Are the famously socialist French now embracing an entrepreneurial future?

The cavernous converted train depot of Station F, now the world’s largest start-up campus, was under construction well before Emmanuel Macron clinched the French presidency in promise of a bright, entrepreneurial future for the Fifth Republic.

But the vibe here – the youngsters huddled around laptops and taking breaks at video game portals and foosball tables – meshes perfectly with Macron’s brand as a start-up president. In fact, to walk into this space very much feels like stepping back into his campaign headquarters, albeit on a different scale: Station F is the length of the Eiffel Tower, with space for 1,000 start-ups.

Serendipitously for both the president and Station F, the latter opened