TL;DR Valence hosts no large-scale international IT conferences. The local tech scene is driven by French Tech Alpes Valence-Romans [1] — a grassroots community running biannual startup pitches, open-innovation roundtables, and occasional industry AI days. June 2026 is an unusually good window: Mardinnov #24 is tonight (Jun 2) and Décrypt’innov #5 falls on Jun 4. For major multi-track developer conferences, Lyon is 65 km north (35 min by TGV).
2026 Event Calendar
| Date | Event | Format | Venue | Audience | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Jan (past) | Tech Job Connect 2026 [2] | Digital careers fair | Médiathèque F. Mitterrand, Valence | Students, job seekers | Free |
| 4 Mar (past) | Kokorico 2026 [3] + Pitch Presque Parfait #30 [4] | Ecosystem evening + pitches | Valence Romans | Startups, investors, partners | — |
| 21–22 Apr (past) | RSD3 2026 [5] (incl. Drôme Digital Days) | B2B trade show | Halle Chaban Delmas, Valence | Industry professionals | Free (badge) |
| 19 May (past) | Les Routes vers l’IA [6] | Half-day AI conference | CCI de la Drôme, Valence | SME executives | Free |
| 2 Jun — today | Mardinnov #24 [7] | Startup pitches + buffet | Valence (register via Eventbrite) | Startup ecosystem | Free |
| 4 Jun | Décrypt’innov #5 — Open Innovation [1] | Lunch roundtable | Alixan (10 km N of Valence) | Business innovators | — |
Recurring Community Events
Mardinnov [7] — The flagship local event. Twice yearly (typically June and December), five Valence-Romans startups pitch for 5 min each, followed by a networking buffet. Organised by Le Moulin Digital [10], Valence Romans Agglomération, Digital League, and the Drôme Department. Register free via Eventbrite. 24 editions as of June 2026.
Pitch Presque Parfait [4] — Recurring startup pitch rehearsal series (30+ editions as of Mar 2026). Held alongside Kokorico and independently; targets founders preparing investor presentations.
Décrypt’innov [1] — Quarterly lunch roundtable (~90 min) linking corporate open-innovation challenges with local startups and service providers. Organised by Valence Romans Innov.
Kokorico [3] — Annual French Tech ecosystem gathering (typically Q1). Combines ecosystem updates, startup highlights, and partner announcements. 2026 focused on French Tech re-labelling strategy, AI, cybersecurity, and angel investment.
Tech Infrastructure
Le Moulin Digital [10] anchors the scene at Parc Rovaltain (adjacent to Valence TGV station), open Mon–Fri 9–18h — coworking, home base for French Tech Alpes, and the main event venue [1]. Campus Numérique in the Alps [8] runs three IT developer training diploma programmes at the same Rovaltain site. The complete community events calendar is on OpenAgenda — French Tech Alpes Valence-Romans [9].
Context
Valence (pop. ~65 k) punches above its weight for grassroots startup activity but has no equivalent to a multi-day international developer conference. No active developer community meetups were found on Meetup.com for the city specifically. The nearest dense conference calendar is Lyon — 35 min by TGV, worth checking alongside any Valence weekend trip.