The sprawling Porte de Versailles exhibition center was abuzz with activity as over 200,000 attendees descended upon the tenth anniversary edition of VivaTech. The event, which ran from June 17 to 20, 2026, saw more than 450 speakers, 165 nationalities, and a staggering 15,000 startups converge on the site. Amidst the chaos, one question echoed through every aisle: Can Europe regain control of its own technological revolution?
As the sun beat down relentlessly, attendees marveled at the latest innovations on display, rubbing shoulders with tech titans like Jeff Bezos and listening to impassioned pleas from world leaders like Emmanuel Macron and Narendra Modi. It was an opportunity for Europe's premier tech gathering to flex its muscles and assert its dominance in a rapidly changing landscape.
AI, once the invisible backbone of the event, had evolved into a force that could interact, take action, and even capture brain data via simple headphones. BNP Paribas Développement's NaoX Technologies was leading the charge, developing technology capable of capturing brain data without the need for bulky medical devices.
The financial sector was not immune to AI's transformative power. BNP Paribas Cardif's Chief Analytics Officer Michael de Toldi emphasized that "you can't do AI without responsible AI." The goal was not to replace advisors but to free them from administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on customer relations.
Innovations Café, VivaTech 2026
The European Payment Initiative (EPI) had achieved a remarkable feat of coordination, bringing together 16 banks from five countries around a shared wallet. AXEPTA BNP Paribas, the brand dedicated to payment acceptance, was one of the first to integrate Wero into its payment page. With 54 million users and deployments at major brands like Air France, Orange, Decathlon, and Leclerc, the seamless experience promised to consumers masked a fundamental challenge: having a credible local alternative to US players was no longer optional.
For the first time in VivaTech's history, Germany took center stage, with its largest booth ever, featuring 800 square meters of startups, federal states represented, and two federal ministers. Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger summed it up: "Europe can innovate, but it can also scale up."
The German delegation sent an unambiguous message that Europe intends to play a leading role in areas like AI applied to industry, hydrogen, electric mobility, and resilient infrastructure.
"This 70% of the European cloud is in the hands of American hyperscalers," noted Lutz Diederichs, CEO of BNP Paribas Germany. "We must stop thinking on a country-by-country basis." The executive emphasized that Europe must move beyond national divides to act on a European scale and finance the tech ecosystem.
Blockchain, once the domain of experimentation, was entering its industrial phase. "We are at a pivotal moment," said Julien Causse, Head of Asset Foundry at BNP Paribas CIB. The missing link—a central bank digital currency—is currently being tested in Europe. In ten years, no one will talk about blockchain; it will simply be the infrastructure.
Cybersecurity had risen to the level of a strategic business issue. Large companies faced hundreds of attacks per week, while small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were at risk of being brought down by even minor breaches. Protecting access points and data meant protecting one's business.
In a world where AI-enhanced industrial robots and autonomous agents were the norm, 1% of investment would go to AI startups founded exclusively by women by 2025. Yet these companies demonstrated 20-30% greater resilience. BNP Paribas was committed to supporting female-led startups through annual gender reporting in financing dossiers and a dedicated loan program.
However, behind the funding inequalities lay another warning: "80% of the data used to train AI systems is biased in terms of gender parity," emphasized Inès Hamy, CEO of Octolo. As a result, these systems predominantly thought in masculine terms. Concrete impacts included less accurate facial recognition for certain profiles, more difficult access to credit, and even less reliable detection of heart attacks in women.
Technology was making its way into the early years of life—and not just for entertainment. Le Guardian, a Toulouse-based startup founded by two women, presented its standalone geolocation wristband for children ages 4 and up: an SOS button, voice messages, no smartphone required, and data hosted in France. A simple, useful, and independent device that illustrated a fundamental trend: technology must also be used to protect the most vulnerable.
Main Stage, Viva Tech 2026
As VivaTech celebrated its tenth anniversary, it was clear that the event had evolved from merely heralding the future to laying the first concrete foundations for it. The conviction shared by BNP Paribas was that of a Europe determined to play its full role in the technological revolution, alongside major nations and key industry players.
Written by: Slick Manchetz | The Citizen Edition
“Wubba lubba dub dub, that's it.”