From June 17 to 20, there were more than 200,000 visitors to pass through the doors of the global meeting of technological innovation. This year, the event has changed scale. Enough to reinforce the strategy of the New Economy of the Réunion Region which aims to establish the island as a territory of innovation.
This was his fourth participation in the show : This year, the Region supported five start-ups under the banner of the territorial brand “La Réunion, solution island ». I stand them, him too, had changed scale. The pavilion notably included a closed meeting space to facilitate business meetings.. " Furthermore, it’s an eco-responsible stand with its green wall and the reuse of elements from last year’s stand”, underlined Jérôme Nassibou, director of La Réunion Innovation, the regional innovation agency. “Being present in continuity creates connections and makes us more visible”, explained Rémi Pierrat, Innovation project manager at the Réunion Region and one of those responsible for running the site. For Grégory Chevaillier, founder of the Eyako cybersecurity operational management platform, for which it was the second participation, VivaTech 2026 “is more impressive and the Réunion pavilion shines more. Not only because he is bigger, but also because several events attracted visitors”.
Mobilization around VivaTech
This is how the morning of the diaspora took place, organized at the initiative of the Réunion Region. : around fifty decision-makers, Reunion executives or future executives living in mainland France have promoted the island from the angle of innovation. So many potential ambassadors who can open their address books to private companies. The Reunion digital ecosystem was the subject of a conference by the regional public establishment La Réunion Connectée. In the presence of the Minister of Overseas Naïma Moutchou, French Tech La Réunion has for its part orchestrated a “French Tech Connect Overseas & Indian Ocean” in order to bring together overseas start-ups and large groups based in the Indian Ocean. Let us also mention the pitch session of Reunion start-ups on the big stage of VivaTech. Other event : France Travail has launched an “overseas innovation challenge”, to which Reunion start-ups are invited.
There is no shortage of ideas
“Vivatech allowed us to see that our product remained ahead”, also noted Grégory Chevaillier. Results for this start-up ? 80 meetings and 10 partnerships initiated, including several internationally. “We made a lot of contacts and we noticed that we had no direct competitors”, confirms Maud Valentin, founder of AgentVox. This start-up develops conversational AI agents for carrying out satisfaction or opinion surveys. Dior, Mars Wrigley, Toyota, BNP, SEB… these are some of the names mentioned by Louis Favre, founder of MediaBy, delegations who came to the Reunion Island stand to be presented with this media purchasing platform allowing them to act on the different levers of digital marketing.
The range of innovations born in Reunion and presented this year was completed by FIT.AI, the first predictive self-parking GPS, which guides motorists to free spaces, and by MoSITouch, which uses AI to eliminate invasive mosquitoes. Pei start-ups were able to compare their strategies for exporting their services. The idea arose to consider synergies to attack markets.
On the Business France stand
Among the 36 start-ups selected by the French public agency, two were from Reunion : Duke, data management and analysis platform for SMEs and ETIs ; and Hornswaggle, identity certification and digital trust platform.
Special correspondent from Crealise
For four years, the Crealise digital school sends a learner to VivaTech. This year, it was Léna Lemieux, currently in Bachelor 3 Marketing Manager & Communication. On the mission ? Become the eyes and ears of the Crealise community. She took up the challenge of posting a summary of her meetings and discoveries every end of the day.. The illustration of a pedagogy based on action.
