The Metropolitan Area of Nice Côte d’Azur, in cooperation with the Centre Europe Direct Nice Côte d’Azur, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region and Côte d’Azur University organized the first edition of the European Innovation Campus, which took place in Nice on September 14 and 15, 2022.
Coined by Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, the “European Innovation Campus” is an event focused on highlighting the role of regions and local authorities, young people, researchers, but also innovators and investors in promoting the development and promotion of innovation in Europe. After the conclusion of its first edition on September 15, the plan is to make it a recurring event, with each edition taking place in a different European city.
The event, which took place over a two-day program, focused on four main topics: the evolution of the regional and local innovation ecosystem, youth and corporate actions on culture and creativity, and the uses of artificial intelligence for our territories.
During the evening of September 14, the focus was on supporting and promoting young local innovators, allowing 3 students and 3 young entrepreneurs to present their innovative projects and exchange with a panel of experts in entrepreneurship and innovation. This was followed by speeches from Christian Estrosi, Mayor of Nice, President of the Metropolitan area of Nice Côte d’Azur and Deputy President of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region; Jeanick Brisswalter, President of the Côte d’Azur University; and finally European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel.
September 15 was marked by a program focused on women’s entrepreneurship, followed by roundtables on territorial innovation ecosystems, and two parallel workshops on the fields of cultural and creative industries and artificial intelligence, led by expert speakers from the local and international entrepreneurial world.
The day was opened by speeches from Magali Altounian, Deputy Mayor of Nice in charge of European institutions and the city’s outreach, Metropolitan Councilor and President of the Europe Commission of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, and European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel. Both insisted on the importance of supporting actions aimed at fostering the development and promotion of female entrepreneurship at local, national and European levels. More than 300 participants arrived at the event and 52 speakers gave presentations on varied and interesting topics.
The event was streamed live, and you can find the videos for September 14 and September 15 here.
Ms. Gabriel’s choice to inaugurate the European Innovation Campus here in Nice is a real and undeniable recognition of the city’s European dimension, as Christian Estrosi emphasized during his speech on the evening of September 14. And now that we have said goodbye to this first edition, we are all looking forward to the next European Innovation Campus, which will take place in the beautiful city of Sofia, Bulgaria.
For more information, check the articles from Nice Matin, Tribune Bulletin Riviera (Tribune Côte d’Azur).