AI consulting · Sophia Antipolis and Antibes
AI consulting and engineering in Sophia Antipolis and Antibes: AI inside your existing applications
GiLabs works on the technology park and in Antibes, on your premises. For software vendors, group subsidiaries and SMEs: the gain costed in euros process by process, then AI built into your code and your applications, .NET and SQL Server included, by someone who has written that code for fifteen years. In English or in French.
A technology park of engineers, and a town of SMEs next door
Sophia Antipolis, launched in 1969, spans five communes: Valbonne, Biot, Mougins, Vallauris and Antibes. The Sophia Antipolis urban community counts 2,500 companies, 38,000 employees, 4,500 researchers, 5,000 students and 64 nationalities there.
Antibes itself has 77,637 residents (INSEE, 2023 population) and 3,741 active establishments at the end of 2024, three quarters of them (74.7%) in trade, transport and services. 431 employ ten people or more.
These are two different audiences. On the park, technical teams are already in place: the question is not whether AI works, but where it pays in the product or in internal processes, and how to fit it into ten-year-old code without rewriting it. In Antibes, the question looks like that of any SME on the Riviera: documents, requests and re-keying.
Three situations we see often on the park and in Antibes
The first is specific to Sophia Antipolis. The other two are found on both sides of the motorway.
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Software vendors and existing .NET applications
A product in .NET and SQL Server, customers asking for AI, and a team tied up by the roadmap. AI goes into the existing code: retrieval over your data (RAG), Semantic Kernel and Agent Framework agents, document extraction. The work is done in your repository, with your developers, who take the code over afterwards.
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Subsidiaries and shared service centres of international groups
Support functions consolidating by hand what comes in from several countries: timesheets, invoices, reconciliations, reporting. Meetings and documentation are in English when that is the group's language. This is the case where a document pipeline with human validation has already reassigned about two full-time roles.
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SMEs in Antibes: marine industry, trade, services
Quotes, delivery notes, supplier invoices and customer requests handled by hand, often in two languages. Before buying a tool, the first step is to know what these tasks really cost, and which ones are worth automating.
What being local changes
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Workshops with your teams, on site
Process mapping and architecture reviews take place in your offices, on the park or in Antibes. A code or architecture review moves faster around a whiteboard than on a video call.
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Someone who reads your code
The person who costs the gain is the one who builds. With a technical team across the table, the conversation goes straight to what is real: your data model, your deployment constraints, what holds up in production.
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A handover, not a dependency
The code is delivered in your repository, documented, with its tests. The aim is for your team to maintain and extend it without GiLabs.
The AI ecosystem in Sophia Antipolis
The park concentrates the area's public AI resources. They are open to businesses, and not only those based in Sophia.
- Maison de l'Intelligence Artificielle : a demonstration and awareness centre opened in 2020 on the park by the Alpes-Maritimes Department, with workshops for professionals.
- 3IA Côte d'Azur : the interdisciplinary AI institute led by Université Côte d'Azur, on the research and training side.
- Communauté d'Agglomération Sophia Antipolis : the urban community: economic development, business location and incubators.
Frequently asked questions
Does GiLabs have an office in Sophia Antipolis or Antibes?
No. GiLabs is a French company registered in Nice (SIREN 108 308 214), with its registered office in Bendejun, in the hills north of Nice. Its founder, Yann Gilliot, works on client premises on the park and in Antibes for workshops, reviews and go-live. Development is done remotely, in your code repository.
We already have developers. What does an outside firm add?
Three things a team tied up by its roadmap has no time for. Costing first where AI pays, so the wrong feature does not get built. Bringing integration patterns already proven in production: document extraction with human validation, RAG on SQL Server, agents with guardrails. Then handing over: the code is written in your repository, to your conventions, and your team takes it on.
Which technologies do you work with?
The stack follows yours. The most common ground is .NET, SQL Server and Azure AI, with Semantic Kernel and Microsoft Agent Framework for agents, and n8n for automations your teams need to read and change. PostgreSQL and other model providers are just as fine if that is what you run.
Do you work in English?
Yes. Workshops, deliverables, documentation and code reviews are in English or in French, depending on your team's working language.
Do our data and code leave our environment?
No, unless you decide so in writing. Development is done in your repository and your environments. Data location and the model provider are agreed in writing before the work starts, with hosting in the European Union whenever you ask for it.
Where the figures come from
- Sophia Antipolis, Europe's first technology park: companies, employees, researchers, students, communes (in French) Communauté d'Agglomération Sophia Antipolis, read on 1 October 2026
- Full profile of the commune of Antibes (06004): 2023 population, establishments by sector and by size band at the end of 2024 (in French) INSEE, read on 1 October 2026