French Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs Minister Emmanuel Macron has announced the creation of six new French tech hubs in Cape Town, San Francisco, London, Tokyo, New York and Hong Kong.
“I am delighted that Cape Town has been designated as a French tech hub. This success rewards all the efforts made by a dynamic community of French entrepreneurs, rooted in Cape Town, who take advantage of a leading innovation ecosystem in Africa,” said French Ambassador to South Africa Elisabeth Barbier.
The tech hub initiative was supported by a group of French companies, including international digital transformation technology firm Methys, Dassault Systèmes and Gemalto, which were working in close cooperation with the “Silicon Cape” community, and destination marketing, investment and trade promotion agency for the Western Cape (Wesgro).
The South African–French tech project aimed to rapidly scale up the capacity of
the French tech ecosystem to work with South Africa’s unique engineering talent
and innovation skills to incubate and accelerate innovative technology ventures.
Wesgro CEO Tim Harris also welcomed the news that Cape Town had been selected as a new French tech hub.