La French Touch Conference

La French Touch Conference[1][2] is an itinerant business event for entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, and members of the creative industries. It aims to promote French entrepreneurship abroad,[3][4] and was founded in 2014 by French entrepreneurs Gaël Duval & Cédric Giorgi.[5][6] A total of seven editions were organized in Paris,[5] San Francisco,[7] and New York City.[8][9] Some of the past speakers hosted at the events include Yann LeCun,[10] Eric Hippeau,[10] Rachel Haot,[11] Alexandre Mars,[10] the writer Harlan Coben,[12][13] the French designer Ora-Ito[14][15] and the pastry chef Dominique Ansel.[16]

La French Touch Conference has been supported by the French government and the city of New York during its previous events, having hosted:

• Emmanuel Macron,[10] then Minister of the Economy, now President of France
• Axelle Lemaire,[10] then French Secretary of State for Digital Affairs
• Fleur Pellerin,[16] then French Secretary of State for Foreign Trade
• Mounir Mahjoubi,[17] French Secretary of State in Charge of Digital Affairs
• Alicia Glen,[18] Deputy Mayor of New York City
• Gale Brewer,[11] President of the Manhattan Borough

In June 2016, La French Touch Conference launched a start-up competition which took place aboard an airplane, called "Pitch in the Plane".[19][20] Two editions have been organized on Paris-New York commercial flights. The start-ups SkyLights and Mapwize won the competitions in 2016[21] and 2017[22] respectively. Among the jury members: VentureBeat European Correspondent Chris O’Brien,[19] Géraldine Le Meur,[23] Olivier Mathiot[24][25] and Paul-François Fournier[24]