PARIS — Occupying the space of an abandoned 1920s train station in the south-east district of Paris is the world's largest start-up incubator called Station F, fully funded by French billionaire Xavier Niel.

Another 20km away lies another initiative of his: A coding school named 42 that has no teachers.

The 50-year-old telecommunications tycoon pays for the campus and the tuition fees of the 1,000 students that they accept each year at 42.

Mr Niel's deep pockets — he invested about 350 million euros (about S$557 million) into both projects — and the "spontaneous participation" of the private sector are partly why the French innovation ecosystem stands out and is growing today, noted Dr Philippe Codognet, the attache for science and higher education at the French Embassy in Singapore.

The French government also plays a big role, from making huge investments into disruptive technologies and helping start-ups thrive, to introducing new policies that attracts international tech talent.

Its newly elected president Emmanuel Macron has also helped nudge things along with his pro-innovation stance. Or as Dr Codognet described it, France's youngest president is the "embodiment of the spirit" that the country can change things and embrace start-ups.

In this year's Bloomberg Innovation Index, the European nation was ranked the ninth most innovative economies out of 80 countries.

Sharing similar ambitions, Singapore came in third place in the same index last year.

With the rest of the year designated as the France-Singapore Year of Innovation, the French model might just offer some ideas to Singapore.

FUNDING FROM PRIVATE SECTOR, INVESTORS

Station F alone — which takes up 366,000sqf or the size of the Eiffel Tower lying down — houses 1,000 early-stage start-ups since it opened its doors in June last year.

Mr Niel had invested 250 million euros in Station F partly to help those with underprivileged backgrounds create jobs by setting up a company.

Speaking to the Singapore media in May, Station F's communications director Rachel Vanier said that the incubator provides meeting spaces and classes on public services that start-ups may join, a maker-space or collaborative work space, and a housing extension that will open later this year.

It has in-house programmes for early-stage start-ups, entrepreneurs from underprivileged backgrounds, and accelerator programmes by companies such as tech giants Facebook and Microsoft, luxury goods conglomerate LVMH and beauty group L'Oreal.

Station F tries to inject diversity in the French entrepreneurial scene. About 20 to 25 per cent of the start-ups there come from outside France, including the United States, Europe, China and India, while 40 per cent of the start-ups are founded by women.

Ms Vanier said: "They come here because they have seen the French ecosystem blossom in the last five years. We have a lot of capital, engineering talent — and Station F is (a result) of all that. Because it's so big, Station F is a huge symbol of this growth, giving this visibility… that Paris has become a major scene in the world of tech."

In 2013, Mr Niel set up 42 with a similar intention to provide education, specifically in computer programming, for the less privileged. He invested 100 million euros to fund this alternative school model for 10 years.

The school has no teachers, and students turn to online forums, search engines or their peers for help. Adopting a gamified approach, students graduate after completing 21 levels of project work designed by the school or private firms.

Co-founder Nicolas Sadirac — who helped run private school Epitech (the Paris Graduate School of Digital Innovation) in 1999 — told Singapore reporters that the French education system has struggled to adapt to the demands of work despite its earlier success.

"Mainly because (the system) was very successful, it's always very difficult to change what is working," he said. And those at 42 see the school as a "temporary way to fill the gap", he added.

AN EXAMPLE AND INFLUENCE

Dr Codognet said that it was what Mr Niel stood for and his example, not so much his investments, that have helped to encourage the French to pursue innovation.

"His main influence is not really his share of the market here, but really the spirit that he showed. He showed that it was possible to do that in France. You can be disruptive, but you also can be successful," he said.

"He also showed that, yes, you can make money, but you (should) give back one way or another. Maybe he (will be) an example and others will want to follow his footsteps."

Apart from Mr Niel, larger corporations today are also more willing to invest or work with start-ups. They realised it was more efficient to outsource certain work processes to start-ups instead of spending time and resources to set up a research lab to develop solutions, Dr Codognet said.

Then, there are others who are contributing to the community on a much smaller scale.

Singaporean Pearlyn Lee, for instance, set up a cafe called The Hood that doubles up as venue for creatives and entrepreneurs to meet people. Artists or start-up owners may use the cafe's "brainstorming" room or meet others who are keen to collaborate on a project, she said.

The two-year-old cafe, located in north-east Paris, also hosts other activities such as musical performances, events for freelancers to pitch their ideas and network, or workshops on soft skills.

Ms Lee, who used to work at a bank and helped raise money for emerging countries, co-founded the cafe after she noticed that several interesting projects did not get the funding they need from banks "simply because they are not tech enough".

She said: "We don't aim to be an incubator or accelerator. It's more about giving people an opportunity to learn and connect… The kind of the spirit we want here is for people to come in, grab a beer, get food, coffee and maybe you'll meet your collaborator."

THE GOVERNMENT'S ROLE

Entrepreneurs and private enterprises do not work alone in driving innovation, for they get strong backing from the French government.

French accelerator and incubator Creative Valley, for instance, is one of 41 incubators partnering the government in attracting the skilled labour they need via the French Tech Visa.

This fast-track visa is offered to foreign talent with the relevant skills and contributions identified by La French Tech, such as incubators and venture capital investment funds.

La French Tech, or French Tech, is the nation's initiative branded to support the development of the start-up ecosystem in France and abroad, comprising various parties and entities working for or with French start-ups.

Professor Lee Janghyuk, the South Korean founder of start-up Aligo and recipient of the French Tech visa, said that it took him just three weeks, using a single-page application form submitted via Creative Valley. A regular visa would usually take four months to be processed.

The 41 incubator partners of the French Tech Visa scheme help evaluate the projects submitted by these foreign tech talent before their visas are approved.

Prof Lee, also a professor at Korea University's Business School in Seoul, said of the visa application procedure: "It's much more trust-based… In general, it is very difficult to evaluate the projects especially for start-ups, where nobody can be sure which start-up will fly or not."

He added that all stakeholders have to collaborate to build up France's reputation in this area to encourage innovation, including the start-ups, incubators, investors, schools and the government.

The Macron-led government has been a strong supporter of artificial intelligence, disruptive technologies and innovation.

The young president has several ambitions, one of which is to turn France into a "start-up nation". Innovation also ranks high on his agenda, as he seeks to pull the country out of economic stagnation and high unemployment.

Earlier in the year, Mr Macron said that the government will invest 10 billion euros in finance innovation and research. Its state investment bank Bpifrance — the biggest French investor in start-ups — has invested almost 4 billion euros in innovation between 2015 and 2017.

He also announced a national strategy to develop artificial intelligence, where France will invest 1.5 billion euros until 2022 to boost research into that.

While some have attributed this to the "Macron effect", Dr Codognet said that it is too early to tell if his efforts will have an imapct. After all, the president took office only in May last year.

CHANGING ATTITUDES

What Mr Macron has done so far though, is help change French attitudes towards innovation and start-ups, he added.

"He really was the embodiment of this idea that, yes, we can change this, we can change the way the work is done in France; that France used to have a lot big companies, but now we can also have small start-ups and be more innovative and creative."

The central bank is getting into the act as well.

Mr Theirry Bedoin, Bank of France's chief digital officer, is paving the way for the central bank to go digital. That involves changing the culture, managing data, digitalising processes and fostering innovation within the institution.

It is also trying to work with the newly set-up Le Lab, an open innovation laboratory, to allow start-ups to work on solutions with the central bank in that space.

There are challenges, which Mr Bedoin acknowledges are mostly cultural.

"Failure, of course, is a very difficult topic in the central bank because we hate failures. But we have to explain that for the digital approach, for innovation, we have to accept failures," he said.

He added that Le Lab was created for experimentation, to help avoid failure in real life, and to show businesses that it is easy to experiment and failure is not an issue.

Embracing failures aside, the French Tech ecosystem still has room for improvements. Dr Codognet said that there is still a lack of funding for more mature start-ups, for example.

"This makes France a good springboard, but not yet one that is able to turn young foals into unicorns," he added.

The country also faces the difficult task of overtaking London as the region's leader in technology and innovation. Some reports suggest that France still trails behind Britain in tech-related investments and in the business of artificial intelligence.

Despite its record year in 2016, it was also reported that the total investment in venture capital in France still remains below Germany.

LESSONS FROM FRANCE FOR SINGAPORE?

Prof Wong Poh Kam, senior director of the National University of Singapore Entrepreneurship Centre, said that unlike France, Singapore has a relatively weak domestic high-tech industry.

Most of the big tech companies here are also subsidiaries of multinational companies. This means there are fewer resources for research and development here.

Globally though, more of the large corporations are working with start-ups when they realise that they cannot innovate fast enough. This is also a relatively new phenomenon in Singapore, Prof Wong added.

Unlike in France, where the private sector plays a major role, the Singapore Government has been the main driver of innovation here, such as the record S$19 billion investment in the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2020 Plan over the next five years.

Start-ups here also have difficulties venturing overseas without the backing of bigger firms in Singapore, Prof Wong said. "Unfortunately, quite a number of our large companies, some of the government-linked companies, they are still a bit conservative in wanting to adopt solutions from new start-ups here," he noted.

As to whether Singapore would see its own Xavier Niel, Prof Wong said that many of the successful Singaporean entrepreneurs come from traditional industries such as real estate and trading, and may not feel the same passion to help start-ups.

"Until we have more successful philanthropists who themselves have been successful in tech and believe they want to give back in the tech area, this phenomenon may not happen anytime soon."