The “Hacking of City Hall” event hosted in Paris by Mayor Anne Hidalgo reportedly brought together close to 4,000 participants, including 1,132 start-ups and 200 French and international tech experts, who according to Paris’ bid to host the 2024 Olympic Paralympic Games, back the French Olympic project.
It was the third time the city has hosted the world’s largest ‘hacking’ event and this time the event, supported by Paris 2024, focused on finding “new ways to integrate the latest technology into the organisation of major sporting events,” a bid statement said.
The event was attended by Paris 2024 Chief Executive Etienne Thobois and athlete ambassadors such as double Olympic fencing champion Brice Guyart and Rio 2016 boxing silver medallist Sarah Ourahmoune.
Paris 2024 CCEO Etienne Thobois, said “innovation and creativity are at the core of the successful delivery of any major project. We have to work together with cutting edge and different vectors of innovation because the Olympic and Paralympic Games requires innovative thinking and solutions at all levels of the planning, organisation and delivery.”
“With the full support of Paris’ tech community behind the bid, Paris 2024 is in a fantastic position to take the Games to the next level, enabling us to deliver a spectacular celebration of passion, purpose and innovation that captures the imagination of the next generation.”
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said “Paris’ sharing culture means we are open to the world; we are targeting a total of 30% foreign start-ups by 2020, we already have the highest number of corporate head offices in Europe and the largest number of start-ups with over 1,500 a year.”
“This dynamic, collaborative environment is an asset for the candidature of Paris 2024, because it will help us to develop solutions that benefit athletes and federations, visitors and sponsors. With Hacking of the City Hall, the biggest event of its kind in the world, we have once again demonstrated the tremendous potential and the many economic opportunities that the hosting of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris would bring.”
Earlier this week Los Angeles announced its sponsorship of a UCLA hacking event to be held later this month at Pauley Pavilion, the proposed venue for Olympic judo, wrestling and Paralympic sitting volleyball should LA be awarded the right to host the Games.
LA contends to be a world leader in technology and innovation, and a place that “knows how to do start-ups,” but Paris officials are quick to challenge that.
A statement from the bid said “Paris is one of the world’s leading players in tech innovation and the start-up capital of Europe.”
“Over the past decade, Paris has invested more than €1 billion in innovation. The city has 60 incubators, 15 projects, 80 co-working areas and 23 fab labs, including Le Cargo, the largest incubator in Europe, and Le Tremplin, the first incubator dedicated to sport in the heart of a stadium.
“This summer, Paris will also open Station F, the largest incubator in the world.”
As the bids search to find and promote key differentiators of their projects with six months left to campaign, it reminds us how close this high-stakes campaign really is. Sometimes comparing sport venues and legacies isn’t enough.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) wiill elect the winner September 13, 2017 in Lima, Peru.
