Editor’s note: Alexandra Lederer is co-founder and community lead of La French Tech Research Triangle, which is currently in the application stages. During her 20-plus years working in travel tech, health teach and hospitality, she has  helped businesses scale up and sustain rapid growth through cultural transformations in France, Australia and the United States.

RALEIGH — I’m so thrilled to announce the creation of “La French Tech Raleigh-Research Triangle” this week.

The teams of La French Tech Raleigh-Research Triangle and The French American Chamber of Commerce of the Carolinas (FACCC) have been collaborating tightly since 2019 — with many supporters backstage – to make this happen.

La French Tech is a unique initiative bringing together startups, investors, policymakers and community builders in France and internationally. We are now part of a huge network of 13 French Tech capitals, 53 French Tech communities in France and 56 French Tech communities over the world that NC entrepreneurs can now access effortlessly.

This accreditation is an opportunity to showcase Raleigh and the Research Triangle, and help tech entrepreneurs in their decision to move to the Triangle.

“FACC and La French Tech are perfectly complementary in our goal to serve the French and local business communities,” said Marie-Claire Ribeill, FACCC’s executive director. “Having La French Tech label is a unique opportunity to attract more talent and support emerging tech entrepreneurship. We are very excited to share a common mission, and put our ideas, strengths and network together to support all things tech in the Triangle region and continue a very harmonious and fruitful collaboration.”

“Our role is not to replace or to add to the complexity of that ecosystem but to work in close collaboration with the existing French and American players of economic development to help entrepreneurs make faster decisions by sharing our experience and contacts,” added La French Tech Vice-President Guillaume Kozinski.

With a strong experience in the startup ecosystems and tech companies in France and the US, Stephanie Rousseau-Playe cannot wait to help entrepreneurs in their early stages on both sides of the Atlantic.

Our role is also to connect and federate all passionates about deep tech. “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know that matters. With a robust network within the Triangle, I look forward to leveraging my contacts and knowledge of the Raleigh market to create a first-class networking platform for French tech talents and companies” said David Lavielle, La French Tech Vice-President.

Jean-Georges Perrin (“JGP”) is our data geek and IBM Champion for more than ten years in a row – passionate about all things data, big data, data analysis: “I’m looking to nurture the local tech community and dreaming of a French-Triangle Startup Summit in 2021.”

“Helping our tech talents grow and shine” is a must for Claire-Juliette Beale, a former VP of a fast-growing global start-up company that was hit by – and survived – the 2001 recession. “We’ll design our activities around their most pressing needs.”

We are grateful to the large tech companies, startups, economic development players, accelerators, incubators, co-working spaces, tech education players and other French Tech communities for helping us become La French Tech Raleigh-Research Triangle.

Kozinski concluded: “What we love about the American culture is the concept of an open network and that is what we have decided to promote. ‘Our network is your network’ and we believe in creative collisions.”

Let’s shape the future of tech in the Triangle together!

Team La French Tech Raleigh – Research Triangle

David Lavielle, Guillaume Kozinski, Claire-Juliette Beale, Derek Chen, Frederic Bost, Jean-Georges Perrin, Jean-Marc Rollin, Stephanie Rousseau-Playe, Alexandra Lederer, Olivia Gharsallah, Séverin Launiau, Thomas Prieur

A huge thank you to our supporters!

Aeva Labs, AITP – The Association of Information Technology Professionals, Ambassade de France aux Etats-Unis, American Underground, bioMerieux, Cellectis, City of Raleigh Economic Development, Consulat de France Atlanta, Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC), French American Chamber of Commerce of the Carolinas, Gig East Exchange, Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, HQ Raleigh, Innovate Raleigh, Joltag Advantage Group, K4 Connect, Litterati, Loading Dock, LucidDream VR, M Systems International, Inc., NC Biotech (North Carolina Biotechnology Center), NC Open Pass / Code for America Open Raleigh Brigade, NC RIoT, NC Tech (North Carolina Technology Association), NOA Foodtech, Red Hat, Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster, Robin Care, RTRP (Research Triangle Regional Partnership), Runpal, Scoutr, SKEMA Business School US, SKEMA Ventures, TimelyText, Trakid, Trilliant, UNC ESHELMAN SCHOOL OF PHARMACY Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery, Wake County Economic Development (WCED), La French Tech in the Alps, La French Tech Lisbon, La French Tech New York, La French Tech Suisse Romande, Marie Vilon @ La French Tech

Global initiative ‘La French Tech’ may soon be coming to the Triangle