“It can be like Aesop’s language, both the best and the worst things for Humanity.” It was in these terms that Prince Albert II addressed the UN forum on September 20 on the subject of artificial intelligence and digital technology in general.
The latter has also become a very recurring theme in recent years in Monaco, which has often demonstrated avant-garde, as evidenced by the launch of the Principality’s sovereign cloud in 2021.
For the eleventh vintage of Monaco Business at the Méridien hotel, a true ecosystem enabling connections between the economic players of the Rock, the show has decided to give pride of place to digital.
Several conferences following the introductory speech by the Minister of State, Pierre Dartout, addressed the subject. Like Business resilience thanks to digital technology or Artificial intelligence (AI) in the Principality: its applications and its future, to name but a few. Moments of exchange to which must be added the stands of exhibitors who set the tone, such as Monaco Digital, Monaco Cybersecurity and Monaco Cloud.
Take the digital train to exist
Enough to get a head start on the Cybersecurity Conference which will be held from October 11 to 14 at the Grimaldi Forum.
“It’s important for us to be present. Today, all digital transformation projects that are launched require the integration of a cybersecurity component, right from the design stage”underlines Sébastien Massé, general director of Monaco Cybersecurity, leader in its field in the Principality for six years and which supports businesses and governments in the protection of their systems.
“We are increasingly called upon to deploy these new uses. The Principality has realized that digital transformation requires the protection of infrastructure and its tools”he adds.
Alongside him, Nicolas Dervars, business engineer for Monaco Digital, is beginning to develop AI in its uses. “We’re doing data science for the moment. It’s not totally AI but it looks like it. We have a partnership with Thalès to present a product integrating AI and making it possible to detect breakdowns in infrastructures . This may interest certain clients in the world of yachting.”
Monaco Business understands this well: digital and all that it entails is no longer an asset but an obligation.
Maurice Cohen, president of Monaco Business.Photo Jean-François Ottonello.
Maurice Cohen, president of Monaco Business: “digital? It’s not a theme, it’s obvious”
Can you remind us of the principle of the Monaco Business show?
This is an event that only brings together companies from Monaco. We are a little closed, we apologize to our friends in the region. The idea is that people can meet, exchange, do “business to business”. It’s a place of meeting, of synergy, today everything goes digital, it’s good to have a physical touch. All this is accompanied by conferences on a number of areas of interest to the Principality’s societies.
Besides, digital is a bit of the informal central subject of this 2023 edition?
This is a fundamental digital question. It has taken over many things, cybersecurity too. This is an area that is of great interest to our companies. Besides, this is not a theme, it is obvious in the economy today.
What does Monaco Business look like in figures?
Around sixty exhibitors and 800 to 900 visitors come to attend the conferences. There is a real bond that is forged during this day and which continues throughout the year. Everyone is benefiting. As proof, 99% of exhibitors return every year.
Guillaume Rose, Director General of the Monaco Economic Board.Photo Jean-François Ottonello.
The Nice metropolis and Monaco are getting closer
Tuesday was also an opportunity for the Monaco Economic Board (MEB), represented by its president Michel Dotta and its general director Guillaume Rose, to sign an important agreement with the Nice Cote-d’Azur Metropolis.
“The partnership is a memorandum of understanding. It consists of affirming that the two entities want to work together. It is a contract of goodwill. We have unsealed on both sides the advantages of working together. We are only 20 km away from each other…working together was something obvious”introduces Guillaume Rose.
“We have a lot in common. Companies here are delighted to cooperate with Nice companies and institutions. We are very interested in the innovations brought together by the Metropolis. We must consider in the long term joint trips to open up abroad an impression of homogeneity. Although independent, the Principality has a synergy to highlight with the Metropolis and Sophia-Antipolis“, he explains.
Comparative advantages which will not only benefit Monaco but of course also the Metropolis, in a desire to pool forces, as was done during previous editions of Monaco Business where the MEB had signed partnerships with Italian Chambers of Commerce.
“Digital companies are very strong in Monaco. Particularly regarding technology applied to health,” assures Guillaume Rose, believing, once more to stick to the theme of Monaco Business, that digital is “the solution” pour “multiply the voice of the Rock in the world” and increase “the productivity” businesses through technology. He assures, this agreement will allow companies to have access to “maximum service”.
