ADVERTISEMENTAs Europe prepares to draw the battle lines with the United States following another tariff hike on the EU’s exports to the US, the start-up and tech community are preparing to forge closer ties, according to a leading figure in one of Europe’s largest tech events.
“Today, what’s happening, which is rather paradoxical, is that there are clouds gathering over these customs duties,” François Bitouzet, managing director of the Paris tech conference VivaTechnology, told Euronews Next.
“But in terms of business, people are even more keen to forge closer links between Europe and the United States,” he added.
The event, which opens its doors in June, will welcome almost 14,000 start-ups from around the world, which will likely be hit by the US tariffs as it is expected to impact the flow of VC capital.
US tech giants Nvidia, Meta, Google, and IBM will also be attending and could be stung in return by Europe.
French government spokesperson Sophie Primas told French radio on Thursday that the government plans to “attack services,” including untaxed US digital services.
France will, however, have to get a unanimous agreement from the 26 other EU members to do so.
Her comments come a day after US President Donald Trump unveiled plans to impose 20 per cent tariffs on the EU’s exports to the US, on top of auto and steel and aluminium tariffs announced last month.
But France has already taken a tough stance on tax measures with Meta and Google’s parent company Alphabet. In 2019, the county implemented a digital services tax on the companies, which Trump said at the time discriminated against US businesses.
But the international tech event will, for the first time, have an American pavilion to showcase US start-ups.
“It’s because, from a business point of view, people want to tighten the lines so that business can continue on both sides of the United States,” Bitouzet said.
One tech leader and Trump advisor whose presence at VivaTech is missing this year is Elon Musk. The Tesla, SpaceX and xAI boss has attended the event either virtually or in real life for the past two years.
However, the event will not be about just securing relations with the US.
“What’s important for start-ups to understand is there are other world markets are beyond the United States,” Bitouzet said.
“India is back with a vengeance, and we have increasingly strong links with Japan and South Korea, so we need to think about how we can move forward with other countries too,” he added.
ADVERTISEMENTAnother country of importance for VivaTech is Canada, which is the event’s chosen country to feature, and the Canadian embassy in Paris is where one of VivaTech’s press conferences was held on Thursday.
The challenges facing Europe’s start-ups
But European start-ups do not have to look too far for international opportunities.
“People often say that Europe is a single market, but for start-ups, this is not yet the case,” said Bitouzet.
“If you’re a French start-up and go to Germany, there’s a different language and other types of regulation. So how can we create a real single market for start-ups at European level?”
ADVERTISEMENTThis, he said, is one of the issues that Europe faces if it wants to become more independent tech leaders.
“What Europe lacks today is precisely the ability to organise itself around a common will in tech and digital and to move on to the decision-making and implementation stage,” he said.
But Bitouzet said that when VivaTech opens its doors, “for four days, Europe is the epicentre of global tech”.
Regardless of the criticisms of Europe not being far up enough on the global tech podium and a global trade war in the works, Bitouzet remains optimistic about the continent’s future.
ADVERTISEMENT“Despite what some people may say, there are some incredible start-ups, there’s a fantastic economic market, there are political decision-makers who know and understand what’s at stake in technology and I can guarantee you that, seen from this angle, Europe is extremely attractive,” he said.
