The French Pavilion at the Seamless Middle East 2017, opening in Dubai tomorrow (May 1),  will host 10 French exhibitors specialising in financial technology (fintech) sector, smartcards and retail.

Business France, the national agency supporting the international development of the French economy, is organising the French Pavilion at the event, in partnership with French Tech Dubai UAE.

The event dedicated to payment methods, retail and e-commerce in the Middle East will take place in Dubai on May 1 and 2 at the Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Centre.

More than 10,000 visitors are expected from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia and 300 exhibitors will be present at the show.

Several French start-ups will be part of the tradeshow to present their innovations. The sectors covered by these companies relate to innovative payment methods, identification/authentication solutions, data management, CRM and e-commerce platform.

The FinTech phenomenon gained pace in France at the start of 2010 with the distribution of new technologies, the rapid growth in e-commerce, the boom in collaborative consumption, etc. The real boost was provided by French legislature, which encouraged competition via the creation of “streamlined” statutes.

With almost €80 million in investments in FinTechs in 2015, France is one of the most investor-friendly countries in Europe, Business France said.

“We were keen to offer French exhibitors a made-to-measure programme to support them throughout their development in the Gulf,” said Marc Cagnard, Middle East director at Business France. “Our know-how will help them meet new clients and thus develop close ties with local decision-makers.”

France has the benefit of a dynamic ecosystem marked by several public and private initiatives to encourage the rapid development of FinTechs. Incubators launched by major banks and insurance companies, not to mention the creation of a one-stop shop dedicated to FinTechs professionals, in a regulatory framework that is particularly favorable to start-ups in banking and finance”, Cagnard added.
 
In addition, in 2015, FinTechs rose to be one of the five leading sectors that are the most attractive for venture capital investments in France (after Internet services, software, technologies, and biotechnology and life sciences).

French pavilion will be located at Stand D60 - Hall D4.  – TradeArabia News Service