The Forum Économique Breton is the annual gathering of Brittany's economic and civic leadership: two days in Saint-Malo each September where business executives, elected officials, entrepreneurs and public figures debate the region's strategic future across more than 100 conferences, panels and exchanges.
The Forum Économique Breton (FEB) is an annual, two-day economic congress held in Saint-Malo each autumn. Created in 2020 and reaching its seventh edition in 2026, it brings together business executives, entrepreneurs, elected officials, institutional leaders and civil society figures from across Brittany and beyond, framing the region's strategic challenges through a dense programme of conferences, roundtables and thematic exhibitions. The 2026 edition runs under the theme "Une vie meilleure" (A better life). The event takes place across two adjacent spaces on the Saint-Malo waterfront: the Palais du Grand Large for plenary and conference sessions, and the Village des Partenaires exhibition halls on the Quai Saint-Malo. The FEB is supported institutionally by the Brittany Regional Council and a broad coalition of major corporate and public-sector partners. It is one of several fixtures Events Index tracks on the economic forums circuit.
Brittany occupies a singular position in the French regional economy: it combines a strong industrial base (agro-food, maritime, defence, telecoms), a dense network of family-owned mid-cap groups, and a regional identity that functions as both a cultural asset and a political force. The Forum Économique Breton exists precisely to channel that specificity into structured public debate. Rather than importing a generic national-conference format, the FEB anchors every edition in Breton territory, economy and society, asking not only what global transitions mean in the abstract but what they mean for a regional labour market, for the region's fishing fleets, for Saint-Malo's port, and for the dozens of major Breton groups that rarely appear on the Paris conference circuit. Founder Christian Pousset has framed the forum as a place to "build our independences," positioning it as a regional counterpart to the national economic gatherings on the economic forums circuit rather than a satellite of them. The result is a forum with genuine territorial stakes, where the speakers are often the same people who control the levers that affect the region's economic trajectory.
The FEB draws its audience primarily from Brittany's professional and institutional world:
Figures from Paris-based national institutions, such as Caisse des Dépôts and Bpifrance, appear both on stage and in the audience. According to the organiser, the 2025 edition drew 6,150 participants (up from around 6,000 in 2024), and the 2026 edition is targeting more than 7,000. This scale, on the same order as several fixtures on the economic forums circuit, is unusual for a regional French event and reflects the FEB's role as the reference gathering for the Grand Ouest business community.
The FEB structures its programme around seven recurring thematic pillars, each addressed through dedicated conference tracks and roundtables. The 2026 pillars are:
The 2026 edition runs under the theme "Une vie meilleure" and extends the forum into new public spaces in Saint-Malo, according to the organiser. The programme scale is substantial: the 2025 edition ran 65 conferences, 30 thematic "labs" and 175 speakers, and the organiser again schedules more than 100 individual conference sessions, panels and exchanges across the two days for 2026, with networking time and exhibition spaces running in parallel.
The 2026 speaker roster was being published progressively at the time of this research. Named participants confirmed for recent editions give a reliable indication of the calibre and profile on stage:
The Forum Économique Breton was created in 2020 as a Brittany-anchored alternative to generic national economic conferences; its first edition drew around 500 participants. The annual format then grew quickly: the fourth edition in 2023 targeted roughly 4,000 visitors, the 2024 edition passed 6,000, and the sixth edition on 10 and 11 September 2025 recorded 6,150 participants according to the organiser. Each edition has addressed the specific anxieties and opportunities of its moment, post-pandemic industrial recovery, energy cost shocks, digital transformation of traditional Breton sectors, while maintaining continuity in format, Saint-Malo venue and institutional backing. The 2025 edition ran under the theme "Pour un nouveau pacte breton" (For a new Breton pact); 2026, the seventh edition, shifts to "Une vie meilleure." By 2026 the FEB has established itself as the reference annual calendar fixture for professionals with significant Breton economic exposure, comparable in ambition to the French national gatherings listed on the economic forums circuit.
It is a regional event with national speakers. The FEB is explicitly rooted in the Brittany region: its programme, partners, institutional backers and thematic framing all centre on Breton territory and economy. That said, speakers regularly include Paris-based national figures, and the FEB attracts coverage in the French national economic press. It should be understood as a regional event that reaches national relevance by virtue of Brittany's economic weight, not as a national event that happens to be held in Saint-Malo.
Yes. All programming and published materials are in French. The FEB is a French-language event aimed at a French-speaking professional audience. No English-language tracks or simultaneous interpretation have been documented.
The FEB is closer in format to a professional congress or a public-affairs conference than to a trade show. There is an exhibition component, the Village des Partenaires on the Quai Saint-Malo, but the intellectual and networking weight sits in the conference programme: more than 100 sessions over two days, structured around seven thematic pillars. It is not a summit in the sense of a closed high-level gathering: registration is open to any professional willing to purchase a pass.
The forum is not designed for the following:
The Palais du Grand Large is Saint-Malo's principal congress centre, located on the Esplanade Saint-Vincent facing the sea. It is the natural home for large Breton professional gatherings and is paired with the adjacent Village des Partenaires exhibition space on the Quai Saint-Malo, which spans three halls and around 2,400 square metres of stands. Saint-Malo itself, positioned at the north-western tip of Brittany on the English Channel, is the region's most symbolically charged location for an event of this kind: a historic port city with strong Breton identity, international maritime heritage, and good rail and road connections from Rennes (approximately 70 km) and Paris (TGV to Rennes, then a connecting service).
We'll Group is the events production company responsible for organising the Forum Économique Breton, which was created and is led by Christian Pousset, its founder. The forum benefits from strong institutional co-support from the Brittany Regional Council and a broad base of major corporate and public-sector partners, including in recent editions Banque Populaire Grand Ouest, Caisse d'Épargne, CCI Bretagne, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, MEDEF Bretagne, Bpifrance and Banque des Territoires. The organiser can be reached through the official website.
Coverage of the FEB sits mainly in the Breton and Grand Ouest business press rather than the Paris national dailies, and clusters around three angles based on the confirmed examples below:
The organiser does not publicly disclose accredited journalist counts or media request volumes as of this verification.
The Forum Économique Breton is the most visible annual forum for Brittany's economic and civic leadership: a two-day, multi-track congress in Saint-Malo that combines hard business programming with genuine regional identity stakes, drawing 6,150 participants in 2025 according to the organiser and targeting more than 7,000 for 2026. It sits alongside the French national gatherings on the economic forums circuit, distinguished by its explicitly regional stakes.
Registration for the Forum Économique Breton is open to professionals and is managed through the official website, where a Billetterie (ticketing) link handles individual passes. Specific 2026 pass prices for general attendees were not published as a public tariff grid at the time of this research. Partner and exhibitor packages are documented: for example, a collective stand within a partner village was offered at EUR 1,250 excluding tax per co-exhibitor, including two days of exhibition space, lunches and complimentary entry passes. Given the event's positioning as a broad professional gathering rather than an invitation-only summit, attendance is accessible to any registrant willing to purchase a pass. The organiser and institutional partners may offer complimentary or discounted access for certain partner categories; details should be confirmed directly with the organiser. Attendees weighing this against other autumn fixtures can compare the economic forums circuit and the full upcoming EMEA events calendar.
Saint-Malo is accessible by TGV from Paris Montparnasse to Rennes (approximately 2 hours), followed by a regional train to Saint-Malo (approximately 1 hour). By car from Rennes the journey is approximately 70 km. The Palais du Grand Large is located on the seafront close to the historic walled centre, within walking distance of several hotels and the Saint-Malo train station (approximately 1 km).
Based on prior editions, registration opens several months before the September dates, with speakers and programme details published progressively during the summer. The official website is the authoritative source for registration opening dates and programme announcements. The 2026 roster was still being released at the time of this research.
Yes. In addition to the conference sessions at the Palais du Grand Large, the FEB includes the Village des Partenaires exhibition area in three halls on the Quai Saint-Malo, totalling around 2,400 square metres of stands. In past editions this space hosted stands from companies, public institutions and associations aligned with the forum's programmatic pillars.
The FEB is smaller in international reach but larger in regional density than most national gatherings. For contrast, Events Index also tracks Les Rencontres Économiques d'Aix-en-Provence as France's headline national economic forum, the Brussels Economic Forum at EU level, and the Delphi Economic Forum in southern Europe. The FEB differs from all three by anchoring its entire programme in a single French region.
| Official website | https://www.fe-breton.bzh/ |
| Speakers page | https://www.fe-breton.bzh/speakers |
| Bpifrance Big Média | https://bigmedia.bpifrance.fr/nos-evenements/forum-economique-breton |
| Economic forums circuit (Events Index) | /economic-forums.html |
| Upcoming EMEA events (Events Index) | /upcoming.html |