Summit 2024 · Towards European Digital Sovereignty? · 28 May 2024 · Flagey, Brussels
Two juries judged twenty start-ups at Flagey in May 2024, during the competition held at the French Tech Sovereignty Summit Brussels. Winner of the first session, Cryptr received the Prix French Tech Brussels, special digital sovereignty edition.
Key takeaways
- Each candidate had three minutes, followed by two minutes of questions from the jury
- Sharekey, whose app is based in Switzerland, won the second session
- The prize came with mentoring hours from its sponsors
“They will have 3 minutes to convince.” Michel Duchateau, founder of Convidencia, who hosted the first session, set out the rule of the competition this way. The jury had two more minutes for its questions.
Twenty start-ups took up the challenge, in two sessions of ten. Each session had its own jury of five members. The first, chaired by Claire Munck, CEO of BeAngels, sat behind the audience.
From cloud to health
The candidates came from cloud, cybersecurity or compliance. Others worked on collaboration, skills or health.
The descriptions below follow what each start-up said in its presentation.
Session one:
- Ellipsys Lab builds tools that map companies’ data systems to help them understand, simplify and migrate them
- Cybershen has built an automated solution that protects the whole work environment of small and medium-sized organisations
- Kylii Kids designs interactive and immersive games to turn shops, restaurants and leisure venues into experiences for families
- Jamespot offers a European digital workplace that organisations can tailor without development
- Green4Cloud deploys a network of micro data centres close to businesses, with refurbished hardware, favouring renewable energy
- Edflex brings open content and courses from publishers and training providers together in one subscription learning app for companies
- Cryptr provides authentication as a service. A software-as-a-service (SaaS) publisher can thus deploy passwordless login, multi-factor authentication and single sign-on
- OCamlPro develops tools for COBOL systems, to help migrate them towards sovereign solutions
- NanoCorp, a Paris-based cybersecurity start-up, has developed a software network probe that runs on physical or virtual equipment
- Dixit Platform helps public affairs professionals in Paris and Brussels automate institutional monitoring
Session two:
- Examin offers a compliance platform with support services for small and mid-sized companies
- Le Hibou is a platform for IT freelancers in Belgium and France that combines matching by artificial intelligence (AI) with human screening
- Cloud Data Engine automates compliance monitoring in real time, for example to check suppliers under the NIS2 directive
- ZappTax is a mobile app that simplifies tax-free shopping for international travellers
- Rubycat provides a privileged access management solution that controls, protects and traces access by external providers and administrators
- TalentGuide offers an AI-based skills intelligence platform that maps employees’ skills and forecasts how they will need to evolve
- Sharekey is a collaborative suite based in Switzerland that encrypts all data, so that the customer, not the cloud provider, keeps the key
- Talkspirit presented two French tools: a digital workplace for sharing information, and a tool that maps an organisation to support self-management
- ALXDR is a service company that places experienced software engineers on client assignments
- Luna for Health works on women’s health, with a mobile app that offers a diagnostic pathway for endometriosis
A win in two stages
At the end of the day, after the juries had deliberated, La French Tech Brussels announced the results on stage. Cryptr had won the first session, and Sharekey the second. Cryptr then received the Prix French Tech Brussels.
The Conseillers du commerce extérieur de la France sponsored the prize. It included mentoring hours from them. Alexis D’Elia, General Manager of Expleo in Belgium, handed it to Cryptr.
A name to explain
That leaves the winner’s name. Its co-founder, Hamid Echarkaoui, had explained it in his presentation: “As our name does not suggest, we do not work on blockchain or on cryptocurrency. […] We work on authentication.”
The third French Tech Sovereignty Summit Brussels takes place on 28 January 2027 at BNP Paribas Fortis, Brussels.