How will the future unfold? What is the impact of technology on business & society? As technology reorders the world in which live, who will be the winners and who will be the losers? Join Azeem Azhar, curator of the Exponential View newsletter, in deep conversation with the world's leading thinkers and practitioners exploring these and other important questions. The views expressed on this podcast are those of its hosts, guests, and callers, and not those of Harvard Business Review.
https://hbr.org/podcasts/exponential-view
episode 28: Startups and the State: Growing French Tech
In less than a decade France has gone from tech backwater to the startup engine of the EU. It recently celebrated its 12th company to achieve a $1 billion valuation and is well on the way to President Macron’s goal of “25 unicorns by 2025.” Kat Borlongan, director of La French Tech, joins Azeem Azhar to explore how her government taskforce has been working to effectively drive growth in the French startup scene.
They also discuss:
- Why achieving tech sovereignty has become a key motivator for governments.
- How France’s visa scheme is part of their offensive strategy to attract top tech talent.
- Why the French government is directly investing in startups via public investment bank Bpifrance.
@katborlongan
@azeem
@ExponentialView
Further resources:
- “Building Unicorns in Europe” (Exponential View podcast with Reshma Sohoni, 2019)
- “The State of European Tech 2020″ (Atomico, 2021)
- “Paris overtakes Berlin for tech start-ups after boost from Macron“ (Financial Times, 2019)
- “La French Tech ecosystem map“ (Interactive dashboard on France’s tech startups)