Mobility in the foreground at VivaTech 2019 in Paris, one of the most important events dedicated to innovation.
Mobility, artificial intelligence, 5G, blockchain, quantum computing, connected health care, the new space race, the environment. VivaTech, the international event dedicated to innovation in all its forms, has just ended in Paris. The call was answered by 9,000 startups, 1,900 investors, almost 2,000 journalists and 125 countries. Mobility, in all its forms, was among the 8 trends protagonists of this edition. We went to browse and tell you about the innovations that struck us the most.
At VivaTech you walk between the stand of AWS and that of dozens of startups working on robotics, and there is a very significant focus on French excellence: all the largest multinationals in Paris are present, with a particular focus on what until now was considered undigital or at least far from innovation : LVMH, Citroen, Orange and others.
By the way, when a large company decides to buy a space for itself, to be present at the fair, is asked to divide in half those square meters with the startups. “50 and 50”, exactly in half
Space Train, the autonomous levitation train
The idea comes from the entrepreneur Emeuric Gleizes and is called Space Train, a “shuttle” that travels thanks to a levitation system on air cushions and a monorail. Able to carry up to 250 passengers, designed to significantly reduce impact, travel time and costs, it is a small self-drive train faster than the TGV. The goal is to launch a first test shuttle by the end of 2020.
UrmO, the “pocket” format of personal mobility
UrmO is an electric vehicle, light and extremely compact, perfect for moving in the city on short distances. Equipped with a sophisticated self-balancing system that makes it easy to use, thanks to the patented folding system, closed has the size of a folder and in a few seconds turns into an effective system of personal mobility, easy to take on board on public transport or by car. The large wheels allow it to move on all surfaces without difficulty.
Atea, the vertical take-off aircraft for the city
The urban mobility of the future will increasingly think about removing cars from the ground and using air space to move goods and people. Ascendance, a small, young French company, presented at VivaTech Atea, a VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft, a vertical take-off aircraft designed to integrate into urban infrastructures, with low noise impact (one of the critical factors that is delaying the development of these systems) and low operating costs, capable of moving over distances of up to 150 km. Objective? Developing urban aerial mobility without revolutionising the urban landscape
Plastic Odyssey, the boat that turns plastic into fuel
Among the most interesting projects on display at Viva Tech in Paris, Plastic Odyssey is a boat with a mini recycling laboratory, capable of navigating driven by the energy produced (on board) by waste and plastics collected from the seas. The idea came to Simon Bernard who, with a small team, designed a 6-metre catamaran equipped with a laboratory capable of transforming plastics in the seas into fuel. The system heats the plastic collected at a very high temperature and in the absence of oxygen breaks down the molecules transforming the plastics into gas that, once purified, feeds the engine. The boat can collect up to 5 kilos of plastic waste per hour, producing 3 litres of fuel. The project includes a world tour that will start in 2020, will last 3 years with 30 stopovers in 3 continents.
Hovertaxi, the alternative (flying) to free up urban centres
Among the solutions on show in Paris, Hovertaxi, an integrated urban flying transport system. It is a small aircraft with a multi-electric rotor that uses a ground infrastructure based on modular containers. it will be able to connect city centres to airports.
LVMH Innovation Award
The start-up 3D Look, founded in 2016 in Silicon Valley, with its technology that allows to determine the measurements of the customer with two photos of the smartphone, won in Paris the Lvmh Innovation Award at the Vivatech exhibition. Thirty young companies were selected from the 900 applications.
It was the president of the French group Bernard Arnault who yesterday awarded the winner, thus underlining the importance that this event and more generally the digital approach has in the strategy of the French group.
The next edition has already confirmed by Vivatech organization. #vivatech
