A conference was held on the digitalization of the State, initiated od co-organized by parliament member Marie LEBEC and FRIS - Franco-Icelandic Chamber of Commerce in France  animated by Patrick SIGURDSSON, with the participation of two delegations of Icelandic and French entrepreneurs and Digital Iceland.

Stanislas GUERINI, Minister for Transformation of the Civil Service, addressed the delegates via video about his ministry's achievements, in particular the success of FranceConnect, and about France's ambitions, going into practice over the next five years. “We can congratulate ourselves on being one of the countries at the forefront of the digitalization of our institutions and services, ahead of Finland, Denmark and Germany”.

The Icelandic Ambassador to France and South Europe, Mrs Unnur ORRADOTTIR RAMETTE, reminded the participants of the cooperation between our 2 countries, as well as Frédéric ZGAINSKI, Vice-Chairman of the France-Iceland Friendship Group, and Alexandre HOLROYD, Member of Parliament for French nationals living abroad, particularly in Iceland, for their contributions on the working relations between our countries.

The round table featured a wide-ranging discussion:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

➤ Stéphanie SCHAER, Director of the Interministerial Directorate of Digital Affairs (DINUM), presented the government’s interministerial policy and the challenges we will be taking up.

➤ Julien CHAMBERT, Deputy Mayor of the town of Houilles, shared the experience of the town of Houilles in rebuilding its digital services to citizens following a cyber-attack,

➤ Gunnar Ingi SVEINSSON from Digital Iceland, whose department from Iceland's Ministry of Finance relies on the country's businesses to successfully digitalize public services, and assess the taxpayers spending reduction and the impact on the environment

➤ Jean Sébastien LELEU, introduced us to Public Tech, a group of French companies working with public services

➤ Laureline HAMON, Associate Lawyer at B.H et Associés, with a legal and tax perspective on how Icelandic entrepreneurs can work in France,

➤ Maïa Thomine DESMAZURES, Country Coordinator for Business France, presenting export tools for French companies and the attractiveness of France for foreign investors.

➤ Damien SEUX, State Digital Transformation Adviser to Minister Stanislas Guerini, for answering the many questions asked by participants.

➤ All entrepreneurs presented their expertise both Icelandic: Norda, Hugsmiðjan, Júní, Origo, Program/Andes, Aranja and French: Epicture, Compagnium, IBM, Faciliti, Ediflex, The City Hub, Simco.

 

The FRIS board members in France would like to thank all participants for their contribution to the success of this meeting.

Our two countries are moving forward and modernizing their public services to make the day-to-day lives of our fellow citizens easier. “The aim is to cut useless cost and lower environmental impact of outdated procedures” reminded Gunnar Ingi SVEINSSON.

Gudrun BJARNADOTTIR presented the next project of a business meeting in Sofia-Antipolis for Icelandic entrepreneurs in 2024 and Patrick SIGURDSSON presented the Chamber’s activities more largely such as the follow-up on actions, book award, investment tours to Iceland with French entrepreneurs.

Marie LEBEC organized an inspiring visit to the Parliament.

The day ended with a wine tasting at the Icelandic ambassador’s residence enabling the participants teambuilding for future actions.