european economics at VivaTech 2026

european economics attended VivaTech 2026 (Viva Technology), held at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles from 17 to 20 June 2026.

For its 10th anniversary edition, the event brought together startups, large corporations, investors, public decision-makers and experts around European and global technological innovation. More than 200,000 visitors from 165 nationalities, 15,000 exhibiting startups and 1,155 speakers took part in this record edition, across an exhibition space expanded from 50,000 to 70,000 square metres. The edition was held under the theme “Impact, Not Illusion”, focused on the concrete and measurable uses of technology, in particular artificial intelligence.

A solid track record in European public funding

Founded in 2009, european economics is an independent firm specialising in State aid and European funding, supporting strategic industrial projects in Europe.

257 projects supported since 2009, representing 106 billion euros in activities
46 billion euros in public funding secured
100% success rate on State aid notifications to the European Commission
211 clients, from high-growth SMEs to large multinational groups, across all industrial sectors

On the IPCEI segment alone, european economics has secured 16 billion euros in funding for 151 projects, across each of the 14 IPCEIs launched to date and in 13 Member States.

Technological sovereignty and public funding at the heart of the agenda

The 2026 agenda covered a wide range of topics, including artificial intelligence, sovereignty and ethics, energy, greentech and mobility, cybersecurity and defence, health and longevity, and the creative industries, as well as several summits dedicated to leaders

The political and institutional dimension of the edition confirmed the weight of the sovereignty topic. From the European Commission, Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, and Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, took the floor. On the eve of the event, on 16 June, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced an additional 655 million euros for the development of artificial intelligence, intended to support infrastructure, computing capacity, research, companies and industrial sectors. Mobilised through France 2030, this funding envelope targets in particular the AI Gigafactories initiative and the Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) dedicated to artificial intelligence.

For european economics, these announcements confirm an underlying trend: the quality of the alignment between private financing, national industrial strategy and European public instruments is becoming a key success factor for large-scale innovative projects.

The new generation of IPCEIs: a structuring framework for strategic projects

VivaTech 2026 takes place during a period of acceleration for IPCEIs (Important Project of Common European Interest). At the end of 2024 and in early 2025, the Joint European Forum for IPCEIs (JEF-IPCEI) endorsed several new themes: innovative nuclear technologies, artificial intelligence, advanced semiconductor technologies, circular advanced materials, and a European digital infrastructure continuum, from cloud to edge.

Two structuring digital IPCEIs are currently in preparation, directly linked to the topics discussed at VivaTech:

The IPCEI on Artificial Intelligence (IPCEI AI),
The IPCEI on the Compute Infrastructure Continuum (IPCEI CIC), which aims to develop a sovereign computing infrastructure in Europe, including the deployment of AI solutions.

These two IPCEIs are part of the 8ra initiative, which brings them together with the IPCEI on next-generation cloud infrastructure and services (IPCEI CIS), approved by the European Commission in December 2023, within a comprehensive approach to the cloud-edge-AI continuum.

Let’s continue the conversation

european economics’ presence at VivaTech 2026 confirms its expertise in European public funding and its role in supporting innovative projects with strong strategic potential, from R&D through to first industrial deployment.

For project leaders in artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, low-carbon energy or industrial technologies, the coming months represent a window for anticipation and early strategic preparation, in particular with a view to the national calls and European matchmaking linked to the IPCEIs currently being structured.

Were you unable to meet us in Paris and would like to discuss public funding opportunities for strategic technologies, energy or industrial innovation?