Prime Minister Michel Barnier did not look far to find his point of contact for technology issues: he appointed Clara Chappaz, until then director of the French Tech Mission, responsible for supporting the French start-up ecosystem. The title of the post has changed: she is appointed Secretary of State responsible for artificial intelligence and digital technology, a sign of the importance given to “AI”. Her control ministry has also been modified: while her previous affiliation ministry was Bercy, this portfolio will now report to the Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
Barnier thus once again turned to a sector specialist, like the first two secretaries of state appointed after Macron’s election in 2017 on the subject of the “start-up nation”: Mounir Mahjoubi and Cédric O. He was succeeded by two officials from Modem, a party allied to the majority: Jean-Noël Barrot, now Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the secretive Marina Ferrari, who only remained in office for seven months.
In recent months, the French tech ecosystem has been wondering about the future and is concerned about a possible decline in digital issues on the agenda of the French executive, but also at European level, while the very active Thierry Breton has just resigned from his post as European Commissioner responsible for the internal market and digital technology.
Clara Chappaz credits him with having worked in several digital companies in senior positions, at Vestiaire Collective and then at Zalora, an Asian fashion e-commerce platform. Arriving in 2021 at the head of the French Tech Mission, responsible for supporting French start-ups, he witnessed the glory days of French Tech, with record fundraising in 2022 (13.5 billion euros).
Voluntaristic policy
It also subsequently witnessed a sudden shortage of funding and a recent shift to prioritising start-ups resulting from fundamental research, for example to promote reindustrialisation in the nuclear or semi-motor sectors, or to develop AI.
The intention today seems to be to continue the proactive policy in favour of AI led by Emmanuel Macron since 2017, with the Villani plan, and more particularly during the last two years. Paris has openly tried to encourage the emergence of “Champions of France” and the Parisian AI scene, represented by start-ups such as Mistral, LightOn, Dust, H, Hugging Face or Photoroom. This attitude is not without its friction, as France has been accused of opposing the regulation of AI in the European AI Act text, in particular on copyright. The implementation of the text is still under debate in Brussels.
You have 21.53% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
