French firms to showcase latest innovation at Qitcom

French companies participating in the upcoming Qitcom 2019 are keen on expanding their international footprint by offering potential clients with the latest in France’s innovation during the exhibition, ambassador Franck Gellet said yesterday.
“It is a great honour to participate in Qitcom 2019 as a committed partner. It is an exciting year for ‘La French Tech’, and we look forward to introducing our companies with revolutionary new ideas to visiting potential investors, while our highly-regarded companies look to meet new partners as part of their business expansion,” Gellet told reporters during a press conference in Doha.
Under the banner La French Tech, companies from France will witness “strong participation” during the event, which is slated from October 29 to November 1 at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC), according to the French embassy in Doha and Business France, the national agency supporting the international development of the French economy.
Gellet said French tech companies are at the cutting-edge in fields, such as e-government, cybersecurity, Fintech, blockchain, smart cities, IoT, e-health, e-commerce, and retailtech.
Gellet noted that as from a nation that fosters technology growth and success, French exhibitors are keen to create contacts and identify experienced partners in Qatar and the Mena region through their presence at Qitcom 2019, which will be held under the theme ‘Safe Smart Cities’.
For this edition of Qitcom, Thales is supporting the event as silver sponsor, said Gellet, adding that the European leader in cybersecurity will present innovative and smart solutions, such as ‘Soarizon’, a digital platform that will empower drone operation worldwide.
Thales will also demonstrate unmanned traffic management solutions, intelligent multimodal system for smart and safe mobility with efficient transport, and ‘NAIA’ – a big data analytics platform aiming at reconstructing the commuters’ journeys, the ambassador said.
Another company, Atos, will present its cloud solutions and services that customers can leverage upon to ensure their organisation’s make right choices to support their business ambition.
Integrated transport systems firm, Alstom, will showcase a complete range of solutions from high-speed trains to metros, tramways and e-buses, passenger solutions, customised services (maintenance, modernisation), infrastructure, signalling and digital mobility solutions, such as ‘Mastria’ – a multimodal city mobility supervision and optimisation system, which integrates seamlessly all existing city information systems and loT, Gellet said.
He said RATP Dev – SNCF – Keolis companies working as RKH Qitarat, the Qatar Rail service provider for operation and maintenance of the Doha Metro and Lusail Tram, will showcase their expertise in smart mobility solutions.
Similarly, French small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are also participating in Qitcom 2019, the ambassador said. They are H4D, a fully-connected and interactive medical cabin system; Flowbird, a world leading company for urban mobility; Onepoint, one of the major players in business and digital transformation; Fime, a Fintech specialist; and Gaussin, which offers a range of electric driverless transporters.
“France is witnessing strong growth in its technological space as a result of investments by domestic players but also with the high interest foreign investors show towards one’s ecosystem,” Gellet said.
Citing a GfK 2019 study, Gellet said the fast-growing technological economy represented a turnover of over €1.1bn in 2018. The growth of ‘smart’ connected objects increased by 17%
compared to 2017.
The GfK study also showed that in 2018, the market for the connected home sector (household appliances, home automation, and network products) represented 55% of the sector’s turnover and showed the strongest growth at “+35% (€624mn), followed by ‘wearables’ (31%), and drones and gadgets (12%).”
The spectacular rise in funding startups through venture and growth capital places France among the world’s leading countries in terms of startups. In a recent EY Venture Capital survey, France was ranked second in Europe for fundraising, both in terms of the number of deals and the sums raised, which exceeded a record of “€3.2bn in 2018 (up 28 %),” Gellet said.