On the morning of Thursday January 5, Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate in charge of the digital transition, is present in Las Vegas to inaugurate the space devoted to French start-ups at the CES (Consumer Electronic Show), the world’s leading major electronics show. audience.
Once again, the French delegation is massive: no less than 170 French start-ups come to try their luck in Nevada. In the photo, Mr. Barrot is not alone: he is flanked by two regional presidents: Carole Delga (PS) for Occitanie and Valérie Pécresse, former presidential candidate on behalf of the Les Républicains party, at the head of Ile-de-France.
A way of showing the weight of the regions in the development of innovation in France. One of the most noticed French start-ups this year in Nevada, ACWA, comes from the South region (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur): its robot used to detect wear and leaks in pipe networks d’eau received an award for best innovation at CES. There are also lots of young shoots from Occitanie and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
To believe that the innovation would have irrigated in a homogeneous way all the territories of the Hexagon. An image that contradicts the figures. According to a study conducted by the firm EY, in the first half of 2022, 80% of financing was captured by start-ups in the Ile-de-France region alone. An imbalance that Mr. Barrot recognizes while qualifying it: “50% of start-ups are created in the regions with success stories like Ledger [spécialiste des cryptomonnaies] who settled in Vierzon [Cher], where two of its co-founders came from”he illustrates.
A necessity
For many regions, the transition to the new economy is a necessity to recreate or preserve employment. Ile-de-France has developed a program to facilitate “district” entrepreneurship in new technologies. “It’s not an anti-Station-F [le campus technologique fondé dans le 13e arrondissement de Paris par Xavier Niel, par ailleurs actionnaire à titre individuel du Monde]but a necessary complement”argues Valérie Pécresse.
Many industrial wastelands are occupied by actors of the new economy
In Occitania, Carole Delga pleads for the development of digital technology, because, she explains, “We are the region with the greatest demographic growth in France. For unemployment not to increase, 24,000 jobs must be created per year”. And for that to diversify, on a basin of activities which remains linked to aviation and the space industry. The elected official claims to lead the territory which allocates, through public and private funding, the most resources to innovation, up to 3.5% of the gross domestic product of the region, more than the Ile-de- France (2.9%), and Auvergne Rhône-Alpes (2.8%).
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