Who are the most influential Tech influencers in Europe?
This year, François Sorel, journalist, editor-in-chief and emblematic presenter of Tech & Co on BFMTV, is named the most influential figure in Tech in France, ahead of astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who has more than 2.5 million followers on Instagram. and Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market of the European Union. This is one of the findings from the sixth edition of the Tyto Tech 500 report, which measures the data-driven impact of the European technology sector and provides an overview of key industry influencers and trends.
This year’s report highlights the increasing influence of cyber security, government and academic officials on the sector. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and journalists remain the biggest influencers in the tech sphere, accounting for 59%, 18% and 12% respectively in France. Here are five takeaways from Tyto’s research.
1/ University and government influencers are increasing
While the world is currently facing strong political and economic uncertainty, as well as an energy crisis and geopolitical tensions (especially after the Ukraine conflict), the technology sector in France and more broadly in Europe is the opposite. The number of academic and political influencers has increased dramatically, demonstrating the need for people to turn to more objective and informed sources and opinions on these crises.
The group of university influencers has grown by 25% in Europe since last year and by 118% since 2020, while in France it remains average (+15%) compared to the UK and Germany. Political influencers saw +11% growth from 28 influencers in 2020 to 44 in 2021 and 49 in 2022, a 75% increase in just two years. In France, the trend is even more pronounced for these influencers, who experienced a 50% increase between 2021 and 2022.
2/ Cyber security, a big problem
In 2022, cyber security is the category that saw the strongest growth in Europe in terms of absolute number of influencers (+27) and the second strongest growth in percentage terms (+52%). The current climate of security and uncertainty, particularly the armed conflict in Ukraine, has highlighted the importance of cybersecurity at both the corporate and government levels, potentially contributing to the rise of influencers in the sector.
France had the second strongest increase in cybersecurity influencers: a country without a single cybersecurity influencer in its 2020 ranking identified 17 influencers in 2021, up 23.5% from the previous year, before reaching 21 influencers this year. .
3/ Journalists maintain their influence in Europe
This year, journalists continue to play an influential role in the technology industry. Thus, they account for 29% of influencers in the pan-European top 500, the most represented category after business leaders. The report also notes a 3% increase in the number of journalists in the top 500 compared to the previous edition.
This trend is confirmed in the United Kingdom, where journalists also represent the second largest category at 31% of influencers, as well as in Germany (15%). Although in France, the number of influential tech journalists increased by 7% (from 58 to 62), they are the third largest category in the ranking.
4/ Emerging technologies to make a leap
Last year, the report included three new “emerging” sectors in the Tyto Tech 500: quantum technology, SpaceTech and manufacturing and logistics. Although these new sectors have less influential personalities than others, they have been consolidated over the years, with two of them experiencing the strongest pan-European growth compared to 2021: quantum, the most influential with +267% and 16th in the ranking of the most influential categories is in th place. space technologies, 14th with +200% growth.
In France, the increase is particularly noticeable in the field of quantum technology influencers (+120%), while SpaceTech has decreased by 20% – thus from 5 to 4 influencers. It should be noted that the pandemic of 2021 also highlighted the importance of innovation and scientific achievements at the pan-European level, as innovative entrepreneurs and venture capitalists closely related to technological innovation registered a strong increase in the number of influencers: + 146% entrepreneurs and +88% compared to last year venture capitalists.
5/ Women are increasingly asserting themselves in technology
Although still a minority, the number of women among the Pan-European Top 500 tech influencers has increased, and progress looks promising. Last year, women made up slightly more than one in five influencers (22%), this year one in four influencers is female (25%).
The UK leads the sector with a total of 132 women (26%) in the top 500 influencers list, followed closely by Germany with 25% women in the top 500 (ie 127 out of 500). It is France that lists 20% (98 out of 500) of female influencers in its ranking. It should be noted that the first woman in the French ranking is Laura Tenoudji, a journalist of France 2, responsible for the web section of the Télématin program. Although the French ranking has the lowest representation of women, with only one in five women in the Top 500, France is second in the pan-European top 500 with 24% women (11.1% in 2021) and has shown promising growth since then. this means that the representation of French women among the most influential figures in European technology has more than doubled (+116.2%).
Top 10 tech influencers in France:
François Sorel (BFM Journalist)
Thomas Pesquet (Astronaut)
Thierry Breton (European Union Internal Market Commissioner)
Cédric O (Advisor of the European Space Agency)
Stéphane Bancel (CEO of Moderna)
Xavier Niel (Businessman, founder and main shareholder of “Iliad”)
Mounir Mahjubi (Owner)
Laura Tenoudji (France 2 Journalist)
Olivier Leclerc (CEO at Safran and Head of the Aérogare team)
Nicolas Meunier (CEO and co-founder of talent.io)
