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2nd day at the Web Summit 2018, we chose to focus on those who create the great adventures of modern times in innovation and services: startups.
Indeed, at Web Summit, startups are everywhere!
In all the major international tech and digital trade fairs, for some years, corners or pavilions dedicated to startups have flourished; some have even made it the foundation of their event like Viva Technology Paris.
In the four pavilions of the “Atlantic Pavilion” or now called the “Altice Arena”, startups are divided by sectors of activity: verticals. And by categories: Alpha (at the early stage or having never raised funds) or Beta (if they have already carried out at least 1 fundraising) and can be short-listed to participate in the Pitch contest that takes place every day.
The peculiarity is that startups can exhibit for only 1 day out of the 3 days of the show, which stimulates the dynamism of the event because the investors, who move in numbers, come every day to see different startups in the sectors of activity they desire. And the startups must maximize their chances on the day of their exhibition but also go to different places and moments (sometimes side-events just minutes from the Web Summit) to meet various potential investors.
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It’s actually a pretty interesting and coherent cat and mouse game because the Web Summit’s doctrine is “where the tech world meets”.
Other startups are outside the Alpha and Beta categories and appear under the flag of a large company; these are what we call the “partners”, and that’s what we usually see many of at trade shows (Microsoft stand, IBM, Business France / French Tech, country pavilions, …), and they come from all over the world.
As far as technology is concerned, we have not been so impressed by one or more innovations in particular; we will simply say that we distinguish 2 large sets:
– localized but scalable solutions and services (many services to improve daily life, geolocation of particular services nearby, … client relationship improvement on very specific areas, …)
– deliberately global solutions and services (Saas platforms, international services, API accessible and usable for many domains, …)
Reassure, improve and design the web of tomorrow
Once again, after the opening speech of the event by Sir Tim Berners-Lee (considered as the founding father of the World Wide Web), and the will to return to the idea of a web tool and vector of equality while the neutrality of the web is increasingly threatened in different countries. The launch of the #ForTheWeb movement, whose first signatory was France on Monday night via the Secretary of State for Digital Mounir Mahjoubi, reflects the willingness of web players (and mainly startups?) to realize that it is better to act and be careful with user data and how services can be perceived (too intrusive).
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In the use of words, for example, as soon as we talk about artificial intelligence, we immediately attach synonyms of humanization (amazing, no?!), customization, adaptation or improvement of data processing for more consistency, …
It is even more symptomatic during the roundtables and debates on the different stages of the Altice Arena; the ecosystem of web players and regulators seeks to find points of agreement on the future of the web and technology.
This is perhaps why this 2018 Web Summit marks an interesting turning point in the tech industry (AI, smart city, automation, …); we are aware and we are looking for solutions that will allow technologies to offer freedom, while guaranteeing confidentiality and quality of data, (re)humanization of exchanges, … and this comes first and foremost from a real observation of what has not or no longer works to anticipate and prepare for the future.
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Find our live tweets of the event on the Normandy Web Xperts page on Twitter: @n_w_x
Lamine Talakela – CEO Consulting TIME, for NWX and the Founder Family.
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