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Maya Noël’s Vision: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Startups in France and Europe

In anticipation of the France Digital Day 2024 event, we had the pleasure of conducting an exclusive interview with Maya Noël, Managing Director of France Digitale. She shares her professional journey, her passion for the tech sector, her vision on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in the startup ecosystem and the position of the womens in this sector. From her experience in emerging companies like Deezer and Leboncoin to her leadership at France Digitale, Maya has been a key advocate for business growth in technology and gender equality in the sector.

Could you tell us a bit about your professional journey and how you became the General Director of France Digitale?

I’ve always worked in digital. I began my career in 2012 and immediately focused my energy on finding the best talent for fast-growing start-ups such as Deezer and Leboncoin. To answer the skills shortage in tech, I co-founded the startup YBorder in 2015 to attract profiles from abroad within the French and European ecosystem.

At the same time, I worked alongside leading female entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in the StartHer association (now Sista), campaigning for greater gender equality and diversity in business.

With YBorder, I was already a member of France Digitale but I then joined the association as an employee in 2019 to create the program dedicated to recruitment in startups (‘FD Talent’). This programme enabled start-ups to face up to the aggressive competition from technology giants and to collectively enhance their employer brand. I took over as head of the association from October 2021, with the aim of helping the whole ecosystem to raise and become global tech champions.

What inspired you to work in the tech and startup sector?

I come from a family of entrepreneurs and innovators. Setting up my own company seemed the logical thing to do, and through my early student experiences (particularly as an intern), I quickly realised that I liked the multi-tasking, hands-on atmosphere and the feeling of being able to change the world and things when you work in a start-up and the tech sector.

How do you see the participation of women in the artificial intelligence sector today?

AI is one of the revolutions underway in our sector, and I’m glad to see that many French start-ups are very well positioned in the international race to establish themselves as leaders.

However, today, even though we have some emblematic women in AI in Europe (researchers Cordelia Schmid and Isabelle Ryl, and within companies such as Claire Lebarz, Chief Data & AI Officer at Malt or Hela Atmani at Palm.ai), there are still too few women in AI-related tech professions. According to our Job Study 2023, only 6% of AI researcher positions in start-ups are currently held by women.

What initiatives is France Digitale implementing to support women in the tech and AI sectors?

Our aim is to raise awareness not only among companies but also, and above all, in schools, so that young girls can be fully involved in the development of tech and AI sectors.

Every year, we also organise an FDTour – our signature format for bringing entrepreneurs and investors together – specifically for women entrepreneurs, to help them raise funds and encourage the emergence of a generation of ambitious tech projects led by women.

We support and work hand in hand with players who support women entrepreneurs such as Willa, Femmes @ Numérique, Sista,…

What role does artificial intelligence play in this year’s France Digitale Day?

AI is one of the key issues in the 2024 programme. On each stage – we have 4 in total – AI will be discussed.

Whether talking about the democratisation of AI with Flex AI, Sesterce or Merantix Momentum GmbH, the European strategy on Gen AI, ‘AI as an ally in the quest for profitability’ with Sage and GoJob or the subject of AI and copyright, AI will be everywhere at FDDay on 18 September in Paris.

How do you view the impact of AI on job creation and the transformation of traditional industries?

Let’s not be naive, AI is a revolution that will not stop and will profoundly transform our societies, ane therefore the question of employment and the social contract. We are particularly thinking about the subject at France Digitale and we believe that our role is to provide the broadest possible pedagogy to make people understand the importance of AI and the importance of being trained in its technologies to be an actor rather than a spectator of this change. We are only at the beginning!

What specific challenges do AI startups face compared to other tech startups?

AI startups face the same challenges as other startups. Challenges that France Digitale has been helping them to meet for over 10 years:

  • Attracting and retaining the best talent, a challenge that is even greater in AI where competition is fierce on a global scale, even if Paris has some advantages with the best talent (in the world 😉 )
  • Finding funding, and here again given the volumes needed to stay at the forefront of the AI race, we are working on this issue and ensuring that the European funding chain is complete and solid from pre-seed to exit. 
  • Contracting and doing business, because the best money is the customer’s money, and we are making major groups in particular aware of the key role they have as buyers of European innovations, particularly in AI.

How can France Digitale help AI startups find strategic partners and funding?

Throughout the year, France Digitale organises meetings – with investors, with major groups and also between peers – to help AI startups (and, more generally, all startups). 

Also, For 8 years, with France is AI and the FD3, France Digitale has worked to make Paris one of the essential places of AI in Europe and in the world. In 2024, our AI Day combined 3 formats:

  • « track state of the art » with panels of experts and researchers to take stock of the state of the art of AI technologies carried out in partnership with the Prairie Institute;
  • « operational » track with conferences and practical workshops to accelerate concretely on its AI issues (recruitment, business, tools);
  • meetings and networking between experts in scale-ups, VCs, researchers and large groups.

What initiatives is France Digitale undertaking to foster collaboration between AI startups and large corporations?

As I said before, within all our events (we organise more than 50 each year) we foster collaboration between startups and large corporations. We also have exclusive dinners throughout the year for founders and directors of innovation in large groups to make sure the 2 worlds know each other best and collaborate together.

What advice would you give to entrepreneurs who are just starting out in the world of startups?

Work with others! It’s a daily challenge to create your business and at France Digitale we believe that we will create the tech champions of today and tomorrow by playing collectively – “jouons collectif” in French, so join the movement.

e al movimiento.

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Durante 12 años, en naifman hemos trabajado con más de 300 startups, scaleups y empresas tecnológicas de España, Europa y América Latina, ayudándoles a detectar de forma temprana sus desafíos comerciales para diseñar estrategias de venta de alto impacto y generar oportunidades de negocio a nivel nacional e internacional.