LVMH marks VivaTech’s 10th Anniversary 

Co-founded in 2016 by Les Échos–Le Parisien Group and Publicis Group, VivaTech has established itself over the years as one of the most influential technology events in Europe, bringing together startups, major corporations, investors, and thought leaders. As a founding partner of the event and a shareholder of Les Échos–Le Parisien Group, LVMH shares a unique and longstanding connection with what has become an unmissable gathering.

As VivaTech celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, LVMH is reaffirming its vision with a completely redesigned booth: the DreamGallery. Designed to embody its mission, The Art of Crafting Dreams, this immersive and curated experience showcases how innovation enhances every stage of the value chain.

The DreamGallery, an immersive showcase

From the outside, it is impossible to guess what this unique booth contains. In small groups, visitors are invited into a circular room with dimmed lighting. At the entrance, they are welcomed by a quote from Bernard Arnault: “Technology only has meaning when it serves what matters most: desirability and excellence.”

Soon, a visual and sound show begins, spotlighting the ten innovations presented across four key stages of the value chain. The first step is the quest for exceptional materials — preserving, responsibly sourcing and enhancing rare materials, the cornerstone of every creation. Parfums Christian Dior notably showcases its precision agronomic technology designed to optimize water management in rose cultivation.

The focus then shifts to the gesture of creation, enhanced by technology. One example is the machine designed by Comelz for Louis Vuitton, which creates a digital twin of leather hides and uses AI to precisely identify their unique characteristics and more complex areas in preparation for cutting.

The journey then moves on to product traceability, notably with the TRACE program implemented by Christian Dior Couture to ensure end-to-end product traceability and authentication.

Finally, LVMH demonstrates how technology enhances the client experience, for example through CelIA, the bespoke AI agent developed by Celine for internal teams to answer all their questions, streamline processes and elevate the client relationship.

A reimagined LVMH Innovation Award

An iconic event of previous VivaTech editions, the LVMH Innovation Award has evolved this year into three awards presented daily at the LVMH booth, in three different categories :

• Best Impact: Fairly Made (Day 1)
• Best Business: Synthesia (Day 2)
• Most Promising: Bluefish (Day 3)

Day 1: innovation dedicated to excellence

Large crowds gathered for the opening conference featuring the two men who have championed VivaTech since its inception: Maurice Lévy, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Publicis Group, and Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH and founding partner of VivaTech.

Although VivaTech has become Europe’s leading event dedicated to startups and technology, it began as an ambitious vision that many doubted: bringing together “the crème de la crème” in global tech in Paris to help shape the future. “I had the idea for VivaTech, but the person who made it possible was Bernard Arnault,” Maurice Lévy recalled. “I agreed to support this idea because it was dedicated to startups,” Bernard Arnault explained. “I have always considered my Group to be a conglomerate of startups—companies that have grown while retaining their entrepreneurial spirit.”

Over the years, VivaTech has enabled LVMH to identify numerous innovative startups and accelerate the development of more than 200 of them. “Having a good idea is not enough,” Bernard Arnault stressed. “It is not uncommon for several entrepreneurs to have the same idea at the same time. What makes the difference is execution. We must preserve that focus on execution as startups grow.”

Innovation Award: Best Impact

Bernard Arnault personally presented the Best Impact Award to French startup Fairly Made, which works with all of the Group’s Fashion Maisons. Fairly Made offers a platform dedicated to product traceability and environmental impact measurement. Hélène Valade, LVMH’s Environmental Development Director, described Fairly Made as “an important partner of LIFE 360,” the Group’s environmental roadmap.

Excellence through the eyes of Léon Marchand and Antoine Arnault

A few minutes after Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and co-founder of Blue Origin, had taken the stage to share his dream of “moving all polluting industries into space,” Léon Marchand, the most decorated athlete of the Paris Olympic Games, and Antoine Arnault, in charge of Image and Environment at LVMH, stepped onto VivaTech’s main stage for a conversation on excellence.

“I may be the one who wins the medal, but excellence cannot be achieved alone — it is a collective adventure,” said Léon Marchand. Antoine Arnault echoed the point, explaining that “every business is a team sport. In fashion, for example, turning a designer’s idea into a desirable product requires the work of hundreds, even thousands of people, mobilizing an entire ecosystem around a shared goal.” 

“Beyond natural predispositions and hard work, what makes a champion? Mindset? Discipline?” Antoine Arnault asked the Olympic swimmer. “Structured discipline. Eighty percent of the time, I don’t want to get up at 5 a.m. and get into the water. But I do it, every day, and it becomes a routine, an automatism, and that helps you stay focused on the goal. You have to learn to enjoy the process. It is those long-term projects — not the ones that offer immediate gratification — that change our lives,” Léon Marchand replied.

In short, “excellence is not a goal to be reached, it is a perpetual quest,” concluded moderator Sandy Heribert.

Inspiring talks at the LVMH stand and beyond

More than 50 talks featuring 80 LVMH speakers will take place throughout VivaTech.

Eduardo Barbaro, Chief Digital & Omnichannel Officer at Tiffany & Co., took part in a panel entitled “Brands in the Age of Algorithms: How to Build Affinity in an Artificial Space?” In his view, while luxury and AI may at first seem antithetical — “one is based on mystery, the other tries to solve it” — the emergence of AI is a fascinating evolution. “The most important question for me today is this: can AI see beyond our products and truly grasp the essence of Tiffany?”

Day 2: innovation in action

As soon as the second day of VivaTech began, attention turned to the DreamGallery, where Gonzague de Pirey, the Group’s Chief Omnichannel & Data Officer, presented the Best Business Award to British startup Synthesia.

Gonzague de Pirey praised Synthesia’s outstanding return on investment and measurable impact. Its solution transforms text or PowerPoint presentations into AI-generated videos, presented by avatars and available in more than 140 languages.

Following a successful pilot at Tiffany & Co., Synthesia has been adopted by several other Maisons, including Loewe, Moët Hennessy, Fendi, and Guerlain, all of which use the platform as a retail training tool. “Our Group has more than 90,000 client advisors worldwide. Training them to the highest standards is essential,” Gonzague de Pirey emphasized.

“We are very proud to receive this award,” said Bernd Hacker, Vice President EMEA at Synthesia. “We are convinced we can continue to bring significant value to the Group’s Maisons.”

Innovating to shape the future of luxury

Throughout VivaTech, LVMH Maisons are presenting innovations across the entire value chain.

As climate change increasingly affects grape cultivation and France experiences another heatwave, Moët & Chandon explained how it uses AI to predict the optimal harvest date with greater precision. Harvest timing is one of the most critical decisions of the year for winemakers, directly impacting wine quality. This year, Moët & Chandon anticipates the earliest harvest in its history, potentially beginning as early as mid-August. For the House, harvest prediction has become “an absolute necessity.”

Christian Dior Couture also shared the philosophy behind DIVA, its virtual assistant that will soon be integrated into the Dior clienteling application. Designed for client advisors, this AI agent can answer questions across all geographies and product categories. Its objective is simple: support sales advisors so they can focus on what matters most—the customer relationship.

On its booth, Les Échos–Le Parisien Group is hosting a programme of 32 conferences featuring 70 speakers. On this occasion, Le Parisien showcases its latest editorial innovations, including new video formats and the use of artificial intelligence in journalism. Les Échos is also presenting its new AI-powered tool for subscribers and offering insights into the major geopolitical challenges shaping the tech industry.

As a global group, LVMH benefits from deep expertise in the markets where it operates. A panel of Group experts discussed the unique characteristics of AI in China and how LVMH and its Maisons are leveraging these developments to enhance performance and customer engagement. Among the defining features of China’s AI ecosystem are its immense scale, extraordinary pace of innovation, powerful yet accessible technologies, rapid customer adoption, and the prevalence of super-apps such as WeChat and Alipay, which are either connected to or directly integrate AI capabilities.

Day 3: future perspectives

The third and final segment of the Innovation Award 2026: the Most Promising Award. Presented this morning at the DreamGallery by Franck Le Moal, Chief Information Officer of LVMH, the prize recognizes the emerging startup Bluefish, whose strong potential for the Group’s Maisons has been acknowledged.

Bluefish measures and monitors brand visibility on AI platforms and suggests optimization strategies. In less than a year, this startup, accelerated through the Maison des Startups LVMH, is already working with four Maisons of the Group. A promising partnership, praised by Franck Le Moal: “Bluefish is defining the future of GEO. In a world that isevolving at lightning speed, as our customers increasingly interact with LLMs, our Maisons need to master this new agentic web and ensure absolute precision in their online visibility.”

Benjamin Pauker, Director of Business Development and Strategy at Bluefish, expressed his satisfaction with the journey so far and the future prospects. “LVMH has positioned itself as a pioneer in agentic marketing. Alongside it, Bluefish has experienced very strong acceleration, analyzing more than 60 million AI prompts per month across four Maisons of the Group. With a clear goal: large-scale impact.”

AI, a key driver of innovation

The LVMH DreamGallery continues to host inspiring talks, with a strong focus on AI, a key theme of VivaTech this year. TAG Heuer, for instance, shared how it uses AI to betteranticipate sales and optimize inventory management. This predictive capability, which is more accurate at each stage of the product lifecycle, offers significant tangible benefitsfor the Maison: inventory management and a more refined ability to support product launches.

Just across from the DreamGallery, talks continue at Les Échos-Le Parisien booth. The media group’s advertising arm presented its proprietary solution, Sonar.AI, whichleverages generative AI to optimize advertising targeting. A developing feature of Sonar.AI is the “emotional mid-roll,” enabling hyper-contextual and emotional targeting within videos.

Day 4, the public invited into the heart of the dream 

After three days dedicated to tech professionals, VivaTech opens its doors to the general public, who come in large numbers to attend this unmissable innovation event. 

Inside the DreamGallery, beyond the privileged visit to the Group’s innovations, visitors explored the wide range of career paths offered by LVMH and its 75 Maisons. 

As a leader in luxury, LVMH employs many tech professionals. The Group offers a wealth of opportunities in these fields, both for senior profiles and young talents, and is actively working to increase the share of women in tech through its Women in Tech program. 

Finally, the day was punctuated in the DreamGallery by several gourmet animations: a tasting by La Grande Épicerie and two convivial moments hosted by Cova, featuring ice cream and tiramisu decoration. 

Innovation at LVMH is a galaxy of professions that spans the entire value chain. It is a lever to support its pursuit of excellence.