A regional report published in July 2025 by the Regional Directorate for Economy, Employment, Labor, and Solidarity (DREETS) highlighted the wide range of skills and expertise available in the Montpellier metropolitan area.
“The Occitanie region has successfully built a public and private ecosystem of excellence,” point out the report’s authors. The Montpellier employment market is a major contributing factor for this success. Thirteen of the artificial intelligence companies recognized by the France 2030 program are based there.
Four were recognized at the I-Lab innovation competition: Stella Surgical (design, development, and marketing of innovative medical devices to meet the requirements of the transplant chain), AI Stroke development of artificial intelligence-based technology for early detection of strokes before arrival at the hospital), Luigi Lenguito (CEO of BforeAI, predictive cybersecurity solutions), and WeFight (design of Vik, an AI-based conversational agent for patients suffering from cancer and chronic diseases).
At the same time, three local companies were winners in the I-nov competition: RAILwAI (predictive maintenance), YouWol Geoscience (digital tool to accelerate innovation in geoscience), and Yoosoft / Unified Software (software suite for unified commerce).
In addition to these companies, other companies have been selected through calls for projects and calls for expressions of interest. There are seven of them: Sim&Cure (I-Demo), Synox and again RAILwAI (CORIFER 2023), Pradeo (Development and strengthening of the French and European cloud sector), Cortus (Technological maturation and demonstration of embedded artificial intelligence solutions), Intrasense (Innovation in medical imaging), and ITK (Innovating for a successful agroecological and food transition).
The list could easily have been longer, given the wealth of talent in the field of AI found in the region.
The local ecosystem is rich with many companies and major research centers, including the Toulouse Artificial and Natural Intelligence Institute, as well as EDIH OccitanIA and, on Montpellier’s side, the Montpellier Méditerranée AI association, created on February 17, 2025.
This association unites key players from the institutional, technological, academic, and entrepreneurial AI ecosystem, focusing on the health, agriculture, and environmental sectors, including biodiversity and water management. “The ecosystem is recognized for its work on responsible and sustainable AI and is working to develop AI with strong impact on the University of Montpellier’s three strategic pillars: feed, care, and protect,” say the authors of the DREETS report.
The Montpellier ecosystem has long been focused on AI, notably thanks to the presence of the National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (INRIA), along with other major players such as LIRMM, CINES, IBM, and, of course, University of Montpellier, Montpellier CHU University Hospital, French Tech Méditerranée, and Digital 113.
This has led to a proliferation of initiatives, such as Alliance Santé IA, through which the Montpellier CHU University Hospital is integrating AI into its transformation project. This context also includes Erios, which the CHU manages with University of Montpellier and the Dedalus group, as well as the independent database it has set up with Dell.
Momentum is really gathering in the Montpellier area. Public and private stakeholders, what are you waiting for? Join Montpellier Méditerranée AI! On January 29, the Montpellier Méditerranée AI association and its partners (clusters and hubs) held a special event dedicated to SMEs and mid-cap companies that wish to apply for the AI Pioneers call for projects.
