Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has announced that the company plans to open a "Startup Garage" in Station F, the world's biggest startup campus.
As a part of the project, Facebook will work with about 10 to 15 startups every six months in the Paris-based campus which will host over a thousand startups starting April.
Station F, based in Paris, is a huge historical monument which is going to have 3,000 desks for tech companies of all kinds.
French billionaire Xavier Niel said that there has been a lot of talk about this ecosystem and a lot of companies are willing to help including Facebook. Niel is the founder of a telecom company called Free and runs a bunch of startup-related projects as well, including Kima Ventures, an early stage investment company. He also runs the free coding school 42. He is financing Station F with his money, with Roxanne Varza leading the project.
Starting in April, Facebook will have eighty desks on a mezzanine near the entrance. Every six months, Facebook will work with 10 to 15 startups helping them as much as it can. Facebook engineers will regularly visit Station F, and weekly workshops will be conducted there so that young startups can learn from Facebook.
Further, Facebook plans to launch its first policy lab at Sciences Po working with Ecole 42 and SupInternet. The project, not a part of Station F, will include 30 students meeting with Facebook every week "to make the world a better place."
Also attending the launch, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said that the city's international ranking is a proof of its dynamism. "The city of Paris has become London's main challenger when it comes to investments in startups," Hidalgo said.