The market
InOut, the international economic event for “digital mobility”
Traditionally important to the Rennes economy, the mobility ecosystem currently provides 25,000 jobs in the metropolis, with major players such as PSA, the SNCF Group and La Poste. Numerous start-ups such as Abeeway, YoGoKo, Sensup and Mobility Tech Green, which recently raised €5 million, can be found in addition to these powerhouses.
Structured around the iD4CAR competitiveness cluster, the region leads particularly on smart mobility, ranking in fourth place nationally in terms of the concentration of players in this industry. This is evidenced by the international InOut event borne out of the Rennes Métropole Metropolitan Innovation Pact (Pacte Métropolitain d’Innovation).
The ecosystem can also draw on a network of 14 research and training establishments, as well as 40 supporting organisations.
Key figures
- 25 000 jobs
- 40 supporting structures
- 3 major players : PSA / La Poste / SNCF
The success story
KelBillet conquering Europe with Gopili
Founded in Rennes in 2008, KelBillet has since become the European leader in transport search engines. It actually makes it possible to “present on just one page all the available transport offers for any journey” explains Yann Raoul, manager and founder of the company.
Profitable from its second year, the site has expanded internationally under the name Gopili. The service is currently available in 19 countries and 10 different languages, including Chinese, Russian, Korean, Turkish and Japanese. KelBillet is also looking ”to become a leader in inter-city transport in Europe” and even further afield.
The service currently has 4 million visits per month and total sales of €70 million.
The business story
Willizm Gouesbet – Kerlink
- Kerlink was created in 2004
- No.1 on the French stock exchange in 2017
- Equipment engineers for Internet of Things networks
- Competitors are Link Labs in the USA and Sagemcom in France
- Clients worldwide
- 25% of revenue generated internationally
- Studied at the Faculty of Engineering (ESIR) at the University of Rennes 1
- “In the field of technologies and telecommunications, Rennes is recognised as an innovator”
The key place
An industrial fab-lab for experimenting with concepts
Located on the La Janais site, close to the PSA factory, the Excelcar platform has launched 25 innovation projects since it was founded in 2015. Centrally located, it operates like an industrial fab-lab, allowing companies both large and small to gain expertise and technical support for testing their ideas.
Comprising 500 m2 of common premises and 300 m2 of workshops, Excelcar effectively pools means, notably digital engineering, collaborative robotics and measuring and assembly systems. Innovations are also finalised here for integration into production facilities. Excelcar also allows meetings by structure-type or through technical workshops.
Learn more
Read the AUDIAR study on the mobility ecosystem in Rennes and Ille-et-Vilaine.