Tech Events in France (outside Paris) 2026-2027: the regional calendar

Introduction

Paris captures most of the media attention around French tech events, but a decisive part of the ecosystem plays out elsewhere. Lyon for industry and IoT, Rennes for cybersecurity and cyberdefense, Lille for digital trust at a European scale, Toulouse for space, Bordeaux and Nantes for their regional tech scenes: each territory has built its own flagship event, often more accessible and more focused than a major Paris trade show.

For a mid-sized company based in a region, or one looking to strengthen its local presence, these events are often more relevant than a trip to Paris: a more qualified audience, more direct networking, and lower cost and logistics. Here is the calendar of regional tech events between September 2026 and August 2027.

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September 2026: Lyon, the capital of IoT/AI/Robotics convergence

SIDO Lyon — September 16-17, 2026, Cité Internationale, Lyon. Europe's largest B2B event dedicated to the convergence of IoT, artificial intelligence, extended reality (XR), and robotics celebrates its 12th edition. More than 300 exhibitors and 8,000 professionals are expected, around two new features: a zone dedicated to responsible technologies and collaborative robotics demonstrations. The event runs alongside Lyon Cyber Expo, making it a particularly packed event for industrial and digital decision-makers in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

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November 2026: Rennes, the capital of European cyberdefense

European Cyber Week — November 16-19, 2026, Couvent des Jacobins, Rennes. Organized for ten years by the Cyber Excellence Cluster, this 11th edition brings together civilian and military players, startups, industrial companies, researchers, and institutions around cybersecurity and European cyberdefense. The 2025 edition drew 8,500 visitors and more than 130 partners; the 2026 edition builds on that momentum with a strong focus on digital sovereignty, defense AI, and regulatory compliance (NIS2, DORA, the AI Act). A strategic event for any company in the public/state sector, industry, or defense based in western France.

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January 2027: Toulouse and the space ecosystem

Toulouse Space Festival — January 22-24, 2027, MEETT, Toulouse. The third edition of this public and professional event centered on the space sector, featuring major players from the Toulouse space industry (CNES, Airbus, Thales Alenia Space). While its angle is more public-facing than the other events in this calendar, it remains an excellent vantage point on space technologies and their concrete applications for industry, logistics, and telecommunications.

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March 2027: Lille, Europe's meeting point for digital trust

Forum InCyber Europe (formerly FIC) — March 9-11, 2027, Lille Grand Palais. Born in 2007 as the International Cybersecurity Forum, this event, held under the high patronage of the President of the Republic, has become Europe's leading gathering for cybersecurity and digital trust, with more than 20,000 attendees, 700 exhibitors, and 200 talks expected for its 19th edition. The 2027 theme, centered on securing autonomous systems and agentic AI, makes it particularly relevant for any company deploying AI agents connected to its information system. Alongside VivaTech in Paris, it's one of only two French tech events with genuine international reach.

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June 2027: Bordeaux and Nantes, the regional tech scenes

Bordeaux Tech'Day, Bordeaux. Organized every year by Bordeaux Technowest, this event brings together startups, industrial companies, investors, researchers, and institutions around technological and industrial sovereignty, with more than 600 attendees and 80 exhibiting startups in recent editions. The event traditionally takes place in early summer; the exact date of the 2027 edition is still to be confirmed on the Bordeaux Technowest website.

Web2Day, Nantes. The flagship event of the Nantes digital ecosystem, Web2Day usually draws several thousand attendees around talks and professional networking, generally in early summer. The date of the 2027 edition had not yet been officially announced at the time of writing — worth watching on the organizer's website, La Cantine Numérique.

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Why follow regional tech events instead of (or alongside) Paris

Three concrete reasons justify adding these regional events to your watch list, beyond the Paris calendar alone:

• A more qualified, more local audience. The decision-makers attending these events are often directly embedded in the regional economic ecosystem, making it easier to connect with partners, vendors, or potential clients nearby.
• Strong thematic specialization. Each regional event has built a clear identity (cyberdefense in Rennes, industrial convergence in Lyon, digital trust in Lille, space in Toulouse), allowing you to get straight to the point without the sprawl of a large generalist trade show.
• Significantly lower cost and logistics compared to a multi-day trip to a Paris trade show, for a level of information that's often just as relevant on focused topics.

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What these events reveal about the French AI ecosystem

Beyond their individual value, these events map out a useful picture of the French tech ecosystem: AI and cybersecurity now run through every region, not just Paris. For a company deploying AI agents, this has a direct consequence: the governance, security, and compliance issues discussed at Forum InCyber in Lille or European Cyber Week in Rennes are exactly what needs to be anticipated from the scoping stage of an AI automation project, regardless of the company's sector or region.

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Take action

Whether your company is based in Lyon, Toulouse, Lille, or elsewhere in the regions, the scoping logic for an AI agent project stays the same: identify the right first use case before investing. At Qolaig, we support mid-sized companies across all of France with the same Workshop → Build → Run methodology, wherever your headquarters are. Let's talk about your project.