La Poste launches the 2nd edition of its “French IoT” contest and reveals the identity of its 4 major partners

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As part of the 2nd edition of French IoT program, La Poste is launching a call for innovative Internet of Things projects and opens an online platform to apply.

This contest provides start-ups with an opportunity to join a community of IoT players led by La Poste group and endorsed by its partners:

• BNP Paribas Real Estate
• Boulanger
• Derichebourg Multiservices
• Malakoff Médéric

The French IoT contest platform is now open

The start-ups can apply online from  May 17th until June 17th midnight, on a dedicated platform: https://concours-french-iot.laposte.fr/

This contest¹ is open to French start-ups or foreign companies wishing to expand their business in France.

To apply, start-ups must :

• have an innovative concept in one of the following fields endorsed by the 4 major partners :
• Smart Home & Smart City with BNP Paribas Real Estate
• Connected Commerce & Distribution with Boulanger
• Health with Malakoff Médéric
• Smart Facilities Management with Derichebourg Multiservices
• provide a prototype of  a connected device or service,
• be compliant with the Hub Numérique

Boosting the 16 young talents of the IoT

As a result on July 15th, 16 finalists (4 per theme selected) will be qualified to join the “French IoT Academy” and will benefit from a business booster program.

The “French IoT Academy” program will start on August 22th 2016.

Four French industry leaders join the 2016 “French IoT” program as partners. They provide their business expertise during the selection process and actively participate to support the winning start-ups.

Moreover, the four partners will provide particular backing to the winners of the category they are supporting.

• BNP Paribas Real Estate is supporting the “smart home & smart city” category and will enable the winners to test out their objects or services in BNP Paribas Real Estate’s living labs.

“Property services are the DNA of BNP Paribas Real Estate. As the leading property services company, innovation is central to its concerns. The IoT will allow us, with our Innovation teams, to develop services that will change the daily lives of users (smart home and smart office). For instance, from June 2016 we are going to set up a “Living Lab” at our headquarters to test out innovative services ourselves before offering them to our customers. In this context, we wish to gather around us an ecosystem of start-ups and major groups to experiment and test out, with our customers, these solutions in our buildings. The choice of La Poste group will allow our customers to benefit from digital innovations for helping people that are reliable, robust and long-lasting. The success of connected real estate will necessarily include the excellence and relevance of the service provided and the transparency and securing of private data”.

Thierry LAROUE-PONT, Chairman of the Executive Board BNP Paribas Real Estate

• Boulanger supports the winners of the “connected commerce and distribution” category by providing them with testing grounds, allowing its customers to try out prototypes and promoting them both internally (Production, CRC, Training, After-sales service, etc.) and externally (events, in its publications, with its customers).

“For over 60 years, at BOULANGER, we have supported all our customers in making best use of technology in their daily lives. With our products and services, we are present at all times. Since BOULANGER is already a French Tech partner, the Internet of Objects is therefore already a reality in our 125 shops and on Boulanger.com.

Every major company was once a start-up. It is therefore quite naturally and with a great enthusiasm that we are pursuing this wonderful initiative alongside La Poste group. Supporting innovation is in our DNA. The 9,000 employees of our group are therefore delighted to be able to offer new entrepreneurs the opportunity to innovate in greater proximity with their future users.”

Etienne Hurez, BOULANGER CEO

• Malakoff Médéric, sponsor of the “health” category, will review the start-ups’ business plans and the financial and strategic elements, will provide to them an testing ground, will test their prototypes with volunteer employees and will promote, when it’s possible, their activities.

“Malakoff Médéric’s participation, for the second consecutive year, in the French IoT program led by La Poste, illustrates the Group desire to speed up the development of its preventive healthcare services by capitalising on new technologies. The collaborative work carried out with start-ups working in the health field will allow the Group to develop and test out new preventive and support mechanisms for companies and their employees."

Anne-Sophie Godon, Innovation Studies and Intelligence Watch Director of Malakoff Médéric

• Derichebourg Multiservices will offer the 4 start-ups of the “smart business facilities” category a testing ground in the Derichebourg Multiservices arena as well as Thinking Design training by Strate, one of Derichebourg Multiservices’ academic partners.

“Innovation is in our DNA. In a world that is constantly in perpetual motion, we are constantly redesigning our services and adapting them to meet the needs of our customers. As an expert of services for buildings and users, working on transforming offices into “smart offices”, alongside La Poste group, this is a great opportunity for dialogue and sharing to be able to create tomorrow’s services which will facilitate everyone’s work.”

Boris Derichebourg, Derichebourg Multiservices President

About La Poste group

A limited liability company, fully publicly-owned, The La Poste group is organised into five business units: Mail-Parcel-Services, Postal Bank, La Poste Network, GeoPost, Digital. The group is present in more than 40 countries on 4 continents. Every day, the 17,000 La Poste contact points, the leading local commercial network of France, receives 1.6 million customers. La Poste delivers 22.9 billion objects per year around the world (letters, printed advertising materials and packages), 6 days per week. In 2015, the group recorded a turnover of 23,045 billion euros, of which 20.8% internationally and has a workforce of nearly 260,000 employees. More local and more connected, La Poste is speeding up its digital transformation by offering a range of services around its role as a universal operator of interactions. The La Poste group, in its strategic plan, “La Poste 2020: Conquering the future” set itself the target of speeding up the development of its five business units and breaking new ground. Present for everyone, everywhere and every day, La Poste places the human element and trust at the centre of the relationship with its customers to become the leading company of local human services.

About BNP Paribas Real Estate

BNP Paribas Real Estate, one of the main providers of real estate services with an international dimension, offers a full range of services which cover the whole property life cycle: Promotion, Transactions, Advice, Expertise, Property Management and Investment Management. With 3,800 employees, BNP Paribas Real Estate provides to its customers its knowledge of local markets in 37 countries (16 direct establishments and 21 through its network of alliances that currently accounts for over 3,200 people) with more than 180 offices. BNP Paribas Real Estate is a company of the BNP Paribas group. As part of its Promotion business line, BNP Paribas Real Estate is developing new strategic solutions dedicated to connected services in the property sector and particularly in the field of the connected office and the connected home.

About Boulanger

With over 60 years of experience, Boulanger is now the household appliances and multimedia specialist in France. Its workforce of 8,000 people strives every day to offer customers the best of new technologies, offering 20,000 different products in its 125 stores, on its application and its website boulanger.com. For the retailer, its customers’ satisfaction is central to its concerns that it ensures by offering tailored services: advice, financing, warranty extensions, delivery, installation, training, after-sales service, telephone support, etc. Boulanger, is also a brand creation, Essentiel b, which offers the best technology at the best price.

About Derichebourg

Derichebourg Multiservices is a benchmark operator for outsourced services for businesses (industrial and tertiary) and for local authorities. A general local player, Derichebourg Multiservices provides 4 high value-added solutions:
- Industry Solutions: “tailored” general industrial subcontracting expertise for the customer's production (mainly in the aeronautics and nuclear sectors),
- Tertiary Solutions: a modular solution guaranteeing the proper operation of buildings and facilities, and the well-being of occupants,
- Urban Space Solutions: services dedicated to urban areas and infrastructure for a higher quality living environment,
- HR Sourcing and Temping Solutions: solutions aimed at offering resources to the customer, to strengthen its skills.
Derichebourg Multiservices currently has a presence in 9 countries and has 28,000 employees.


About Malakoff Médéric

Malakoff Médéric is a major player of complementary social protection, which has two specific branches (figures as at 31 December 2014):

• personal insurance (health, provident schemes, retirement savings), with €3.6 bn of recurring turnover, €3.9 bn of own funds and a solvency margin equal to 5.3 times the regulatory requirement. Malakoff Médéric operates the health and benefits schemes of 203,000 enterprises and 6.6 million people and their families
• Management of the supplementary pension with €10 bn of contributions received, a general interest mission on behalf of Agirc-Arrco for 198,000 enterprises, 3 million contributing employees and 2.9 million pensioners.

Since the group is representative, mutual and a not-for-profit structure, its governance ensures that the companies’ and employees’ interests are taken into account and defended.

www.malakoffmederic.com

¹ The full rules are available on the platform for applications