Impact on innovation & entrepreneurship
The School has continued to strengthen its service to the community and capacity to help young and diverse entrepreneurial talent fulfil their dreams and pave the way for the companies of tomorrow through its twenty teaching programs, including MSc X-HEC entrepreneurs, HEC Challenge+ and Launchpad, and thanks to the power of its entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Your impact on entrepreneurship
Thank you for helping HEC to become a benchmark institution in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship and for helping to build this high energy institution. Senior Executive Director - SVP HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center, HEC Paris
Exemplifying the school of entrepreneurship and innovation
In 4 years, the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center has truly scaled up to become an Institute serving 3 research areas: Incubation & Acceleration, Social Entrepreneurship and Deep Tech Innovation.
This growth marks HEC’s strong commitment on all levels, in the aim of transforming our incredibly diverse, inclusive and committed community of HEC innovators and entrepreneurs into a powerful ecosystem with a tangible impact on society and the economy. We’ve come a long way thanks to our patrons, individuals, foundations and corporations. A huge thank you!
In light of the growing number of students on campus who dream of starting their own businesses and HEC Paris’ mission to contribute to developing an entrepreneurial spirit within companies, we wish to consolidate our leadership in entrepreneurship and innovation.
Our motto, “Learn to dare,” perfectly illustrates our expertise in this area. While the HEC Entrepreneurs program has been training generations of innovators for over forty years, entrepreneurship and innovation now play an important role in all the school’s programs.
HEC Paris’ location on the Saclay Plateau and its high-value added technological environment give the school a decisive advantage when it comes to developing multidisciplinary projects with high potential for innovation.
Achievements already made possible through donations
With the aim of developing deep tech training programs, XTX Markets, the leading algorithmic trading company, teamed up with HEC to create a new stream on Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence within the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL-Paris), the innovative program combining excellence, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit.
A partnership with University of Oxford - Saïd Business School was also set up with the support of XTX Markets, to unite start-up communities and develop international collaborations.
Schneider Electric will provide its expertise to the Deep Tech start-ups supported by this program, enabling the company to collaborate with students, mentors, entrepreneurs, scientists and academics and facilitate the emergence of solutions to climate change.
As a Major Donor and Legacy Benefactor of the Foundation, Philippe Foriel-Destezet (H.58) made a generous bequest, which the Foundation, in agreement with his family and the School, decided to dedicate in part to the development of this entrepreneurial program, a value that Philippe embodied so well. The HEC Startup Launchpad supports 130 students in their desire to launch a startup as soon as they graduate.
Out of the projects supported, 40% were launched after the program with an exceptional survival rate of 70% at three years. Consolidating the academic and operational team in the long-term was a priority for the School, which this major donation has helped to achieve. For the first time, all the students were given the opportunity to test their pitch in English before a panel of capital risk firms and business developers in London.
A milestone moment for the future generation of HEC entrepreneurs! Read the article
Each year, thanks to the generosity of Pascal Cagni (MBA.86), 3 students from NYU get a unique opportunity to spend a trimester in Paris and discover HEC’s entrepreneurial ecosystem by working alongside students on a business creation project, within the HEC Start-Up Launchpad and the Incubator. This memorable experience has a major impact on these young people’s lives and career hopes.
Our thanks to Pascal for this support which helps to position HEC as a leading venue for innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe.
« I’m very proud to have participated in this program which helped me to launch my first start-up within Launchpad and the Incubator. This unique experience took me out my comfort zone. I learned to design and implement solutions adapted specifically to social impact, an area I would like to devote my energy to in the future. »
Dimitri Pun, student at NYU
Supported by the McCall MacBain Foundation, CDL-Paris is a 9-month program aimed at start-ups developing technologies spun off from research. The lab brings together entrepreneurs, scientists and mentors in a structured support process, providing a unique opportunity for experimentation for the MBA students who also take part. HEC Paris is the first and only business school from mainland Europe to join forces with the Creative Destruction Lab.
CDL-Paris is now particularly focused on innovative sectors such as renewable energies, energy storage, infrastructure, transport, carbon capture and targeted initiatives for water, food and the oceans.
In October 2022, we joined forces with Olivier Wigniolle (H.85), CEO of Icade, to launch the Corporate Initiative “ICADE for Better Urban Living”. This partnership resulted from several years of close collaboration between Icade and the HEC Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center.
It has been particularly focused on creating the Icade Academy for “Innovating for Sustainable Urban Living” for first- and second-year students and on Icade’s support for the Innovation for Good certificate for final year students.
In 2022, 5 sessions of Stand Up, the HEC program that helps women achieve financial independence through entrepreneurship, were offered in France, the West Indies and Réunion thanks to sponsors including the Bruno Roux de Bézieux Foundation, the Michelin Foundation, BRED, Bank of America, Fondker Foundation, RATP Group Foundation and the generosity of individual donors such as Frédéric Pescatori (H.96) or René de Picciotto (H.64).
At the end of November, Joséphine (H.17) and Louis Bédier (H.17), members of the Bruno Roux de Bézieux Foundation – which is under the aegis of the HEC Foundation – met the participants of the HEC Stand Up session their foundation had funded. This provided the opportunity to practically assess the impact of their support and discover projects led by dynamic and motivated women entrepreneurs during a pitch session at the HEC Records venue in Paris.
""I am very proud to have been involved in bringing this first edition of the Stand Up project to the south of Italy, a region which is particularly close to my heart! Thanks to this program, 35 women – of all ages and professional backgrounds – have been able to acquire the entrepreneurial skills they need to get their business projects off the ground." René De Picciotto (H.64)
My education at HEC has played a key role in my entrepreneurial career and I became involved with the Foundation to support this aspect. Beyond the financial investment, this commitment contributes to an ecosystem where innovative ideas can flourish, where talents can thrive, and the leaders of tomorrow can emerge. This is my way of giving back to the school so that the entrepreneurial spirit can continue to grow within the community.
Donor of the HEC Foundation
Latest news about entrepreneurship at HEC
Portraits of Entrepreneurs
We met with 3 HEC Alumni entrepreneurs: Emilie Korchia (EM.15) - My Job Glasses, Sebastien Breteau (MS.97) – QIMA et Alix Pradère (H.94) – OpusLine part of Accenture. Discover their vision on entrepreneurship:
You don't succeed alone. You succeed because you inspire others to help you.Founder and CEO of Qima
