With the event now in its ninth year, VivaTech 2025 has cemented its reputation as Europe’s biggest and most energetic startup and tech event. Held annually in Paris, the show brings together global corporates, venture capitalists, public-sector leaders, and early-stage founders to explore the future of technology and innovation. Walking the halls, one of the […]
With the event now in its ninth year, VivaTech 2025 has cemented its reputation as Europe’s biggest and most energetic startup and tech event. Held annually in Paris, the show brings together global corporates, venture capitalists, public-sector leaders, and early-stage founders to explore the future of technology and innovation.
Walking the halls, one of the commendable aspects of the event is how the booths of startups and large enterprises are often intertwined or connected—smaller companies aren’t tucked away at the back, giving the event an egalitarian atmosphere that encourages discovery.
This year, TechInformed spotted everything from robotic baguette-holding hands to plug-and-play quantum modules, next-gen emergency response units, and GenAI-enhanced beauty innovations. Here are some of our highlights from the show floor.
Software République’s emergency response system
Software République is an open innovation ecosystem which launched in 2021 to co-create smart, secure, and sustainable mobility solutions, uniting major companies, startups, and researchers.
The initiative has a history of showcasing concepts at VivaTech that move into production. In 2022, it introduced the Mobilize Powerbox, now a commercial EV charging product. In 2023, it debuted the human-focused H1st vision concept car. Last year’s “U1st vision” became health platform Medigo’s mobile medical unit.
This year was no exception, with Renault’s Vision 4Rescue concept — a fully operational, tech-driven emergency response system and electric vehicle designed to revolutionise how first responders react to complex, high-stakes situations.
Created by a coalition of seven European firms — including Atos, Dassault Systèmes, JCDecaux, Orange, Renault Group, STMicroelectronics, and Thales — the ecosystem comprises 20 interconnected technologies.
It was unveiled on Wednesday in a session featuring key industry voices, including Orange Business CEO Aliette Mousnier-Lompré, Dassault Systèmes CEO Bernard Charlès, JCDecaux’s Jean-Charles Decaux, and General Arnaud de Cacqueray, head of the Paris Fire Brigade.
Renault 4 features a launch platform for a compact drone
In France alone, the frequency of natural disasters has quintupled over the past 15 years, delegates at the session learned. Rescue teams face rising challenges in terms of both scale and complexity — from wildfires and floods to industrial accidents and ageing population-related emergencies.
Developed in close collaboration with frontline partners — the Brigade des Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris, the Fédération Nationale des Sapeurs-Pompiers, and SDIS 78 — and technology partners including Parrot, HawAI.tech, Peripheral, and Green Communications, vision 4rescue addresses a growing need.
Each partner spoke about the technologies that their companies brought to the concept. Orange and Green Communications, for instance, have integrated hybrid networks, 5G nodes, and lightweight Wi-Fi mesh to guarantee field teams stay connected even when local infrastructure is down.
“In crisis situations, speed is nothing without coordination,” noted Orange’s Mousnier-Lompré. “We’ve designed communication networks that continue to function even when infrastructure fails — because failure is not an option when lives are at stake.”
Charlès meanwhile, highlighted how Dassault’s virtual twins are used to model real-world disaster scenarios, allowing emergency services to simulate responses and optimise deployment plans. “This isn’t about a theoretical future,” he said. “It’s about improving decisions in real-time, today,” he said.
The suite also included Thales’ long-range drones – which, Thales’ Philippe Vallée added, can geolocate phones in risk zones and send bidirectional alerts, allowing civilians to respond if in danger.
L’Oréal’s AI innovations
L’Oréal demonstrated how consumer-facing AI is no longer just about automation but delivering personalisation at scale. The beauty leader showcased its latest wave of AI-powered solutions, from generative AI to agentic systems, aimed at redefining customer experiences and operational efficiency.
In partnership with Meta, L’Oréal Paris unveiled Beauty Genius, a 24/7 AI-driven beauty assistant set to launch on WhatsApp. This agentic AI interface provides personalised guidance directly to consumers, using Meta’s messaging infrastructure to deliver conversational support at scale.
Noli’s AI-powered face scan
Elsewhere, Agentic Consumer Care, developed with Salesforce, highlighted how AI can augment — not replace — human support teams. By automating repetitive workflows, L’Oréal is freeing up agents to focus on empathetic, high-value interactions and build more meaningful relationships with consumers.
Meanwhile, Noli, a L’Oréal-backed AI-native marketplace startup, uses over a million facial scans and advanced product-matching algorithms to deliver hyper-personalised recommendations across multiple brands.
Mand.ro’s robotic hands for all
“There shouldn’t be anyone who cannot afford a prosthetic limb because of money,” says Sangho Yi, CEO and founder of South Korean company Mand.ro.
The startup has been quietly revolutionising the world of prosthetics by focusing on affordability, innovation, and accessibility. At VivaTech, TechInformed saw this in action — one of Mand.ro’s robotic hands held out a French baguette at the stand, a tactile demonstration of its dexterity and strength.
Mand.ro’s baguette wielding robotic hand
Originally born out of a hackathon project, the company has spent nearly a decade refining its technology to produce lightweight, functional prosthetic and robotic hands that cost a fraction of traditional models.
The entry-level Mark 5 series starts at around US $1,500, while the advanced Mark 7 series is priced under US $4,500. The modular robotic finger, the Mark 7D, sells for approximately US $380.
The Mark 7D features up to 16 articulating joints, wireless control, and the strength to lift up to two kilograms per finger. It recently won the CES Best Innovation in Accessibility Award.
One striking example of the impact these innovations have had on users is the case of Raphael, a Kenyan police officer who lost his hand in a machete attack. With the help of a Mand.ro myoelectric prosthetic, he was able to return to active duty.
Mark 7 promises a versatile grip for diverse shapes & sizes
From 3D-printed prototypes to polished, commercial-ready products, Mand.ro now operates from Seoul and Jordan, supplying both underserved communities and tech-forward users.
Yi expressed hope that VivaTech would help attract more European partners.
Orange’s Quantum Defender
At VivaTech 2025, Orange Business spotlighted its quantum-safe security solutions — a response to the growing risk of “store now, decrypt later” cyberattacks, where encrypted data is harvested today and cracked in a post-quantum future.
Orange is offering a three-pronged approach. First is a consultancy service, offered with Orange Cyberdefence, to help assess enterprise encryption needs and prioritise data protection.
Second, a Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) software solution uses NIST-approved algorithms for stronger, mathematically modelled encryption that can be deployed without replacing infrastructure.
“This is easier to do because it’s a software-based solution but it’s not as secure as quantum key distribution because it’s still using the mathematical modelling of encryption but much stronger, and NIST approved,” explains Usman Javaid, chief products and marketing officer at Orange Business.
The main attraction, however, was the Orange Quantum Defender — a fibre-based solution developed with Toshiba Europe. The system uses quantum key distribution (QKD), transmitting encryption keys one qubit at a time over fibre. At the telco’s stand, Orange tech evangelist Frank De Jong explained that, if intercepted, the qubit changes state and is discarded — providing encryption secured by the laws of physics.
Officially launched at VivaTech, Defender was hailed as “France’s first commercial quantum-safe network”. It currently spans 150km in Greater Paris, with plans to double this radius in the near future.
De Jong noted that QKD will not be available to everyone, at least not initially because of the cost and the main industries where QKD may be of interest include banking, healthcare and critical energy infrastructure, “Let’s call it the Rolls-Royce. Everybody wants to have a Rolls-Royce, but not everybody has the budget,” he said, adding it will drop to the level of a Volkswagen overtime.
“Many of our customers do not know why this is important,” he added. “Some of them do – defence, government, finance – for others, it might not be relevant today. But for us, it’s important to start having these conversations.”
With one financial services customer already signed on, Javaid says that Orange is confident in scaling the Defender platform.
While expanding the network across Europe might sound challenging – given that the service is only currently available in France, the telco is part of the EuroQCI – an initiative to build a secure quantum communication network across the EU.
“This will allow us to add satellite connectivity for quantum key distribution projects in France and Europe,” Javaid asserts.
The target for the European integration into the required satellite constellation, IRIS², is currently around 2027 or 2028.
