“We want to be the first smart region in Europe, so the idea is to put artificial intelligence (AI) in everything we do, to be as efficient as possible and give our agents new tools”, insists Valérie Pécresse, the president of the Île-de-France region, on the eve of announcing several key measures. She is due to go to VivaTech on Thursday where she will unveil her plan to ensure Île-de-France its status as the first smart region in Europe.
The elected LR entrusted to 20 minutes in preview, this Wednesday, the orientations that it intends to instil in the year to come. On the menu: aid to work towards the decarbonized reindustrialization of a territory which “has lost 260,000 industrial jobs over the past fifteen years”, experimenting with AI within its administration, new smart services accessible on the region’s website, including the modeling of the risk of flooding zone by zone, the deployment of aid and exchanges in the cyber field, in particular with a view to the Paris 2024 Games and the launch of the second promotion of Perqo, its incubator for “entrepreneurs who do not have the connections, and who cannot integrate these refuges for over-educated people”.
AI at the service of administration
The high mass of tech with Frenchie sauce opened its doors this morning. The opportunity for the president of the region to recall that innovation is at the heart of Île-de-France. “We want to incorporate technology into all skill areas in the region and be the first to do so, supporting our highly developed start-up ecosystem and using all the innovation we have in the region to apply it. to the public policies that we carry out. »
Thus, a dozen innovation markets will be launched for nearly one million euros to experiment with the use of AI within internal administrative management, information or service to users and thus promote the administrative simplification. “We intend to launch a regional aid ChatGPT available for Ile-de-France residents, a start-up that will recognize identity papers and administrative documents online, etc…” Without forgetting a commendable effort to stick as closely as possible to the question sobriety: an AI solution “to optimize inventory management and reduce food waste in high school canteens, thanks to the start-up Fullsoon, another to heat high schools from the reuse of water heat waste water, one to detect water leaks in high school pipes”. In short, enough to amortize the bill for high schools in the region, which this year “increased by 100 million euros”, she recalls.
Reindustrialise the Île-de-France region
In this desire to improve the quality of public services delivered by the Ile-de-France, Valérie Pécresse shows her desire to perpetuate the approximately 40% of French start-ups in the Ile-de-France region. To achieve this, it announces the launch of a PM’up “Industrial start-ups” to improve “our only weak point: industrialization! “. “Because labor is expensive, because land is expensive, because local residents are complicated, it is very difficult today for start-ups to move on to the industrialization stage without leaving the territory. Ile-de-France. »
This program should allow companies wishing to invest in setting up their first production line in Île-de-France to obtain up to 1.2 million euros for projects located in areas of economic recovery. regional or 50% of their funding. “Thirty percent of the region’s land area is labeled as an economic reconquest zone. For example, there is the entire Seine valley, territories in Seine-et-Marne or Essonne where companies have closed, the PSA-Aulnay area, the abandoned Brétigny-sur-Orge air base (where the Fête de l’Huma is now organised)”, she lists. Before mentioning the sectors concerned: the field of medicine, energy, high-tech, aeronautics, automotive, transport in general…
A win-win relationship
To fight against cybercrime, “which could represent 4 billion euros for the period of the Olympic Games alone”, the region has decided to create its own “cyber-barracks, that is to say a place of resources against cyberattacks, in particular for municipalities or fragile public administrations that would need help, so as not to leave the little ones alone”. This system is broken down into financial aid for SMEs with more than ten employees, with a “cyber diagnosis” check for 5,000 euros, and another for 10,000 euros for equipment. “Today, 40% of cyberattacks target public institutions. We are therefore going to ensure that spin-off start-ups find institutional clients, to ensure their sustainability and at the same time, help municipalities and institutions to protect themselves”, explains Valérie Pécresse.
Finally, the Île-de-France region, which launched its own incubator in early 2023, is in the process of recruiting the second promotion to develop innovative solutions on three main themes: ecological transition, disability and sport. “The Perqo brings together high-impact start-ups in the fields of low and some deep tech, entrepreneurs often without an address book and from non-privileged backgrounds”. Thus, several start-ups from the first promotion have already won prizes, such as “this resident of Saint-Ouen who is responsible for installing hydrogen charging stations, or this company which plugs electric scooters into wheelchairs by example”, she adds, recalling that “40% of projects are led by women, a trend that we strongly encourage”. For the start of the school year in September, the region is aiming for 80 projects to incubate while “100 applications have already been submitted”.