France bets on artificial intelligence

29 juni 2023 Forretninger

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During the VivaTech fair held in Paris from 14 to 17 June, French president Macron unveiled a plan of actions and funding to support players in the artificial intelligence industry in France. The plan relies on two schemes: IA-Cluster, to turn training and research centres of French talents into international scale leaders, and IA-Booster, to support the digital transition of French SMEs.

VivaTech is the biggest tech and start-up event in Europe. This year, the event has attracted over 150,000 visitors and has turned into the annual event contributing most to the acceleration of innovation in France by gathering together start-ups, leaders, major companies and investors to face the biggest challenges of our world.

Investments for the digital sovereignty of France

As the website of the French government explains, president Macron participated on 14 June in VivaTech to “win the battle of our digital sovereignty”. President Macron then talked about the “stakes of technology and innovation in France” by talking about “funding levers and means to better support emerging players” which are at the heart of the France plan 2030.

It is precisely during a round table to which participated heads of companies of this industry that Macron announced new investments:

the funding of the creation of five to ten IA-Clusters (500 million euros), which will double the number of training programme in the AI business;
a massive investment to develop our calculation capacities and boost the development of generative AI;
7 billion euros used by institutional investors as part of the Tibi 2 Fund (a plan to fund deep tech and start-ups of the green tech);
200 million euros dedicated to immersive culture and the metaverse.

In addition to these fundings, the French ministry of economy has announced the launch of the IA Booster programme to support the digital transition of SMEs.

Attracting the best global talents

The call for projects IA-Cluster, says the Ministry of Research in charge of its implementation, aims at “identifying 5 to 10 universities and schools as European and world leaders in the artificial intelligence business”.

After their selection by an international jury, these institutions will receive “massive resources to put France in the spearhead of the world higher education and research environment”. The idea is to dedicate a total investment of 500 million euros to “develop the capacity of France to attract the best talents from all over the world, students and researchers in artificial intelligence”.

These projects, says the ministry, will prove “their capacity to reach a world-level position, whether through the quality of their teaching, the excellence of their research, their innovation potential and technological transfer, or through their attractiveness for students from all over the world”. Institutions selected as part of the IA-Cluster scheme will offer a large diversity of training courses in many fundamental or applied research fields (medicine, history, finance, etc.).

Supporting companies in digital transformation

The IA Booster programme, also part of the France 2030 plan, has also been detailed by the ministry in charge of economy.

This scheme aims at supporting French SMEs both in the development of their digital transition process, but also the diversity of their offer through “new services and improvement of their competitiveness and modernisation of their production mechanism through the integration of artificial intelligence solutions”.

And the French ministry of higher education and research, an authority also participating in the project, also pointed out that to achieve this goal, companies will have access to training modules and tailor-made advice. The IA Booster could also rely on an “approach that favours the concrete needs of companies using the specificities of their activities and their industry to offer a type of adapted AI”.

For a womanisation of the tech industry

And the VivaTech fair also saw French Prime Minister Borne announce the launch of the Tech pour toutes (Tech for all women) programme as engine to womanise the tech industry.

After reminding that only 27% of women work in the digital industry in France and 15% in the tech industry, and with the aim to turn the tech industry into “an industry fully equal between women and men”, she decided to implement a new support programme. With the objective to support in 2026 10,000 young women who want to start or continue higher studies in the digital industry, this programme will “adapt to the needs of all”. It could also offer a try in other occupations of the industry, tailor-made support and coaching sessions, a tutorship system, support to application to internships and jobs, and material and financial support.

More to discover:

The “Tech pour toutes” programme