Alongside the Internet of Things, AI and virtual reality, the new new thing at CES this year was France.
Yes, that European country with a legacy for strict government controls and regulatory oversight seems to be reinventing itself… and there were more French start-ups at CES this year than any other non-American country.
So France is back!
Or, at least, that’s what Emmanuel Macron Economics Minister, told me. France, Macron insists, has disrupted its highly centralized and bureaucratized system and now boasts one of the most innovative countries in the world.
It’s no wonder that the French invented the word “entrepreneur”, he told me.
So is Macron right? Sure, there were a lot of French tech start-ups at CES this year and things are clearly changing there. But can France really compete with Israel as a start-up nation? Is Paris really the next Berlin and BlahBlahCar the new Uber?
As always, many thanks to CALinnovates for its help with the production of this interview with Emmanuel Macron.