Matchmaking in the 21st century has gone digital, not just between boys and girls but also between start-ups, talent, and investors.

La French Tech is one of the hottest trends out of the Héxagone, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur is rapidly developing into the new Silicon Valley on this side of the Pond. To become and stay globally competitive, the Regional Agency for Business Innovation and Internationalization (ARII) and several of its partner organizations have just launched a digital platform to team up promising regional companies with those who seek to invest their talent, expertise, or money in qualified projects.

The goal of the Private/Public Partnership initiative “Attract Talent” – which functions essentially as a marketing agency for the region – is to unite over 150 companies under its label and to develop the largest national talent pool to meet French Tech’s ever-growing needs. It also aims to highlight PACA as a start-up hotbed with excellent work/life balance. Christian Estrosi, President of the PACA Region, strongly supports this program as part of his policy to strengthen the international appeal and significance of the six départements making up Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

The two fastest-growing key sectors, which can hope for multi billion euro investments, are “Smart Cities & IT” and “Health, Sport, and Wellbeing”, with approved projects in Nice, Marseille, and Aix, but also in rural areas around Provence as the region seeks to diversify and decentralize.

Among the 15 companies invited to represent the region at the kick-off meeting on the Google London Campus at the end of April: Aix-en-Provence-based Supersonic Imagine, a rising star in the field of medical imagery that has raised a whopping €70 million since its inception; Myxyty, the winner of the 2015/16 Innovation World Cup in the “Connected House” category; and cultural tourism/tech start-up Theatre in Paris, which caused a sensation at the 2015 Avignon Theater Festival, presenting their Augmented Reality glasses, co-developed with two other innovative French companies, Atos and Optinvent. This innovation makes it possible to display dialogues in real time and in the chosen languages.

With all the beauty and smarts that PACA has to offer, there will be no lack of ardent suitors…. pardon – talent and investors.

The one question though, how can you think of working with temptation luring in the shape of beaches, mountains and cultural diversions?

All images courtesy ARII website, except photo of Connected Glasses courtesy Theatre in Paris