Accor, partner of Viva Technology 2019

For the fourth consecutive year, Accor is a partner of the world’s rendezvous for startups & leaders to be held at Porte de Versailles, Paris from May 16 to 18, 2019.

Since its launch in 2015, the trade show has been a key event for the Group and the contacts made there have led to several joint projects as well as various partnerships.

The Accor Lab: Accor is reinventing loyalty building with ALL (Accor Live Limitless)

This year, the Accor booth or “Lab” covering almost 400m² will focus on the customer experience and loyalty building, echoing the recently announced new loyalty program, ALL: Accor Live Limitless. Launching in late 2019, the digital platform will bring together all the benefits, services and experiences offered by Accor. The aim is to enhance the daily lives of our customers, enabling them to Live, Work and Play. “Viva Technology is a powerful catalyst within our open innovation system and an unmissable event. Accor has tasked start-ups with challenges designed to enhance ALL and is mobilizing its teams around innovation and technology. It is also an opportunity to discover, make connections, learn and do business”, said Frédéric Fontaine, SVP Marketing Innovation Lab, Accor.

The Lab will offer an immersive experience covering three areas, representing the three core lifestyle elements of the new program:

- Live, the central hospitality area.
- Work, with the pitch area developed with “a different way of working” in mind, in the style of a co-working space specifically designed for start-up pitches.
- Play, with the bar area run by Potel & Chabot. It will feature breakfasts, VIP specials and snack breaks for start-ups, as well as pastry live animation featuring a professional pastry chef on Thursday and Friday: every hour (lasting 15 mins) between 12 and 6pm, where participants can enjoy their creations.

7 challenges, 500 applications, 36 start-ups selected in 2019

Accor believes that collaboration between start-ups and major groups is vital.

Through the Innovation Lab department, Accor helps brands and regions to innovate and create new marketing concepts, by managing relationships and events focused on start-ups, innovation and intrapreneurship.

In total, Accor received 500 applications – 230 more than in 2018 – for the seven challenges and selected 36 start-ups. In addition to having a dedicated space within the Accor Lab, start-ups will have the opportunity to pitch themselves in the specially designed area.

Four keynote speakers

This edition will feature speeches by four of the Group’s executives:

- Sébastien Bazin, Chairman and CEO, will speak about the start-up/major group relationship alongside the CEO of the start-up OnePark, David Vanden Born on Friday May 17 from 11.55am to 12.30pm on Stage One, the new stage unveiled this year.
- Maud Bailly, Chief Digital Officer and Gilles de Richemond, Chief Information Officer will take to the floor together to discuss the subject of Digital and IT, on the CEO Forum stage, on Friday May 17 between 3.45 and 4.05pm.
- Steven Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer will speak at a panel discussion on the subject “The Evolution of Brand?” on the CEO Forum stage on Friday May 17 from 3.40 to 4.20pm.
- Anne-Sophie Béraud, Vice President Diversity & Inclusion will feature at the CEO Forum on Saturday May 18 from 10.30 to 11.30am

In the Accor Lab, pitches by start-ups, conferences and panel discussions will follow each other, focusing on issues related to digital, technology and innovation. In total, 45 Group employees will take the floor throughout the event.

Tech for Good

Ahead of Viva Technology, the Group, represented by Sébastien Bazin, will be involved in all the initiatives run by Tech for Good, in partnership with BNPP, Google, Viva Technology and the Make.org Foundation.
Tech for Good launched this three-year program in 2018, in order to drastically improve the capacity of each young person to achieve their full potential.Four of the program’s initiatives are technology related and will be shared during the T4G Conference in Paris on May 15, 2019.

A. Flash mentoring platform for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds
B. Profiling and guidance solution for students who have dropped out of education
C. Video twinning of classrooms
D. Optimal educational guidance for all