Google announced that it would be building upon its partnership with NUMA (formerly named Silicon Sentier), an incubator, accelerator & overall community space based in the heart of Paris’s startup district, by going beyond financial contributions to include office hours with Googlers at NUMA, as well as creating the first Android Test Lab.
The Android Test Lab, located inside of NUMA, will allow Android developers to test compatibility across a wide array of screen sizes and Android builds for free. This is the first time that Google has opened such a space, and will bring a much more physical presence from Google in the Paris Startup Scene. Google has also expanded its 2012 Startup Café project to include punctual events explaining how startups can make use of Google, as well as sharing Google’s lessons learned around subjects like international business development, software development methodology and more.
The first edition kicks off this afternoon at NUMA, and is being livestreamed via YouTube.
The partnership announcement represents a big step for Google & the Paris startup ecosystem. Google’s commitment to prominent startup hubs has always been visualized by unique investment, such as the Google Campus in London, and their support for Factory Berlin. While Google has always supported Silicon Sentier, the Android Test Lab gives Paris something tangible to show what Google sees in Paris (i.e: great engineers), and their commitment to make Google resources and personnel available to the ecosystem will benefit many first-time and serial entrepreneurs in Paris.