Humanoid robots loaded with AI were shaking hands with passersby, and flying cars were preparing for lift-off on perhaps the most famous avenue in the world, which unbelievably was closed to traffic on a Sunday afternoon. It was a huge PR coup on the Champs Elysées in Paris to launch the 10th edition of France and Europe’s largest and most important high-tech event, Vivatech, which begins and lasts until June 20, when it will be open to the general public.

Vivatech is the brainchild of co-founder Maurice Levy, the honorary CEO of the Publicis Groupe (one of the top three advertising groups in the world). In 2016, the show drew some 45,000 visitors, not quite a forum to make France and Europe real challengers to high tech domination by the United States and China. In 2025, some 180,000 people came to the four-day show. In a French press article, Levy was quick to note that "only" 141,000 people attended the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the major American competitor for Vivatech.

And now for the 2026 edition, the space in the Porte de Versailles Convention center has jumped from 50,000 to 70,000 square meters. In what has been called a major "shmoozefest" by a New York Times journalist, some 15,000 start-up representatives are present from 170 countries, with 60 country pavilions, seeking to make contact with some 4,000 high tech investors.

The country of honor this year is Germany, with a delegation of some 200 start-ups from AI to green-tech, a strong part of this European challenge to tech domination by the US and China.

And as has been the case every year, a delegation of 15 start-ups from Israel is making the scene here in Paris. More on the delegation in a minute.

This year there is a new element at Vivatech, something dear to Maurice Levy’s heart. In an exclusive interview with Globes, he explained how a civil society group called El-Net came to him with an idea for something called "Abraham in Tech". Based on the Abraham Accords, it would bring together start-ups, innovators and investors from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco….to begin with. Was he interested?

"I said yes immediately and we organized a stand at Vivatech," he told this reporter, "but in fact it is a tent, like Abraham’s tent in the desert. And the symbolism is important."

This is not a political initiative, Levy explained, though especially in the Middle East, everything seems to be political. The tent features a plaque dedicated to Shimon Peres, Israeli prime minister in 1984-86, and 1995-96, president in 2007-14, and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1993 along with then prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chief Yasser Arafat.

"Striving for peace and bringing different peoples together is too serious a matter to be left exclusively in the hands of politicians, especially in the Middle East," Levy said, "and this is where innovation and technology can and must play an important role. Shimon Peres, with his Peres Center for Peace (and Innovation), was one of the first politicians to recognize this."

Peres passed away in 2016 at the age of 93. He brought large corporations to play active and sponsorship roles for initiatives at the center. And if it sounds difficult, Levy acknowledged, "You must be utopian to continue working for peace between Israelis and Palestinians and countries in the region."

A more private launching of Abraham in Tech is being held in Paris, organized by the Chambre de Commerce France Israel (CCFI), and its president Henri Cukierman.

Now... the show must go on. Following the G7 summit, French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be working the crowded aisles at Vivatech. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will also be there, perhaps on stage in discussion with Levy.

Asked whether US President Donald Trump would be making the scene, as he will be in Paris, Levy replied, "I tried to arrange for President Trump to make an appearance, but logistically it was impossible. Believe me, I tried."

Now back to the Israeli delegation, led by Franco-Israeli Yossi Dan, at ease in Hebrew, French and English, and a master of the 30-second tech pitch to corporate giants and investors, a must for "start-uppers". The delegation is focused on agritech, foodtech, biotech, medtech, water, and cleantech.

The companies are:

• AgriPass Robotics - producing AI robots that think and act like responsible farmers.
• Axiv Materials - turning low-value discarded keratin into high-value solutions for textile and beauty industries.
• BH Grid Solutions - turning global energy and carbon management into coordinated intelligence.
• Bio Armix - harnessing nature’s predatory bacteria to replace chemical bactericides and prevent crop diseases.
• Boson Energy - providing sovereign energy security for sustainable fuel supply.
• Crop X - cultivating smarter farms.
• Greeneum - creating a platform and marketplace for carbon and renewable energy management.
• LAVA Power - redefining energy conversion through isothermal technology.
• NAKI - converting industrial sludge into clean fuel feedstock.
• NanoTherma - converting low grade waste heat in data centers into usable electricity.
• Neologic - delivering power efficient AI server CPUs.
• Psistar - building physics-informed foundation models.
• Rewind Earth - bringing solutions for mine reclamation, wildfire prevention and carbon removal.
• Salion Energy - producing non-flammable, cost-effective and recyclable high-power batteries.
• Shopper AI - creating a revolutionary solution for retailers.

Media-savvy Maurice Levy has always been an avid proponent of "tech for good", as this Israeli delegation also appears to be. And once again, the main focus for all is on artificial intelligence. And with "Abraham in Tech" participants going beyond politics, and using innovation and technology to construct a new MENA region (Middle East-North Africa), bringing Israel closer to its Arab and Muslim neighbors, this edition of Vivatech promises to be one helluva show!

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 17, 2026.

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