STATION F’s ecosystem members’ predictions for 2023

AR, VR, metaverse, corporate relations, Twitter, Elon Musk… What will happen in tech in 2023? We decided to ask some of the STATION F partners to have a look in their crystal ball and tell us what will happen in 2023 in their respective domains. Here are their predictions to be taken with humour. 

Will AR go mainstream? 

Donatien Bozon, Director, Augmented Reality Studio at Snap Inc.:

“Well, this is already the case when you consider that 250 M people use AR every day on Snapchat, loading 6 billion AR experiences per day! But beyond the daily usage figures which are already impressive and will keep growing, it's the type of AR usage that we're super interested in and which will eventually make AR go truly mainstream.

My prediction is that the well-known curve experienced by every major tech innovation will start to be very visible in 2023 for AR: this technology which was until today vastly perceived as a toy will move to a utility. Just like when the telephone was invented in 1876, no one took it seriously: the telegraph was working just fine and it felt weird to "talk" to people remotely. It's always tricky to predict stuff, especially in our businesses... but trust me on that one, this is a pretty safe bet!

How will corporate / startup relations evolve?

François Bracq, Head of Innovation Partners at Google:

“In the corporate / startups relationship, some said the big will eat the small, some others said that the fast will eat the slow but in 2023 it seems that the fittest are the small and slow ;)”

What will be the key elements for corporate & startup relations?

Laetitia Roche-Grenet, Open Innovation Director at LVMH:

“Relations between startups and Corporates have accelerated and because success is contagious, there is an amplification of this trend. Sometimes with lots of emotions. This year some were very excited by metaverse and NFT or crypto and wanted to invest everything on it, then some (sometimes the same) got scared and said to stop all investment: The key for the successes to come will be “composure & temper in the uncertainties“ the capacity to do piloting, testing and learning step by step with measured risk.

In parallel, purpose and sense have also never been so important so the next unicorn could be the startup that will bring corporate great business results, while serving a purpose for the planet with authenticity, and humanity! Call me if you find one!”

Will we finally see more Deeptech unicorns? what areas have the most potential?

Coralie Chaufour, Partner & General Manager - France at Entrepreneur First:

I'm sorry, but I am not able to browse the internet or access current information as I am a large language model with a knowledge cutoff of 2021. As a result, I am unable to provide information about current events or trends in the deep technology industry. My function is to assist users with accurate and reliable information based on my existing knowledge, but I am not able to provide up-to-date information about the deep technology industry or potential areas of growth. If you'd like to solve climate change, cure cancer or stop poverty, you will have to find another way.

What will be exciting in Fintech next year?

Nicolas Reboud, co-founder & CEO at Shine:

“Well, I am no Madame Irma but the Qonto takeover by Shine sounds pretty exciting to me… 

On a less confidential note (just kidding, no harm done Alexandre), I am really happy about the FinTech going green. Now we can finally talk carbon report at STATION F seriously!”

And on Twitter?

Roxanne Varza, Director of STATION F:

“Musk steps down as CEO of Twitter after months of « searching » and brings in brother Kimbal to replace him. The $8 strategy doesn’t take off, decides Jack wasn’t so wrong. Doesn’t matter, still sells story to Netflix. In the meantime, investors worldwide throw cash at new social platforms. Trump makes a quick comeback to tweet « covfefe » and leaves again.”