In Lille, "AI with us" tests the promise of a European AI valley

L'essentiel

The summit « L'IA avec nous » at EuraTechnologies (Lille), gathering around a thousand participants and involving France Travail, has refocused the debate on AI sovereignty by shifting the issue of infrastructure to adoption, as billions have been announced for regional data centers. This shift highlights that the priority now lies in adoption and market strategies rather than solely on physical capabilities.

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On June 12th, EuraTechnologies hosts the summit « L'IA avec nous » in Lille: over 1,000 participants, fifty French and international speakers, and an unusual format combining expert interventions and direct dialogue with citizens. The event follows the billions of euros in investments announced for data centers in Hauts-de-France - and it's precisely what makes it interesting: it shifts the question of infrastructure sovereignty to adoption.

Four pillars, a positioning

The summit structures its debates around four axes: the transition from technology to applications, European technological sovereignty, trustworthy AI, ethics and transparency, and inclusive AI involving citizens and workers. In contrast, it is a territorial positioning that is affirmed: the Hauts-de-France region, which has historically had high unemployment but has returned to 9.2%, its lowest level, claims the role of the European valley of applied AI—not the AI that trains models, but the AI that puts them to work.

France Travail as a showcase for public AI

The public employment operator occupied the center of the setup, and for good reason: it is one of the few able to demonstrate large-scale deployments. Its internal assistant ChatFT claims 94% adoption, and MatchFT applies algorithmic matching between candidates and job offers. "We are moving from experimentation to transformation," summarizes its general director Thibaut Guilluy, who sees AI as "a concrete lever for transforming public services." The European dimension is not decorative: Guilluy was elected in December 2025 as the first vice-president of the European network of public employment services, and a Franco-German working group on AI, launched jointly, aims to co-build common solutions for European employment services.

Infrastructure does not make the usage

The contrast is the true substance of this summit. On one hand, investment announcements in the billions and measured in megawatts; on the other hand, an adoption effort—training, acculturation, redefining jobs—that produces neither round numbers nor inaugurations. The program says it in its own way: a week-long festival from June 13 to 19 across the region, workshops and demonstrations, and a forum Job Connect IA & Tech devoted to recruitment. If the "valley of applied AI" has meaning, it will be here: in the ability to transform data centers into jobs and uses, rather than just energy land. The upcoming summits will tell if the promise holds.