The Welcome Reception of CEPIC 2023 is more than a welcome reception.

On Tuesday 9th May CEPIC delegates who have already arrived may pick up their badges and bags at the Antipolis Congress Center from 16:00 H.

At 18:00 H they will be welcomed with jazz music. This is courtesy of the Palais des Congrès. Antibes has attracted jazz musicians since the 1920s and is now world reknowned for its jazz festival which takes place in July every year.

The welcome reception will start at 19.30 H and go until 21.30 H. We chose the time to make sure that delegates may enjoy sunset at 20.45 H.

We had invited the Mayor of Antibes, Mr. Jean Leonetti, who looks back on an interresting political carreer. Unfortunaltey, the Mayor has to be in Paris on that day. Therefore he has delegated a Member of the Municipal Council: Mr. David Simplot.

Mr. Simplot’s biography is a reminder that Antibes is not just a beautiful southern town on the French Riviera but also the capital of Sophia-Antipolis, first technopole in Europe.

A university professor and member of the IUF, David Simplot was awarded the Grand Prix Kuhlmann by the Lille Society of Science, Agriculture and Arts in 2014 for his research work on connected objects. This former IHEST auditor was director of the Inria research centres in Lille and Sophia Antipolis from 2011 to 2019. He was the leader of the 3IA Côte d’Azur project, one of the four French artificial intelligence institutes labelled in 2019. Since 2020, he has been director of the Inria Academy. Since 2020, he has been elected in Antibes Juan-les-Pins with the delegation for digital, artificial intelligence, new technologies and smart city and the Sophia Antipolis agglomeration community.

(Photo: View from the Terasse of the Palais des Congrès)