Press release

Over 400 people attended the 1^st edition of a new event focusing on #digital technology in Rennes. 

Yesterday, over 400 people attended the 1^st edition of La Digital Tech Conference at Rennes Opera House. The event, with its original format –keynotes, demos, debates, musical interludes, participative workshops and ending with an evening at the Trans Musicales – found its audience. 

“It’s always difficult to organize the first edition of an event”, said Stanislas Hintzy, Managing Director of La French Tech Rennes St Malo, “because there’s nothing to refer to. The partners, speakers and the public all responded and we enjoyed a real success that will help us do even better for a 2^nd year”.

Talents from very varied horizons took to the stage. Rudy De Waele of Shift2020 particularly impressed the audience with his subtle analysis of the future of connected music. The debates with, for example, the leading expert Franck Cazenave, the charismatic head of Digital Media Finland Jari Muikku, the bold entrepreneur Christel Le Coq and the young inventor Guillaume Rolland, provided the day with a variety of testimonies that were lapped up by an enthusiastic audience on the lookout for future digital trends.

“The EZRA show with his B-Glove, Laurent Bernadac with his 3D-printed violin and Thomas VDB’s unquestionably caustic humour added the fun dimension in which we offer the French Tech concept in Rennes”, added Stanislas Hintzy. “We believe that La Digital Tech Conference should be a reflection of Rennes: a technology expert, keen on experimentation, used to cross-fertilization, focused on the future, and all in an outstanding setting… hence the choice of the Opera House for our audience”.

A total of 26 partners [listed below] supported the event. “Well done and many thanks to them for their curiosity and their support of the French Tech project. They put their faith in us for this first event, and there was a charge for entry (*)” concluded the Managing Director of La French Tech Rennes St Malo.

(*) the entry price was 100 euros (reduced price 50 euros).

Partners to the event: Rennes Opera House, Ouest-France, ERDF, La Poste, TVR, Rennes Métropole, Ville de Rennes, Saint-Malo Agglomération, Trans Musicales, Spectaculaires, 4DMotion, University of Rennes 2, Au Bureau des Saveurs, Destination Rennes, Maddyness, Blog du modérateur, Ouest On Line, Eliga, Volvo, In Extenso, Awedia, GraphiSweet, RegionsJob, Mediaveille, Weather’n’co, Digital Campus.

Full information on the dedicated website www.ladigital.tech or on Twitter via the hashtag #DigitalTC

and look out next week for the  full Storify of the event !

On the day before the Digital Tech Conference, Régis Bozec and Claire Hardy take us behind the scenes of an event, the preparation of which turned out to be something of a challenge. Three months to organize an international conference is an unusual schedule in the world of events. The organizers have risen to the challenge so far and are looking forward to Thursday!

« We’re keen to get the show on the road », said Claire and Régis together when they were asked how they were feeling the day before the Digital Tech Conference. « We’re now at the stage of last-minute adjustments and surprises! »

In the home straight!

« We’ve come up with new formats for the Digital Tech Conference. It’s a first event and it’s not a traditional, conventional conference: we’re trying things out: there’s no safety net because there are no rehearsals. We’re looking forward to seeing what happens on D-Day », said Régis.

The fact that it’s a first event also means that everything has had to be built up and decided from scratch, « starting with the venue and the technical people we were going to work with. Organizing all the logistics for an event in less than three months is a real challenge » added Claire, who joined the team as Events Manager for La French Tech Rennes St Malo.

With thirty speakers, it’s a heavy programme. Especially as most of them are recognized experts in their field, with fairly complicated diaries to manage. The fact that they managed to free themselves up for the Digital Tech Conference adds to the pressure. Claire adds: « We’ve done everything internally, which has added a bit more excitement to the logistics. But it’s also brought us closer to the speakers as we’ve had more contact with them ».

Innovating to inspire

The Digital Tech Conference had two watchwords: innovate and surprise. Claire explains this in detail: « The aim is to make people aware and have a good time; we’re going to learn and have fun. The French Tech spirit, and, even more so, the French Tech Rennes St Malo, spirit, is to try and create testing grounds to add to the region’s reputation. We’ve organized a mix of local and international speakers with a view to creating links and attracting attention to our ecosystem ».

As for what you’ll take away with you from the event, Régis offers us a mouth-watering summary: « A conference format that you won’t have seen anywhere else, surprises and a rewarding day. And, quite simply, a pleasant experience before you go on to your evening at the exhibition centre for the Trans Musicales! ». Claire continues : « And inspiration! There are going to be quite a few new ideas, the speakers will be talking about ideas that are emerging from digital technology and a lot of people should find them inspiring. We hope that you’ll come out of the Opera House looking forward to a second event! »

On Thursday 3 December there’ll be some discussion about the future: : « Some ideas won’t work, but there are probably going to be some projects that will really take off. We’ll be proud to have discovered them at the Digital Tech Conference… just as the Trans are proud of having discovered Nirvana and Björk! » said Régis. Whatever happens, boredom, and gloom are not part of the programme, so there’s no chance of coming across them at the Opera House, so enjoy the day!

Take a look at the detailed programmation

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Press release

NEW!!

LA DIGITAL TECH CONFERENCE IN RENNES ON DECEMBER 3rd

La French Tech Rennes St Malo is organizing La Digital Tech Conference on Thursday 3 December 2015. This great event focuses on the emergence of digital trends and will take place at Rennes Opera House from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. The entry ticket includes entry to the Trans Musicales concerts on Thursday evening at the Exhibition Centre.

The day’s aims include providing the keys to effective forward-planning, helping towards decision-making and thinking about future uses. The chosen themes for the first La Digital Tech Conference are the music industry and connected objects.

The guest list is impressive: Salah Amer, an undisputed specialist in robotics and Demo studio manager at Aldebaran, will be attending. Jari Muikku, CEO of Digital Media Finland will be travelling from Helsinki. DJ Zebra will be taking time out from his Mambo Punk tour to come and say hello to the people of Rennes. Entrepreneur Christel Le Coq will be helping us look into the future at the prospects for “sensory digital reading”. Plus all the other speakers from here and elsewhere with whom we’ll share a taste for exploring the future:-)

“The conference will be a reflection of Rennes: focusing on the technologies, innovation, experimentation and creativity”, explained Stanislas Hintzy, Managing Director of La French Tech Rennes St Malo. “It will all be in an original, dynamic and relaxed format faithful to the French Tech culture”. Behind this vision there is also an aim: “That after the event, the people who took part say: ‘I was at the La Digital Tech Conference 2015!”

The ticket price [100 euros incl. VAT] includes attendance at all the talks, lunch (in a mystery venue…) and transport and entry to the Exhibition Centre for the Trans Musicales concerts on the Thursday evening.

At present, the main partners to the event are the Trans Musicales Association, Rennes Opera House, Ouest-France, TVR and Ville de Rennes. The other partners at this stage are Artefacto, Le Bureau de Saveurs, University of Rennes 2 CREA, France Télévisions, Spectaculaires and Weather’n’co.

And we’re off! More than 50 people are heading to Rennes Opera House this morning for the presentation of the Digital Tech Conference to journalists and bloggers. The suspense is over as the conference program is unveiled 🙂

The team at La French Tech Rennes St Malo has already announced a few speakers: Simon Wheeler, Director of Digital and New Business at Beggars Group, will be making the trip from London; Franck Cazenave, car industry and internet expert and author of the recently published “Stop Google”, will also be coming to meet the Breton audience; and DJ Zebra will be calling in as part of his vibrant Mambo Punk tour. Over the next few days, we will be revealing more speakers and guests who will make this already unique event unmissable for digital devotees from all over Western France.

To be sure not to miss a single minute of this typically #FrenchTech event, you’d better book your tickets now! Our pricing policy couldn’t be simpler: “satisfied or your money back!”. So if you aren’t happy with our event, we’d like to talk to you. Simply email us within three days of the event telling us why you weren’t satisfied, and you might just receive a partial or full refund.

Right now our two ticket sales operatives, Wiz and Vence, are waiting for you with a smile! Click here