Representing Canada with Purpose
Scale AI has now led Canada’s presence at VivaTech for three consecutive years. This year’s mission was deliberately ambitious — not just about visibility, but about converting that visibility into real partnerships, commercial relationships, and policy dialogue. The theme of Canada’s delegation reflected something we believe in deeply: that trustworthy, applied AI, built on democratic values, is both a competitive advantage and a responsibility.
The government support behind this mission was genuine and visible. Canada’s Ambassador to France, Nathalie G. Drouin, was present, alongside Wendy Hadwen, Assistant Deputy Minister at the Department of National Defence. Quebec’s Deputy Premier Ian Lafrenière and Alberta’s Minister of Technology and Innovation Nate Glubish were also on the ground in Paris, signalling that Canadian AI is a national priority with cross-party, cross-provincial momentum behind it.
“Talent mobility is one of the defining challenges for multinational corporations today. Having direct conversations with Canadian government officials at VivaTech was a rare opportunity to discuss how immigration technology can help remove the friction that slows down global organizations — and how Canada can position itself as the destination of choice for the world’s talent.”
— Dan Weber, Head of Public Affairs, BorderPass
For us, those conversations matter. Immigration policy shapes every product decision we make. Being in the same room as the people shaping that policy — not just reading about it afterward — is a different kind of access, and we’re grateful for it.
Talking About What We Build
VivaTech gave us a platform to speak with a global audience about the BorderPass solution — what it is, why it exists, and where it’s going. That is not something you take for granted at a conference attended by startups, multinationals, investors, and institutions from across Europe, Asia, Latin America, and beyond.
The conversations were energizing. Immigration complexity is not unique to Canada. International students and skilled workers face fragmented, often opaque processes in every destination country. The appetite for a platform that brings clarity, lawyer-backed guidance, and real workflow support to that process — and that institutions and agents can actually rely on — is evident far beyond our home market.
We talked about the 1,000+ immigration agents worldwide who use BorderPass today. We talked about our track record with universities, colleges, and employers who need to support international talent reliably. And we talked about where AI is genuinely improving outcomes versus where it is being oversold — because that honesty is part of who we are.
“Being selected for the Canadian delegation was a validation, but VivaTech itself was a reminder. The problems we’re solving are global. The audience in Paris made that clear.”
— Sally Daub, Co-founder, BorderPass
What We Learned About Where AI Is Heading
The event’s organizing theme — Artificial Intelligence: Impact, Not Illusion — set exactly the right tone. After years of hype cycles, the conversation at VivaTech 2026 was refreshingly grounded. The question being asked across sessions, demos, and hallway conversations was not “what is AI capable of?” but rather “what is AI actually delivering?”
A few themes stood out clearly:
Agentic AI
Sovereign AI
AI Factories
Physical AI & Robotics
Responsible AI Governance
Trustworthy AI Ecosystems
Agentic AI — systems that plan and execute multi-step tasks rather than answer single prompts — was everywhere. The event drew a remarkable range of perspectives: from technology pioneers debating the future of open research and world models, to heads of state grappling with what sovereign AI actually means for national economies. Jeff Bezos took the stage. President Macron addressed the crowd. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a notable appearance, underscoring the global reach of the conversation.
For a company like BorderPass, the agentic AI discussion is directly relevant. The immigration journey involves dozens of discrete decisions, document checks, eligibility assessments, and status updates. We have been thinking carefully about where AI can handle those steps reliably and where human judgment and lawyer oversight remain essential. Seeing the global conversation move toward exactly that nuance — AI as a collaborator with human accountability baked in — was clarifying.
The emphasis on sovereign AI and democratic values also resonated. Canada’s delegation was not just there to sell products. It was there to help shape what trustworthy AI looks like on the world stage. That is a conversation worth being part of.
New Relationships: Business and Higher Education
The people you meet at VivaTech are as important as the sessions you attend. Our four days in Paris opened conversations with partners and institutions we would not have reached through any other channel.
On the business side, we met with organizations across Europe, Brazil, Korea, India, and Japan — markets where the demand for reliable immigration guidance tools is growing significantly. The interest in how BorderPass supports agents, employers, and institutions at scale was genuine, and several of those conversations are continuing.
Higher education was a particularly rich area. The Canadian delegation included some of Canada’s leading academic institutions — HEC Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal, École de technologie supérieure, and Université de Moncton, among others. The crossover between international student recruitment, immigration compliance, and AI tools is a space where BorderPass sits squarely. Being in the same rooms as these institutions — and with their counterparts from across Europe — opened doors that matter for where we are heading.
What We Are Carrying Forward
VivaTech is not a destination. It is an accelerant. The connections made in Paris, the conversations with government officials, the exposure to where the most ambitious AI builders are taking this technology — all of it feeds back into the work we do every day.
We came home with a clearer view of the international opportunity ahead of BorderPass. We came home with relationships that have real potential. And we came home more convinced than ever that the problem we are solving — making immigration navigable, transparent, and human — is one that the world needs solved well.
We are grateful to Scale AI for the opportunity to represent Canada in Paris. We are grateful to the government officials who made time for substantive dialogue. And we are grateful to every partner, institution, and fellow delegate who made this delegation what it was.
Paris was a beginning. The work continues.
