DEEPTECH – the innovation of tomorrow
Ambition
Launch two new programs per year to accelerate innovation through the Creative Destruction Lab – HEC Paris, focusing on strategic areas such as Defense, Biotechnology/Health, Robotics, and New Energies.
Develop new courses combining business and science for 1,000 HEC Paris students.
HEC supports scientific startups — born from research or disruptive technological innovations — as they navigate their business challenges. In 2024, more than 310 startups have been supported across 10 incubators and accelerators.
Since 2020, HEC Paris has been the first school in continental Europe to join the global Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) consortium, now supported by leading universities such as the University of Toronto, Imperial College, Politecnico di Milano, the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Georgia Tech, and Texas A&M. CDL is a non-profit organization offering a program focused on early-stage scientific and technological innovations addressing tomorrow’s global challenges.
The CDL program is a catalyst where researchers, entrepreneurs, mentors, and students come together to transform knowledge into breakthrough innovations and turn bold ideas into deep and lasting impact.
We also train our students to understand and support the technological challenges of the future. CDL-Paris provides a unique experiential learning opportunity for HEC MBA students who take part in the program. CDL is integrated into the curriculum of our MBA program.
Each year, 70 MBA students have the opportunity to work directly with the companies selected by CDL-Paris. Students help these companies build financial models, assess potential markets, and refine their growth strategies.
CDL-Paris at HEC Paris was launched in 2021 with the Climate stream, supported by the McCall MacBain Foundation, and has since rapidly established itself as the benchmark program for tech entrepreneurs specializing in five fields: Space, Climate, AI, Next Gen Computing, and Carbon Removal.
In terms of pedagogy, this program is unique. Each of the 112 startups selected annually has nine months to test and validate its idea, structured around five sprint sessions. Following these sessions, founders can rely on the support of both mentors and HEC Paris MBA students to help them reach their objectives.
More than 100 exceptional mentors — from the scientific world, investors, unicorn founders, and major companies — surround the startups like an advisory board.
immersed in cutting-edge innovation
supported since the creation of CDL-Paris
FROM IDEA TO IMPACT
By supporting the CDL-Paris, you directly contribute to the development of concrete solutions that address current and future challenges.
The CDL-Global network now includes 23 thematic streams across 15 locations worldwide, each focused on a specific domain: an emerging technology or an application sector where multiple technologies converge to create new solutions for our future.
Your support will enable the school to position itself within new disruptive fields and offer students early access to innovation: Defense, Biotechnology & Health, Robotics, and New Energies.
Your impact is tangible: you help transform cutting-edge research into scalable, meaningful solutions for the economy and society.
You strengthen HEC’s position as a key player in disruptive innovation.