Région Sud, also known as the Southern Region of France, is a connected territory investing heavily in AI to develop use cases and accelerate its economic development.
In this context, the Region is deploying the SUD AI plan, and partnering with Microsoft to benefit from its technological know-how.
This approach has already led to the development of 22 use cases, including the creation of a chatbot designed to simplify the work of the region's call center agents.
From the peaks of the Southern Alps to the alleyways of Aix-en-Provence, from the Parc National des Calanques to the port of Saint-Tropez, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region is without doubt a land of unmissable heritage. The so-called "Région Sud" is also a local authority, providing public services in health, education, the environment—and innovation.
As Europe's first smart region, it has embraced new technologies with one ambition in mind: to strengthen its economic development and improve the lives of its citizens and employees. And in order to meet this ambition, the Region can count on AI as one of the pillars of its strategy. Raphaëlle Simeoni, Executive Director of Services, and Bernard Kleynhoff, Regional Advisor and Chairman of the Commission for Economic and Digital Development, Industry, Export and Attractiveness, Cybersecurity, tell us all about it.
"We can't afford to miss out on AI," says Bernard Kleynhoff, "which is why we've decided to invest massively in this technology." After consulting academics, researchers, and other experts, the Region is embarking on this adventure via the SUD IA plan, with a budget of 70 million euros and a roadmap divided into three key areas: driving the development of frugal AI for the benefit of all; making AI available to all; promoting and supporting the regional AI ecosystem.
"We want to embody an approach to innovation that is aimed at everyone, that serves our territory without leaving anyone behind," Bernard Kleynhoff points out. "For us, AI must above all be a lever for the benefit of the quality of the public service we deliver," Raphaëlle Simeoni adds.
While the stakes are high, considerable technical resources need to be deployed in record time. "We need to move fast, without compromising the quality of the technology," explains Bernard Kleynhoff. "AI in Région Sud needs to be useful, efficient, and secure." Microsoft thus appeared as the partner of choice when it came to meeting such demanding requirements: "Microsoft can offer off-the-shelf solutions adapted to local authorities, and can rapidly transform our needs into concrete actions," emphasizes Raphaëlle Simeoni.
The collaboration between Région Sud and Microsoft was formalized through a signed strategic partnership including several components, like the creation of the "Women and AI" program, designed to support 15 women in public sector leadership in their skills development, and the launch of the "Microsoft GenAI Studio Sud" in Marseille, that will support AI startups in their growth.
And let's not forget the implementation of use cases aiming to transform agents' working conditions and relations with users, with 22 actions currently being deployed.
These include the implementation of a chatbot, which now assists agents at "Allo Région", the local authority's call center. Based on Azure OpenAI Service and Mistral AI models on Azure, the chatbot is designed to help call agents respond more effectively to citizens' queries—which is truly valuable when you consider that this administration receives 75,000 requests every year. “The tool operates in a secure environment and performs queries within our databases,” explains Raphaëlle Simeoni. “Under these circumstances, our agents are able to provide even more relevant responses.”
At the same time, they have automated the verification of documents required for jobseekers skill training grants: no fewer than 30,000 documents per year are now processed by the machine. Microsoft 365 Copilot is also being tested by some 20 employees, providing invaluable assistance with note-taking, report writing, and email processing.
Partner of Microsoft, Exakis Nelite has also been involved in the implementation of use cases for users and in providing support to ensure the upskilling of teams in the Southern Region.
While this partnership is still in its infancy, the initial results are promising. "AI is proving to be effective and appropriate for our issues," asserts Raphaëlle Simeoni. "It gives us the opportunity to become closer to our citizens as a more accessible administration, which is very satisfying." The schedule for the coming months is full indeed, with the optimization of the "Allo Région" chatbot, which should be enriched with a user sentiment analysis function. The local authority also plans to use AI to enhance its translation capabilities for its international activities.
Whatever the uses, Région Sud is committed to being an AI innovation laboratory, and aims to transfer its work and tools to all local administrations. "We all have the same concerns, namely to make the daily lives of our agents and citizens more pleasant, easy, and rewarding," concludes Bernard Kleynhoff.
“We all have the same concerns, namely to make the daily lives of our agents and citizens more pleasant, easy, and rewarding.”
Bernard Kleynhoff, Regional Advisor and Chairman of the Commission for Economic and Digital Development, Industry, Export and Attractiveness, Cyber, Région Sud
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