The Cercle Europe IA & Finance brings together CEOs and senior AI executives from leading banks, insurance companies, asset managers, private equity firms, market infrastructures, consulting firms, and Tech/AI players in Paris—and increasingly across Europe—around a shared objective: developing operational initiatives to build a more competitive European ecosystem in the global competition.

The Institut Louis Bachelier (ILB) conducts an active research development strategy in finance, in partnership with leading French and European schools and universities, on themes defined jointly with financial market participants. Several chairs and research initiatives already focus on digital transition and AI in the financial sector. The ILB is developing a dedicated AI & Finance research cluster in partnership with the Cercle Europe IA & Finance.

It is within this framework that Arnaud de Bresson, Managing Director of the Cercle Europe IA & Finance, and Marie Brière, Managing Director of the ILB, are pleased to invite you to their next joint forum on:

“Building European AI and digital autonomy: what role for the financial sector?”,
on July 1st at 8:30 AM at the Palais Brongniart.

This conference will explore the investment priorities needed to strengthen Europe’s technological autonomy in artificial intelligence. It will address critical infrastructures, ongoing initiatives, and the role of academic research in developing a European industrial strategy. Special attention will be given to mobilising investors to finance digital infrastructure and European AI scale-ups.

This event takes place at a pivotal moment: the financial sector can no longer remain on the sidelines of the ongoing digital revolution. The forum will bring together leading speakers, including Ambroise Fayolle, Vice President of the European Investment Bank, and, subject to confirmation, Anne Le Hénanff, Minister for Digital Sovereignty and Artificial Intelligence, alongside representatives from banks, investors, public funds, market infrastructures, Tech/AI players, the European Commission, and Franco-German AI cooperation initiatives.

Program

Moderation by Jean Rognetta, journalist and founder of Qant

INTRODUCTION: KEY CHALLENGES AND EUROPEAN PRIORITIES

Arnaud de Bresson, Managing Director, Cercle Europe IA & Finance
Marie Brière, Managing Director, Institut Louis Bachelier (ILB)
Ambroise Fayolle, Vice President, European Investment Bank (EIB)
Anne Le Hénanff*, Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs

9:00 – 9:15 | NEW TRENDS IN AI INVESTMENT

Morgan Hunault-Berret, Partner, Villechenon
Olivier Martret, Partner, Serena Capital
(Co-leads of the AI Financing Observatory)

9:15 – 10:00 | PRIORITIES FOR A SOVEREIGN EUROPEAN AI STRATEGY

This session will identify key investment priorities. It will address critical infrastructure challenges—compute, cloud, data, models, cybersecurity—as well as ongoing European and national initiatives.

It will also highlight the role of academic research as a driver of innovation, trust, and robustness. The objective is to move from fragmented projects to a coherent European industrial strategy capable of supporting the development and scaling of European AI players.

Speakers:
Jérôme Berger (Orange)
Holger Hanselka* (Fraunhofer / Franco-German AI Dialogue)
Josselin Kalifa (Caisse des Dépôts)
Géraldine Lafontaine (H Company)
Arthur Mensch* (Mistral)
Maria-Cristina Russo (European Commission – DG RTD)
Aldrick Zappellini (Crédit Agricole)

10:00 – 10:45 | MOBILISING INVESTORS AT SCALE

This session will focus on the central role of the financial sector in financing Europe’s technological autonomy. It will examine how to mobilise long-term savings, institutional investors, public banks, and private funds to support digital infrastructure, cloud systems, data centres, and AI scale-ups.

The goal is to identify the financial volumes, incentives, and investment vehicles needed to turn Europe’s ambition into concrete industrial capacity.

Speakers:
Anthony Attia (Euronext)
Isabelle Bébéar* (Bpifrance)
Doris Bianchi* (Publica)
Adrien Perret (FRR)
Brice Prunas (Oddo BHF)
François Robinet (AVP)
Pauline Thomson (Ardian)
David Vaillant (BNP Paribas Asset Management)

10:45 – 11:00 | CONCLUDING REMARKS

Guillaume Lesage (Amundi)
Philippe Tibi* (French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Digital Sovereignty)

Subject to confirmation

Registration is free using the code: 260701

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