The finale of the festival with the public, Vivatech, which closed in a heated atmosphere
Europe’s largest startup and tech conference, VivaTech 2025, opened its doors to the general public on Saturday, June 14, marking the grand finale of the festival. The Paris Porte de Versailles Expo was filled with a different energy from the business-centric atmosphere of the past three days. Instead of investors and entrepreneurs in suits, the event was filled with families and students who were curious about experiencing future technologies firsthand.
< Spectators watch the humanoid robot demonstration with interest >
In its ninth year, VivaTech broke all records in every way. A total of 180,000 visitors, over 14,000 startups, and participants from 171 countries gathered in Paris. In particular, the number of national pavilions, which is a 20% increase from 2024, shows that VivaTech has established itself as a global technology diplomacy arena beyond a technology exhibition. Over 3,600 investors visited the event to discover the next generation of unicorns, and a whopping 640,000 business connections were made during the event.
Experience the future
Tesla CyberCap, AI Becomes Reality
< Spectators look at Tesla's futuristic robotaxi 'Cybercap' without a steering wheel or pedals >
At the Tesla booth, long lines of visitors formed to experience the robotaxi “Cybercap” that completely eliminated the steering wheel and pedals. The Cybercap is a real-life example of “agent AI,” where AI can reason, plan, and act on its own, and clearly demonstrated how AI interacts with the physical world through fully autonomous driving (FSD) technology.
Gerard Pique's Kings League Declares US Departure
Legendary football player turned businessman Gerard Pique has officially announced that his Kings League, the league he founded, will be coming to the United States. He shared his vision for sports innovation, saying he plans to make a huge investment, aiming to launch the league in early 2026.
Beyond games and entertainment, they are the core driving force of society.
< Participants demonstrate 'virtual taekwondo' using virtual reality (VR) technology at the VivaTech event.>
The social value of games was also reexamined at this event. There was a discussion about 'good games' that are positive for mental health, and the French advertising agency Publicis announced that it would actively hire gamers because of their outstanding problem-solving and strategy-making abilities. This was a symbolic event that showed that the abilities developed through games are being valued socially.
AI Becomes Playwright: Molière Ex Machina
The artistic collaboration between AI and humans also attracted a lot of attention. The play 'Molière Ex Machina', written jointly with humans by AI that learned the style of French writer Molière, was performed on stage.
< Stage of the play 'Molière Ex Machina' co-written by AI and humans>
The core of this project is 'collaboration' rather than 'replacement', proving that AI can be an inspirational assistant to human creators and suggesting the possibility of a convergence of technology and humanities.
K- Startups Stand Tall at the Center of the European Market
At this event, K-startups went beyond simply showcasing their technologies and proved their technological prowess by securing actual contracts and investments.
Systematic support from ‘ Team Korea’… Becoming a compass for creating results
Behind this achievement was the systematic support strategy of 'Team Korea', a coalition of government ministries, local governments, and universities. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups, together with the Korea Institute of Startups and Entrepreneurship Development, operated the 'K-Startup Integrated Hall' consisting of a total of 26 startups and served as the control tower for this event. Shim Jae-yoon, head of the Startup Policy Division of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "I hope that startups will use the startup policy of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups as a compass to foster innovation," and actively expanded overseas VC contact points for our companies through networking and IR events such as 'K-Startup Night' and 'Super Pitch Korea.'
< Panoramic view of the K-Startup Integrated Hall of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) at VivaTech 2025>
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, which participated for the first time this year, also showed remarkable performance. The joint pavilion with 10 K-content startups held 343 business meetings (some 434 articles) over four days, and made a splash by signing 4 MOUs and conducting export consultations worth about 9 billion won (6.62 million dollars).
< K-content companies are showcasing their technologies at the 'Korea Content Pavilion' operated by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) >
Gyeonggi Economic and Science Promotion Agency has operated the local government pavilion ‘Gyeonggi DX Zone’ for three consecutive years, and Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority and Incheon Technopark attracted more than 1,000 buyers to the booths of five startups and made more than 350 meetings happen.
From department store openings to public projects… Love calls pouring in for technological prowess
In particular, the dazzling performance of individual companies made us realize the changed status of K-startups. The eco-friendly beauty solution 'Our Kids Plus' has attracted the attention of global companies such as Sephora and L'Oréal as a solid cosmetic sheet that replaces plastic, and has entered the European market in earnest by signing contracts with Paris Galeries Lafayette, Le Bon Marché department stores, and local pharmacy distribution networks.
The booth of ‘Barunbio’, which showcased the next-generation electric stimulation solution, was visited four times by executives from global beauty company L’Oréal, who discussed technological collaboration in depth. The AI-based shoe manufacturing platform ‘Christine Company’ received great attention from local brands targeting the LVMH group, and the hydrogen mobility company ‘Eflow’ achieved the feat of being selected as a pilot operator of a small hydrogen charging facility in a Paris district.
< CEO of Eflow is giving his thoughts on being selected as a pilot operator for the ‘small hydrogen charging infrastructure’ at the VivaTech site>
In addition, blockchain food history tracking platform 'FutureSense' signed an MOU with French premium vodka 'Guillotine', and AI vision inspection solution 'Creple Co., Ltd.' received investment review proposals from three local European companies, showing tangible results in the field.
AI, ESG, Content… Opening the European Market with Diversity
At this year’s VivaTech, the wide technology spectrum of K-startups shone. AI music production platform ‘Shining Lab (Cellpop)’, K-pop choreography 3D motion ‘Dancestruct’, virtual wear solution ‘DeepPixel’, and cloud VFX production ‘Oasis Studio’ proved the potential of K-content with technology. In addition, biodegradable plastic ‘The Day One Lab’ and pedestrian energy conversion pavement block ‘Huject’ showed off Korea’s innovation in the ESG field that Europe is paying attention to.
An official from Hanyang University’s Startup Support Team evaluated that “the focus was on creating tangible results, such as local proof of concept (PoC) and investment attraction, beyond simple product introduction.”
A government official said, “We will continue to support the globalization of K-startups by incorporating VivaTech’s successful experience into the ‘COMEUP’ at the end of the year to attract more global companies and expanding participation in major overseas exhibitions such as ‘Zytex’ in the United Arab Emirates and ‘Switch’ in Singapore.” In Paris, once called the ‘stage of dreams,’ K-startups are now becoming ‘leading players’ themselves and writing new success stories.
Questions for the Future: Technological Sovereignty and Inclusion
VivaTech 2025 presented a blueprint for the future society that technology will create, along with the homework we must solve. The biggest trend underlying the event was Europe’s strong will for ‘technological sovereignty.’ The partnership between Mistral AI and Nvidia was a declaration that Europe would take its own independent path against the technological hegemony of the United States and China.
At the same time, VivaTech continuously emphasized the principle of 'human-centeredness' that technology should not alienate humans. On the last day of the event, it was symbolic that Clara Chapaz, the French Minister for AI and Digital, held an 'Ask me anything' session where she met the public and answered questions. This showed that the government considers social consensus and ethical governance as important as the speed of technological development. In addition, the 'Female Founder Challenge' that supports female entrepreneurs and various sessions to break down prejudices in the technology field made it clear that 'inclusion' is no longer an option but a core competitiveness of business.
<A sculpture containing expectations for the ‘tomorrow (Demain)’ that will be created by the technology installed inside Vivatech>
VivaTech 2025 ended with a big question for the future. What rules should we create to ensure that technological advancements benefit everyone? How should we balance innovation and responsibility? The journey to find the answer to this question is just beginning.
What kind of future will Vivatech, which celebrates its 10th anniversary next year, show us?
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