms of AI.
07:33I think we can be proud
07:34of what's been achieved
07:36in Europe with AI,
07:37especially in France.
07:38Obviously,
07:39we need to continue moving fast
07:41and going faster
07:42is definitely an objective.
07:44But just this week,
07:46the President of the Republic,
07:48Emmanuel Macron,
07:49announced that
07:50the government
07:52is going to continue
07:52committing
07:53a lot of support to AI.
07:55and the reason why
07:56I think we mentioned
07:58there's,
07:58you said just earlier,
08:01there are like 11 unicorns
08:02in AI worldwide.
08:03Yes.
08:04And there's one in Europe
08:05and it's a French one.
08:06And sorry, I'm French,
08:07so I have to talk a bit
08:08about France.
08:09I think it's not by chance.
08:11I agree.
08:11It's because
08:11there's been a lot put
08:13by the government
08:14since 2018
08:15into identifying
08:17this technology
08:18as one of the key technologies
08:20we need to invest in,
08:22not just invest as VCs
08:25and we definitely need VC money
08:27to fuel those companies,
08:28but also looking at all the chain,
08:30having talent
08:31and investment in research
08:33and that has been done
08:36very importantly in France
08:38with some of the best schools,
08:39running some of the best programs
08:41when it comes to developing AI talent,
08:43developing computing power
08:44because we know we need
08:46this computing power
08:47to create those models,
08:48to train those models.
08:49and so we now have
08:51a national computer
08:53but also at the European level
08:55computing power
08:55to help support those companies
08:57and the financing piece,
08:59which to your point,
09:01fully agreed.
09:02When you look at
09:03this one unicorn
09:04called Mistral AI
09:05that I don't think
09:06we need to introduce
09:08anymore at Vivitech,
09:09when you look at the VCs
09:11that took the leap
09:12into supporting them,
09:14a lot were foreign VCs
09:16and importantly US VCs
09:18and there is this need
09:20to really find ways
09:21to get even more financial powers
09:25to those companies
09:25so they can go faster,
09:27so we can have
09:28not only one
09:28but a lot of different Mistral
09:30and AI,
09:32generative AI companies
09:33out of Europe
09:34and for that reason
09:35the president also announced
09:36that we are creating
09:38a fund of funds
09:39specialized towards AI
09:40where the government
09:42will put 25%
09:43of the total money raised
09:44because this is definitely
09:46a huge part of the game.
09:48you know,
09:49if I can add on to that,
09:50the one thing,
09:51France has done a number
09:52of things amazingly well.
09:53I'm clearly an Emmanuel Macron fan
09:55but what France had the courage
09:56to do was announce objectives
09:59that most people thought
10:00were impossible.
10:01You know,
10:01I would never have invested
10:03eight years ago
10:04in France as a business
10:05and a startup
10:05and France said
10:07we're going to become
10:07the number one startup nation
10:09in Europe
10:09in the innovation center.
10:11Set audacious goals
10:12of 27,
10:1325 unicorns by 2025.
10:15that was achieved last year.
10:18Set audacious goals
10:19about funding
10:20and France increased
10:22year-over-year VC funding
10:24and total funding
10:25dramatically
10:26where the other large countries
10:29in Europe
10:30actually were down by a third.
10:31So I think you all deserve
10:33a huge amount of credit
10:34for setting aggressive goals
10:35and executing on it
10:36and all I'm doing
10:37is giving a nudge
10:38that's even raised them higher.
10:40Agreed.
10:41So I'm going to ask you
10:43a bit the same question
10:44at the beginning
10:45because we're talking
10:46about perspectives
10:47on investment
10:48and innovation,
10:49landscape,
10:50but I don't want to know
10:51a sector at that time
10:52but a country.
10:54Would you bet
10:55on a country
10:56in the world
10:57or a region
10:58in the next future?
10:59But you're not allowed
11:00to say France,
11:01of course,
11:02this time.
11:04No, I think,
11:05to your point,
11:06I think it's great
11:07that we're seeing
11:08some of the successes
11:09in France,
11:09but we will become relevant
11:12and critical
11:13when it comes to tech
11:14at European level
11:16and you'll probably talk
11:17to this point
11:18a lot more than I do,
11:19but if we want to continue
11:21developing
11:22quantum technologies,
11:24AI technologies,
11:25all the technology
11:26we talked about
11:26when it comes to new energy,
11:29Europe is an amazing playing field
11:31and there's so much to do
11:33bringing those companies
11:34to European level,
11:36bringing the financing
11:37to European level
11:38and this is a lot
11:39of what you do
11:40with EIC
11:40because all those companies
11:44they're critical
11:45to our sovereignty.
11:46We can't have
11:47generative AI models
11:48that all come out
11:49of the US.
11:50We can't have,
11:51we can't be reliant
11:53on new energy sources
11:54that come from other markets.
11:56We need to build
11:57those technologies here
11:59and to do that
12:00I think we really need
12:01to think at European level.
12:03I guess you agree?
12:05I will not,
12:06I will not
12:06candidate a country
12:08outside Europe
12:08of course.
12:10What is important
12:11is that I see
12:12less and less
12:12the relevance
12:13of single countries.
12:14For example,
12:15I went across the fair today
12:16and spoke wonderful
12:17French companies
12:18set up by two Ukrainians.
12:21Similarly,
12:22an Estonian
12:23develops this technology
12:24in Estonia
12:25but will build
12:26a factory in France.
12:27Well, that's fine
12:27for France,
12:28but basically,
12:29what you see already
12:29in our beneficiaries
12:31is Erasmus,
12:33the Erasmus program
12:33where people go
12:34studying abroad,
12:35meet someone they love,
12:37they marry,
12:38they work in a third country,
12:40is a reality.
12:41And it's a reality
12:42that we have
12:43majority cross-national teams
12:45in our portfolio
12:47and also teams
12:48that if they are not cross-national,
12:50they know they have to work
12:51with suppliers or clients
12:53in other countries.
12:53So, Europe is a reality
12:55in our portfolio
12:56and no single country,
12:58not even France,
13:00but certainly not Germany,
13:01no single country
13:02can do it on its own.
13:04Because the small ones,
13:06I mean,
13:06by population,
13:08Finland is the most successful country
13:09in Europe.
13:10And they have more projects
13:11per million people
13:13than France has.
13:14The Netherlands is also
13:15quite successful,
13:16Estonia is quite successful.
13:17So, what we want to create
13:19is a European movement
13:20and what is also important
13:21is to create
13:22a European movement of capital.
13:24Because we have still
13:25a very fragmented
13:26venture capital market
13:27by which VCs fund
13:29in their own country.
13:30That's great in Paris,
13:32but even in Bordeaux
13:33it's hard to find private capital.
13:35And you see increasingly
13:36that, let's say,
13:37capital is going across border
13:38and we motivate that
13:39because we give them
13:40a European stamp of approval
13:41that is interesting
13:43for all European VCs
13:44and institutional investors
13:45to look across that.
13:47If I just make one thing
13:48where I'm very sceptical
13:49on AI
13:51and I don't care about
13:52how we compete
13:53with the U.S.
13:54because we have
13:55huge problems of our own
13:56that we have to solve.
13:57One is indeed
13:58we are far more vulnerable
13:59in strategic autonomy
14:01than the U.S. or China,
14:02so we have a bigger task ahead there
14:04and we have the most
14:05aging population.
14:06So we have a challenge
14:08of how can we serve
14:10a growing older population
14:13in health
14:14and AI may be a solution
14:17but might not be the only one.
14:18So we are really looking at
14:20how can AI indeed help
14:22energy transition,
14:23how can it help
14:24material transition.
14:25You need AI, for example,
14:27for predicting the behavior
14:28of polymers.
14:28So there is a connection
14:29but I see a lot of proposals
14:32on AI which are rebranded,
14:34big data, machine learning,
14:36all the fashions of the
14:3710 or 20 years ago.
14:38Now, because AI is fashionable,
14:40they come under AI heading.
14:42So we are going to be strict on that.
14:45we really want, let's say,
14:46very science-based AI
14:49that understands the phenomena
14:51behind that
14:51and really building building blocks
14:53to move ahead.
14:54But not, let's say,
14:56I don't think,
14:57we will not fund AI
14:59making fake news easier
15:00or putting the heads of one person
15:03on the body of another one.
15:06So I agree with the majority
15:08of the comments.
15:10Europe must act as a large economic block.
15:14None of the countries are big enough
15:16to do it on their own.
15:18However, one of the challenges with that
15:20is when I invest in a company,
15:22I bet purely on the CEO.
15:24And when I invest in a country,
15:26I bet purely on the country leader.
15:29And I won't go into American politics.
15:31I'm not wild about either of our options there,
15:33but that's a separate topic.
15:34But if I were betting one country in the world,
15:36I'd bet India very heavily.
15:38I would think that this is a time
15:41that Europe can, for the first time,
15:44maybe ever,
15:45get huge ITEC leadership
15:47on this market transition
15:49because it's up for grabs.
15:51A startup today would develop their product
15:53not in five years
15:54to get to five million in sales.
15:56They'll develop the product with AI
15:58in three months.
15:59They'll get a million in sales
16:01in two more months,
16:03which normally takes three years.
16:05And they'll be at five million in 18 months.
16:07So it says that the decision process
16:09doesn't change rapidly for CEOs.
16:12The majority of the Fortune 500 in America
16:14and in Europe won't exist on that list in 10 years.
16:18So it is a chance for Europe to lead.
16:20And I challenge,
16:21I think you've got to be bold here
16:23and take risks.
16:24but it's one that is going to require taking risks
16:27and outlining objective goals
16:29that will make people uncomfortable.
16:31Do you agree?
16:34Yes, if you agree.
16:36You agree.
16:36Yes, I agree.
16:37AI is an important tool
16:39and, of course, of speeding up.
16:41But I'm very skeptical on AI
16:43as a standalone kind of service.
16:45And also, my wife is a professor in literature.
16:48while doing AI with texts.
16:50Text is not a reality.
16:51Text is itself a representation of something else.
16:54So what I like very much,
16:56and I saw a number of beneficiaries,
16:58for example,
16:59AI using to analyze breast cancer patterns
17:02or colorectal patterns.
17:04That's interesting
17:05because if you speed up the analysis
17:07of the presence of tumors,
17:09you can save a lot of lives
17:11by having faster
17:13and more effective interventions.
17:15And especially for cancers at young age,
17:17which happen much more,
17:18it's important to have these strong AI tools
17:21that basically increase productivity,
17:24improve diagnosis,
17:26and reduce the time of, let's say,
17:29the growth of tumors
17:30to the point that they are not curable anymore.
17:35Maybe another example of that
17:36would be all those companies using AI
17:39to accelerate the drug discovery processes.
17:41We have one great example
17:43in the French Tech 120 program
17:44that I was discussing just earlier
17:46called Akemia,
17:47where they can speed up the drug discovery
17:49because of their models.
17:51And hopefully,
17:53and we wish them the best,
17:54discover much faster
17:56some of the drugs that we all need.
17:57So I completely agree with your point
17:59that AI is just a way to achieve some
18:03and to solve some of the big challenges
18:04we're facing.
18:05But if I may go back to your point
18:07of everything going faster,
18:08and creating an opportunity
18:10that maybe Europe missed in a way 20 years ago
18:14with the first wave of technology,
18:17I completely agree with that.
18:19And when we interview the CEOs,
18:21we work with 90-something percent of them say
18:26AI is a top priority, which is great,
18:29because they're already in a mindset
18:30where it's going to disrupt the way they work,
18:33it's going to disrupt their product,
18:34most importantly.
18:36Half of the top 120 companies we're talking about
18:38are already using AI,
18:40not just to, I don't know,
18:43do summaries of meetings faster,
18:45but really to deliver more services
18:46towards their clients,
18:47which is very important,
18:49because everyone else is going to do it
18:50if they don't do it.
18:51But what I think is maybe a point of concern
18:55or something we need to keep in mind
18:57is to really take this opportunity,
19:00we will need to see clients also get the ability
19:05to move faster.
19:06And clients mean corporates, means public administration,
19:10which traditionally in Europe haven't been that fast
19:15when it comes to adopting new innovation,
19:18and haven't been that excited,
19:20maybe showing a little bit of concerns,
19:22maybe not having the right processes in place
19:25to adopt those technologies faster.
19:28And this is why this has been a very big focus of us.
19:30How do we make sure that not only we have great companies
19:34building great innovations,
19:35but most importantly they can speed up
19:38when it comes to finding their clients
19:40and finding big clients,
19:42because financing is great,
19:44but most importantly we need those companies to sell.
19:47And so we need corporates,
19:49we need public administration to take this risk,
19:51which at the end of the day is not even a risk,
19:54it's just an opportunity for them to innovate faster.
19:58And this is definitely something where we are seeing traction.
20:02Just yesterday we announced that eight corporates in France,
20:06like Orange, that you might know, Big Telco,
20:09Francaise Desjeux, which is one of the top companies
20:11when it comes to bidding,
20:14are committing close to 700 million to buy products
20:18directly from startups.
20:19Not invest, not do innovation to do innovation,
20:22but really buy their services because they think it's the best.
20:25But we need to see more of this,
20:27and every time I talk to European scale-ups,
20:30they share the same concerns.
20:31So we also need to think about this at a European level.
20:34Yeah.
20:35Do you think that we, yeah, innovation comes from,
20:38of course, startups, big tech,
20:40but when can we finally have this connection
20:44between startups and big corporates?
20:47I mean, maybe in the U.S. it's already done?
20:50It's usual?
20:52Well, what's amazing is that in the U.S.,
20:55the companies are used to taking the risk.
20:57That at times is a strength,
20:59at other times it's a weakness.
21:01During periods of rapid movement, it is a strength.
21:04And there is expectations, the CEOs,
21:07if they haven't got an AI strategy in place
21:11that is already getting business results,
21:14and they're able to say how I'm going to become beneficiary of AI
21:18as opposed to a road kill of AI, their stock goes down.
21:23This is where I normally would say,
21:26please keep government far away from tech,
21:28and I'm wrong because this market's going to move so rapidly.
21:32Government, business, the citizens have to work together
21:36toward common goals.
21:37And it's amazing.
21:38Sometimes people in government that you would think,
21:41like an area like the postal service.
21:43I mean, in the U.S., it's a nice service,
21:46but La Poste in France,
21:47it is the most advanced user of AI in the world.
21:51They basically have trained 250,000 of their 280,000 employees
21:56on AI already.
21:57They've acquired AI companies.
21:59They had 65 startups at their booth here at VivaTech.
22:03And so they're taking risk.
22:05And I think it goes back to the CEO.
22:07Philip Wall has been amazing in terms of what he's willing to do.
22:10But I'm keep pushing.
22:12I think this is the opportunity for Europe
22:14to regain the leadership and technology
22:16and not to miss this window.
22:17Yeah, we can.
22:19What is essential,
22:21and President Macron pointed to it in his speech a month ago,
22:26is that we have to be much more proactive
22:28in using public procurement, especially in France.
22:31In France, the government budget is 55% of the GDP.
22:35There's no country in peace having such a ratio.
22:39So it should be actively used.
22:41And France, I must say, is also one of the countries does it.
22:43And for example, in the quantum area,
22:45it's the French army who was one of the first one
22:48to ask for a new high power computing system.
22:53That's important.
22:54But so one thing is we have to harmonize markets,
22:57meaning more single market like Letta is suggesting,
23:00Letta report recently, but also being clever in using it.
23:03For example, the Dutch, for example,
23:06is the biggest water authority in the world.
23:09So basically, in water innovation, the Dutch is the best market.
23:12I would not go to Austria for that.
23:14If you go for military, yes, that means more military countries like France
23:19and also now the Baltics are interesting test clients.
23:23So can we build also a system that if you are a French startup,
23:26you know that for your innovation, you have to go to Spain or the Netherlands
23:30or Poland and maybe not in France and the vice versa,
23:33that the Dutch one or a Polish one says,
23:35well, the best thing you can do and actually a Polish one does that,
23:38use the federal waste as your test clients.
23:40So we have to create strength that single market
23:43and also there's a kind of romantic of the American DARPA model.
23:48The strength of the DARPA is not being in four weeks faster
23:50in delivering a grant, but because there is a promise
23:54that if you have a successful DARPA project,
23:58the army will develop it further and will buy it.
24:01We don't have yet that structured promise.
24:04So everyone who thinks DARPA is fine, yes,
24:07but only if the boundary conditions are there.
24:09Otherwise, yeah, okay, it's an interesting tactical benefit,
24:13but not existential.
24:15Clara, so it's a top priority for you to connect startups
24:19with big corporates.
24:21What do you do exactly?
24:23And are they still reluctant or not?
24:26Yeah, with big corporates for sure.
24:29For example, here at Vivitech,
24:30we have 50 startups that we've managed to introduce
24:34thanks to the Vivitech teams to 200 of their top prospects.
24:39And the feedback is all those meetings,
24:41business meetings we can have in an event like that
24:43help us really accelerate.
24:46Similarly, we took a few of them, like 10 startups,
24:49to Davos with President Emmanuel Macron,
24:51so that they could meet some of the top international CEOs
24:54relevant for their technologies.
24:55It was Quintum, AI startups,
24:58who are working on technologies where they will need
25:01to get those worldwide clients.
25:04But we saw that I think the most important
25:07is kind of a mindset shift.
25:09And by this initiative we launched last year here at Vivitech,
25:12getting the corporate groups to commit to doubling the share of their purchase
25:19that goes towards startups helps us to set a concrete objective
25:23and helps us to measure it and see every year how we're doing towards this objective.
25:28So, Francaise des Jeux, the group I was mentioning that committed more support towards this initiative yesterday,
25:34they were able to say in just one year, because we set this objective,
25:39we're now measuring it, we were able to increase the number by 11%.
25:45It's 11%.
25:46It's already a good start.
25:47I mean, if in only one year they can achieve this,
25:50it means that now it's a priority.
25:52It's going to get the mindset change.
25:54It's going to get the ball rolling.
25:56And so that's something we're trying to really push the ecosystem towards.
26:00And going back to your point on public administration,
26:03it's exactly the same.
26:05And here we are very lucky to also get the support from the president
26:09and our minister Marina Ferrari who are pushing all the administration to say,
26:14how do we double, again, the share of our purchasing that goes towards startups?
26:19And then it's our work to create opportunities for the top administration that buy the most
26:26and connect them with the right startups.
26:28So yesterday, for example, someone from the Ministry of Defense was with us
26:33when we were talking about this program.
26:35And it was important for him to share that when you think about the Ministry of Defense,
26:40you probably think, oh, either I work and I develop defense technology
26:45or I probably don't have anything to do with this ministry.
26:47But that's completely untrue because this ministry also has a lot of buildings under its management,
26:55also has a lot of challenges when it comes to data, to cybersecurity, of course,
26:59when it comes to the way they work and operate.
27:03So there are a ton of startups that can have solutions for them.
27:06So it's our role to really understand what are the needs,
27:10what are the startups that we know have interesting innovation to fulfill those needs
27:15and then make those connections.
27:17So, John, a question about investments.
27:22Do you think the investment landscape is going to change in the next few years,
27:28that the VCs are not going to be the same, I don't know, in the coming years?
27:34I really do. I'm pretty good at pattern recognition.
27:39Maybe because I'm dyslexic, I have to go A, B, C.
27:42But I watch the patterns.
27:44Whenever a stock market takes off, inevitably after the stock market takes off,
27:48and it has in the U.S., the NASDAQ was up 17% in the first half of the last
27:5412 months
27:54and 15% in the second half for 32%.
27:58And you could feel technology start to move.
28:01The Dow lagged by six months, but it is now up about 14%.
28:06The FTSE, the stock, had a negative first six months.
28:12Now it's up to about high single digits.
28:15The VCs have had the worst return in 10 years.
28:19In 10 years.
28:20There have been no exits.
28:22Now you're beginning to see exits occur.
28:24And I was fortunate to have three of my companies exit,
28:26two of the top three in America, actually, to enterprise.
28:29Behind that, the VCs start to spin, then you get IPOs.
28:33There's been an IPO drought for literally 760 days.
28:38We've had three IPOs go this year already.
28:42They came out over $5 billion, but more importantly, went up afterwards.
28:46That means that now we're probably going to see more IPOs behind it.
28:49So maybe for the first time in other than 60 years, we're going to get a soft landing.
28:54So I'm pretty optimistic about our future, barring an unexpected geopolitical event.
28:59So I'm a bull on today's market.
29:01I don't think it's about now managing for a downturn or how do you exist in uncertain times.
29:06But I think now's the time to fiscal responsibility, plan for the future and go for it.
29:12And one last question.
29:14Do you think it will still be trendy to be a unicorn in the next years or it will be
29:21outdated?
29:23Michel?
29:24Well, when I started a year ago, we had always in the press releases how many unicorns we had in
29:30the first paragraph.
29:30And what I changed is what are we doing for the world.
29:36So now the first paragraph is what do we mean with innovation and unicorns is the third paragraph.
29:41So the unicorn is an outcome of excellence.
29:44But you need excellence first.
29:47And for us, we have the potential unicorns, but unicorns now are promises.
29:53I think we have 12 or 13.
29:55But we also have a big, we have a different curve than, let's say, the VC.
29:58We have a few excellence, very much, a very big of, let's say, very solid SMEs.
30:04They will become industrial companies with 300, 400 people, but not unicorns.
30:07And then we have a basket case.
30:09A typical American VC has the other curve.
30:11They have some excellent ones.
30:12They have not selected anything in the middle.
30:14And they have some disasters.
30:16And so the coverage is different.
30:18So we are equally looking for unicorns or accepting unicorns.
30:23But we are also looking at all those companies that strengthen the industrial fiber of Europe
30:28and the ones that are basically from here to Poland because that's the nature of Europe.
30:34We still have, other than the US, we still have an SME dominated industry.
30:40And we must strengthen that network.
30:42And we also see that some of the unicorns need that network of subcontractors to be strong.
30:47And I think that's also a difference between Ohio and mid-Germany.
30:52We still have that industrial network we can flourish.
30:55We have less of a Silicon Valley, but we have more of, let's say, industrial hardlands.
30:59And I was very pleased yesterday that the session here, yesterday night, was to say,
31:04we have to work at the industrial renaissance.
31:07And that's something, being from an industrial family, I recognize very much as something important.
31:11To create also jobs for the normal blue-collar worker, not only having Station F.
31:17Clara, quickly, what do you think?
31:19Yeah, I think it will always be important to measure how the ecosystem is progressing.
31:25And to that way, unicorns is an easy way to see, like, how many mature companies do we have.
31:30But to your point, I think it's also equally important that we measure the companies that start to generate consequent
31:39revenues.
31:40So, for example, out of the 120 companies I was mentioning, we have 31 of them today that reached the
31:46100 million revenue bar.
31:48And that's something as important as valuation, or even more, because those companies now have the scale where they can
31:55create real impact for the economy.
31:57And to that point, employment is definitely something we are looking at very closely.
32:03And the fact that those companies, even in a year of turmoil last year, managed to create 8% more
32:10jobs than the year before,
32:11is something that we can only be happy about and that we continue to measure as a sign of success.
32:17Thank you.
32:18Thank you.
32:18That's your conclusion.
32:20That's perfect.
32:20Thank you very much for sharing all this experience.
32:24Thank you.
32:25Clara, nice job.
32:26Thank you.
32:28Thank you.
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