To mark its tenth birthday, Europe’s biggest tech show has stepped out of the exhibition halls to take over “the world’s most beautiful avenue.” This Sunday, June 14, from noon to 6 p.m., the pedestrianized Champs-Élysées turned into a free, open-air innovation trail — three days before the show officially opens at Porte de Versailles.
It’s a first in the event’s history. On Sunday, June 14, 2026, VivaTech rolled out a monumental takeover by pedestrianizing the Champs-Élysées, ahead of the official opening of its tenth edition, scheduled for June 17–20 at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. Along the car-free avenue, VivaTech and the Comité Champs-Élysées transformed the thoroughfare into a vast showcase of the innovations set to shape our future: robots, vehicles of tomorrow, artificial intelligence, drones, immersive experiences and space technologies.
The trail is built around eight themed zones whose initials spell out, letter by letter, the name of the show: tomorrow’s cities, environmental impact, wellbeing, robotics and space, AI training, jobs and education, a tech agora, and entertainment. In all, more than 35 demonstrations are billed, including humanoid robots and a virtual-reality experience created with PSG, with entirely free access. The humanoids, in particular, stole the spotlight on the main stage — a vivid illustration of how central robotics has become to the technological imagination of the moment.
The bet is also one of sheer crowds: organizers are counting on more than 150,000 visitors for this single day. A family-friendly, mixed audience, in keeping with the philosophy long championed by the show’s co-founder, Maurice Lévy, who has consistently argued for innovation open to everyone rather than reserved for an elite. For the Comité Champs-Élysées, Marc-Antoine Jamet summed up the ambition bluntly: the avenue is hosting “the world’s largest open-air tech demonstration” — far more than a technological feat, it plays fully on the symbolism of the setting.
This move beyond the walls is no accident. Facing audience growth of 300% over a decade — more than 180,000 visitors in 2025 — the organization is radically rescaling its format, seeking to hybridize the professional event and establish itself as a genuine cultural landmark.
The party on the Champs is only a taste of what’s to come. From June 17 to 20, VivaTech will gather around 15,000 startups and 4,200 exhibitors at Porte de Versailles, with artificial intelligence and digital sovereignty as the running theme, and Germany named guest country of honor. A diplomatic highlight is also on the cards: Narendra Modi and Emmanuel Macron are expected on stage on June 18, with India serving as the edition’s official AI partner.
Ten years after its launch in 2016, VivaTech is giving itself a showcase worthy of its ambitions: no longer a show you visit, but a laboratory-city you walk through, for the space of a Sunday, in the heart of Paris.