#SALinParis: INNOVATION, INNOVATION, INNOVATION

 Innovation—and how the legal profession could promote and support it—was the focus of the second day of the SAL Business Mission Trip to Paris. The day began with a visit to Station F, dubbed the largest start-up campus in the world. The sprawling site buzzed with ideas and energy, just like France’s start-up ecosystem.

Delegates gained an introduction to this ecosystem through a series of presentations that touched on funding and support schemes available to these engines of growth. One of the presenters, Mr Erwan Barre, a Singapore-based lawyer from RHTLaw Asia, shared insights into how our delegates’ clients, including state-owned funds and corporates, could gain a foothold in the French start-up scene.

This scene is increasingly home to legal tech firms—representatives from three such companies shared their creations with delegates.

After a lunch at Station F’s picturesque canteen, the delegation was shuttled to the headquarters of the Paris Bar Association, known locally as the Barreau de Paris. Here, through meetings with representatives from BPIFrance (the equivalent of Enterprise SG), the French Ministry of Economy and Finance and France Digitale, they learnt more about how start-ups, including clients of our delegates, could enter the French market.

The evening ended with a networking reception hosted by White & Case at their breathtaking office in the heart of Place Vendome, a historic square in central Paris.