The association of digital professionals in Reunion is holding its next general meeting in the coming weeks. This will mark the change in positioning of Digital Réunion which broadens its scope of action beyond the initial ecosystem of the digital sector to address all digital consuming companies.. A new team will lead this change. After the arrival of Antoine Devasle, founder of the teaching campus specializing in digital Crealise, as president of Digital Réunion in March, Anaïs Sery, marketing specialist, co-founder and leader of the association Intelligence Artificielle Réunion, was appointed at the end of April to its general management.
Sensitization, formation, support for digital businesses, representation and defense of the interests of the sector, enhancement of the Reunion ecosystem (most recently at Vivatech, nicer, on the Réunion Region stand), etc. : the fundamental missions of Digital Réunion do not change. But if its general management had remained vacant for more than six months, is that the association needed to clarify its new positioning and refine its new strategy, its ambitions and its organization. Digital Meeting, created in 1997 under the name ARTIC (see box), opens a new page in its history by expanding to new players. An evolution in tune with the development of the digital sector (1,4 billion euros in turnover, 472 companies, nearly 5,000 jobs in 2022), one of the most dynamic in Reunion, to the know-how and services recognized and requested by the entire economic fabric of Reunion. It is in fact a redefinition of the contours of the digital sector that we are witnessing, and Digital Réunion is mobilized to put its expertise capabilities at the service of the entire economy. On the organizational level, this new dynamic turns Digital Réunion towards sectors consuming digital solutions (service providers, types of platforms and website builders) and no longer just towards producers of digital solutions, heart of the ecosystem. To integrate these new players, the association will take the form of a cluster, as there are in several regions of France. It is, for Digital Meeting, also a way of repositioning oneself in the innovation landscape, where new players such as French Tech Réunion and, since the beginning of the year, the regional innovation agency.
New statuses, new governance
Digital Réunion is in the process of negotiating with La Région Réunion, for the next three years, the renewal of the digital sector contract (the first covered the years 2020 to 2023). This new contract will demonstrate this expansion of its missions. Many small businesses, if they work with IT, still have only a fragmentary vision of the benefits they can derive from it. Digital Réunion takes up this cause. “We are addressing all service providers for whom digital technology is essential and who have their say on issues related to it.. Digital Réunion takes the form of a group for this purpose, to be able to bring together as many companies as possible around these issues and common ambitions. We aim to support initiatives, whether or not they come from our members. And it is our duty to raise awareness and support businesses in all the revolutions that are occurring at the same time and which are transforming the economy. : blockchain, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum computing”, explains Antoine Devasle, president of Digital Réunion. This change in paradigm and scale leads to an update of the association’s statutes, ratifying new governance, with a second college representing service providers, a board of directors reinforced by new players and the establishment of a co-presidency.
AI AND DIGITAL TOOLS : AN INITIATION WITHIN EVERYONE’S REACH
Digital Réunion offers businesses free online sessions to discover how digital technology and artificial intelligence can help them progress.
Digital Réunion is implementing its new directions via a first awareness campaign on what artificial intelligence can bring to businesses, and digital in general, to produce better and sell better (site web, social networks, loyalty, client experience, etc.). These introductory sessions on AI and digital technology take place online and are free. This is a real opportunity offered to laymen. The association wishes to raise awareness among 400 companies in the coming months. The first session, the 14th from, brought together 67 registrants. Digital Réunion benefits here from the skills of its new general director, Anaïs Sery, specialized in both digital marketing and artificial intelligence (created last year, the Réunion Artificial Intelligence association, that she presides, today brings together 70 local AI players).
ARTIC : FIVE AMBITIONS FOR AND WITH DIGITAL ACTORS
A nod to the past, Digital Réunion presents its new ambitions according to the acronym of its first name : ARTIC (Reunion Island Association of Information and Communication Technology Professionals)
- Acsupport and bring together actors and structures in the digital sector.
- Rpresent and defend the interests of our ecosystem.
- Ttransform talents into business opportunities.
- Incubate new trends and develop know-how.
- Ccontribute to digital inclusion.
