Cisco is beefing up its IoT strategy and targeting French startups to do it

Cisco is making good on a promise made in February to team up with the French government on a $100m initiative to help fund local Internet of Things (IoT) startups, partner with local businesses and cultivate IoT-specific skills.

Among the company’s initiatives include a competition to develop enterprise-focused IoT services and apps that foster social and environmental innovation, and a partnership with the NUMA Sprint accelerator programme which will see the company support up to 22 IoT startups incubated in the programme.

Cisco also said it’s partnering with Actility, a provider of IoT and machine-to-machine services for energy management, to improve connectivity between low-power sensors using LoRaWAN, and investing in Parisian startup 6Wind, a software firm developing software-defined networking and network function virtualisation solutions.

“Innovation is in the DNA of Cisco. France has almost limitless potential and our mission is to support innovation across our entire ecosystem,” Robert Vassoyan, chief executive of Cisco France. “These first initiatives demonstrate our active cooperation with innovative companies to aid them in their development, and show that we are committed to continuing our efforts in this area to drive growth, competitivity and employment of our country.”

Cisco has stepped up its IoT strategy as of late, most recently buying connected things tracker and network security specialist OpenDNS for $635m.