FNAC DARTY France came second in the global rankings behind the United States for the number of start-ups linked to the Internet of Things (IoT) and a majority of products manufactured within the national territory. However, despite a favorable industrial environment driven by incentive-based public policies, recognized expertise and a particularly technically- oriented domestic market, the penetration of these technologies remains low.
This is the combined conclusion of Fnac Darty and ENGIE, two leading players in the field of connected services for the home, who for many years have been involved in the development of the smart home through their support of innovative companies in the fields of sustainable development (management of energy expenses, recycling support, etc.), home security, home automation, health and wellbeing. The two partners have identified three drivers to accelerate the dissemination of these technologies:
Promoting objects and services which simplify daily life in a concrete, sustainable way, by proposing useful and clearly understandable uses
Simplifying the understanding of products and services sold, primarily by redesigning the in-store shopping experience and the promotion of online offers
Finally, simplifying the installation and use of connected solutions for the home, throughout the objects' lifetime
Through the 2017 Start-up Prize, the aim of Fnac Darty and ENGIE was to identify French companies whose projects best meet each of these three challenges.
At the end of a particularly fruitful afternoon, combining mixed start-up/employee workshops and the presentations of the 10 finalists to a panel of experts, three winners were announced. Each of them will be able to drive their project thanks to a marketing contract with Fnac or Darty stores, or through practical trials of their solution.
"For this third year of the Start-up Prize, the panel once again had to perform the difficult task of deciding between ten extremely promising finalists, and I would like to thank them wholeheartedly for their talent and enthusiasm in this. France, in many respects, represents the cutting edge of technological innovation, and today is a good example of this, with 150 companies taking part in the competition. The three winners will join our ecosystem of innovative companies, and we are delighted to give them the opportunity to realize their full potential. In an increasingly connected world, the smart home is one of the most important areas of development for the future, and Fnac Darty, with its partners, is in a position to drive the development of this market," said Enrique Martinez, Chief Executive Officer of Fnac Darty.
"We are very pleased to have been able to participate, alongside Fnac-Darty, in this third edition of the "Start-Up" award dedicated to smart homes. The solutions presented by the start-ups were of high quality and we thank the jury members for their presence and for the exchanges which were very enriching. This award is an opportunity for ENGIE to help young start-ups transform their project into connected services to improve the daily lives of French people at home. This edition has revealed exciting projects designed to meet consumers' expectations", said Gérard Guinamand, Deputy Director ENGIE Digital.
The winners of the 2017 Fnac Darty Start-up Prize"Simplifying daily life" category
Lancey Energy Storage designs and produces Lancey, the 1st intelligent radiator with built-in battery. Lancey is a 3-in-1 product that is revolutionizing electric heating. In addition to being a late generation intelligent electric radiator, it includes a battery and an energy management system in the cloud. Choosing Lancey means saving up to 50% on your electric heating costs while doing something good for the environment. Thanks to its battery, which is charged in off-peak hours and supplies its power during peak hours, the Lancey radiator hardly ever consumes the most carbon-intensive electricity during winter peak consumption.Lancey is very pleased to have been selected as a finalist for the Fnac Darty Connected House Start-Up Award with Engie. This is a great opportunity to exchange views with specialists from the distribution and energy sectors on the development of Lancey's B2C strategy. We are delighted to be able to present our product and benefit from their expertise.
"Making offers and purchasing easier to understand" category
Demooz takes "try before you buy" to the next level. Need to reassure yourself before buying a product? Go find your neighbor and try his or hers out for a demo period."At Demooz, we want all consumers to have a personalized and quality customer experience, directly with another consumer. We are delighted to be able to offer this service to the Fnac community".
"Simplifying installation and usage" category
ETAONIS offers companies of all sizes the chance to benefit from the latest advances in Data Science by offering solutions to meet their business challenges. Their added value is based on:Optimal use of data (cleaning, displaying, modeling and algorithms)
Automation of repetitive and low value-added tasks (grabbing data from the Internet, image analysis, reporting, content generation)
co-founder of Daphni
Enrique MartinezCEO of Groupe Fnac Darty
Gérard GuinamandDeputy Director of ENGIE Digital
Patrice Noirot-NerinMarketing France BtoC Director for ENGIE
Vincent GuffletDirector of Services for Fnac Darty
Marc SimonciniFounder of Jaina Capital, Meetic, Sensee
Ludovic Le MoanCEO of Sigfox
Cédric VillaniMathematician and Deputy of Essonne, 2010 Fields Medal winner
Jérôme ColombainHigh-tech Journalist for France Info, Consultant co-founder of 01Net.TV
Enguerand RenaultManaging Editor of Media and Technology at Le Figaro
PRESS CONTACTS
Fnac Darty:
Alexandre André: +33 (0)1 55 21 54 46 - alexandre.andre@fnacdarty.com
ENGIE:
Agence Wellcom: +33 (0)1 46 34 60 60 / Marion Ravoux - marion.ravoux@wellcom.fr / Thomas Lapacherie - thomas.lapacherie@wellcom.fr
About Fnac Darty - Operating in 10 countries, Fnac Darty is a European leader in the retailing of entertainment and leisure products, consumer electronics and household appliances. At the end of June 2017, the Group had a multi-format network of 694 stores, including 478 in France, and is ranked France's second most visited e-commerce site (more than 13.6 million unique visitors per month) with its two retail websites: fnac.com and darty.com. A standard-setting omni-channel retailer, Fnac Darty posted pro-forma revenues of €7.4 billion in 2016.
About ENGIE - ENGIE is committed to meeting the great challenges posed by the energy revolution, which aims for an increasingly carbon-free, decentralized, and digital world. The Group's goal is to become a leader in this new energy environment, and it is focusing its activities on three key business lines for the future, namely low-carbon power generation, particularly from natural gas and renewable energy, energy infrastructure, and cutting-edge solutions tailored to all of its customers (private individuals, companies, regions, etc.). ENGIE makes customer satisfaction, innovation, and digital technology the focal point of its development.
ENGIE operates in around 70 countries, has 150,000 employees worldwide, and generated revenues of €66.6 billion in 2016. The Group is listed in Paris and Brussels (ENGI), and is included in the main financial indexes (CAC 40, BEL 20, DJ Euro Stoxx50, Euronext 100, FTSE Eurotop 100, and MSCI Europe) and extra-financial indexes (DJSI World, DJSI Europe and Euronext Vigeo Eiris - World 120, Eurozone 120, Europe 120, France 20, and CAC 40 Governance). To find out more, go to: www.ENGIE.com
Fnac Darty SA published this content on 18 October 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
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