Showcasing one of our areas of expertise, education: that was our aim in taking part in Viva Technology, the technology fair which took place from 15-17th June 2017 in Paris. What are the key takeaway points of these three days? We looked back at the six highlights of this major event for digital makers.
THURSDAY, 10am: “PITCH ME YOUR STARTUP”
“Stand there, we’re going to start.” On Thursday, the first day of the expo, the startups from our Galaxy as well as the guest ones took it in turns to present their business, say how they plan to revolutionise the education sector, and give their watchword – all in just 1 minute 30 seconds!
This was the ideal opportunity to get to know them better and hear a series of mantras, such as: “combining the intellect, the body and the heart,” “gamify your knowledge,” “learning so we can change the world,” and other inspiring insights into how education is being reinvented. See the pitches, (in French)
THURSDAY, 3pm: EMMANUEL MACRON DISCOVERS THE HISTOPAD
There was a flurry of activity and excitement at the stand of our startup, Histovery: French president Emmanuel Macron was there with popular presenter of historical TV programme Secrets d’Histoire, Stéphane Bern, to try out the Histopad, a tablet that allows you to visit museums and cultural monuments in augmented reality, such as the Conciergerie in Paris, the Château de Chambord in the Loire Valley and – presented exclusively on our stand – the Papal Palace in Avignon.
And the President, who has never hidden his passion for the history of France, was apparently quite impressed with the gadget. As Véronique di Benedetto, VP of Econocom France, said: “He immediately understood the need to bring cultural visits alive!”
FRIDAY, 11:30am: SEE AN AUGMENTED REALITY VIEW OF THE PAPAL PALACE WITH THE HISTOPAD!
FRIDAY, 2pm: WOMEN IN THE SPOTLIGHT WITH MARLÈNE SCHIAPPA
The second day of the event focused on women in digital: Marlène Schiappa, the French Secretary of State for Gender Parity, came to meet our startup Magic Makers, as well as other guest startups founded by women.
Leka and its interactive, educational robot for children on the autism spectrum, Marbotic, which makes wooden toys that interact with educational applications inspired by the Montessori method, Kartable and its personalised learning platform, and students from IT school Ecole 42 all had a chance to chat to Marlène Schiappawho was extremely attentive and interested.
FRIDAY, 2:30am: FOCUS ON EDTECH!
Lights, camera, action: whilst the Secretary of State was talking to entrepreneurs from our Galaxy, the other part of the Econocom stand was buzzing with excitement as our round table on how EdTech is shaking up the education world was about to start!
5, 4, 3, 2, 1… forty-five minutes of fascinating insights from our five speakers on the impact of EdTech on education, the teaching profession and even the physical classroom space.
The flipped classroom, personalisation, learning off-site, lifelong education and training were just some of the topics our five experts discussed during a lively discussion.
SATURDAY, 11am: ANNE HIDALGO MEETS SOME YOUNG CODERS
On Saturday morning, the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, visited our stand and met some of our partner and guest startups.
The Mayor thus had the opportunity to check out Marbotic, Leka and attend a creative programming workshop run by Magic Makers: a boon for the woman behind ParisCode, a major scheme launched by the City of Paris to provide coding training.
These three intense days at VivaTech could be summed up by our mantra for the event: “We love digital education!” If you want to hear more, see the highlights of Econocom at Viva Technology here.