France’s biggest digital festival, Futur en Seine, kicks off today and runs through the 23rd. Launched by Cap Digital in 2009 and financed largely by the Ile-de-France region, the 10-day event seeks to both bring together major actors in the digital technology space and increase public awareness about digital innovation emerging in France and elsewhere. Last year’s edition saw 10K visitors pass through CENTQUATRE, the innovation exposition center which serves as the festival’s focal point, and 90K overall participating in Futur en Seine events over the 10 days.
This year’s event will again kick off at CENTQUATRE which will house the Innovation Village. Incorporating some of the hottest tech innovation areas of the moment including 3D printing, connected objects, ”serious games’, etc, The Village will shine the spotlight on 120 innovative prototypes and projects and offer numerous workshops, training sessions and conferences highlighting the latest trends in digital technology. Startups, both local and international, as well as large French companies will present projects or prototypes at the Village. Interestingly, the big US tech giants (eg Facebook, Google, Microsoft, etc) are notably absent from the Village participant list this year, so looks like no obligatory Google Glass demos.
Outside of the CENTQUATRE venue, there are a swath of other events across Paris and throughout Ile-de-France. This year’s edition will include everything from in-depth workshops on topics such as the digital economy’s role in beating the crisis or open data and feminism or mobile shopping to great music events such the big Roots Block-party. There’s also several big conferences on the program including Droidcon, the Webgame Conference, iX Bootcamp Ventures, and Games for Change.
You can check out the full program here.