Creative Destruction Lab - Paris (CDL-Paris)
Creative Destruction Lab - Paris Creative Destruction Lab - ParisLanguage: English
About the program
Since 2020, HEC Paris has established a strategic alliance with the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), a global nonprofit startup program dedicated to seed-stage, science-based companies addressing solutions for tomorrow's global challenges, impacting business, society, and the environment. The program takes no equity and charges no fees - it is funded through philanthropy as a result.
Our program employs an objectives-based mentoring process, led by a select group of exceptional entrepreneurs, angel investors, economists, and scientists.
We welcome participants with ambitious, massively scalable projects driven by disruptive deep technologies in biotechnologies, AI, quantum, climate, and space, offering the potential for substantial impact.
Creative Destruction Lab - Paris
Our three CDL streams
HEC Paris has been a member of the Creative Destruction Lab network, alongside a dozen other institutions such as University of Oxford, University of Toronto, Georgia Tech, etc. This non-profit network was created to connect top business schools, to collaborate in providing business support to science-based startups, and to develop ecosystems around edge technologies.
CLIMATE
CDL-Paris Climate stream focuses on innovation areas such as Mobility & transportation, Greenhouse Gas Reduction & Carbon Sequestration, Renewable/alternative energy & storage, Food tech, agricultural tech and aquaculture, Waste & circular economy...
SPACE
CDL-Paris Space stream focuses on innovation areas such as Satellite communications, Earth observation, Positioning, navigation, and timing, Space Situational Awareness, Software and AI systems, Robotics and automation, Computing and data processing...
AI
CDL-Paris AI stream focuses on innovation areas such as Intelligent process automation, Robotic process automation, Automated pathology recognition, Drug discovery, Machine learning operations, Harnessing data lakes, Cybersecurity risk management...
Our partners
Program Objectives
The program’s objective-setting process enhances the performance of technical founders who learn from the insights of experienced entrepreneurs, increasing their probability of success.
- Focused mentorship from proven entrepreneurs who have founded, led, and sold significant tech companies
- Technical advice from world-leading scientists, engineers, and economists
- Access to top business students, who embed within the company to provide business development support
- Opportunities to raise capital from North American and European investors
KEY FIGURES
3000+
Participating startups globally
$30B
In startup equity value created
as of July 2023
13
Universities collaborating across 3 continents
Our mission
The mission of HEC Paris has always been to understand the world of tomorrow, and to prepare the members of our communities to be leaders in this world. Today, we can witness the transformations that are brought by entrepreneurship at large, and by the continuous emergence of edge technologies in all industries.
For this reason, the topic of Deep Tech and science-based entrepreneurship has become a focus within the school.
More than just a program...
Join the program
Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a not-for-profit seed-stage program for massively scalable science-based companies. The program takes no equity and charges no fees - it is funded through philanthropy.
HEC Paris MBA Students
Every year, 30 MBA students have the opportunity to work directly with the companies in CDL-Paris. Students help these ventures develop financial models, evaluate potential markets, and fine-tune their strategies for scaling up their businesses.
For the nine months of the certificate, students gain first-hand experience in all aspects involved in founding a company, including:
- Creating the idea/business
- Protecting yourself from competition
- Designing competitive advantage
- Building a business model
- Financing a new ventures
"There are 3 unique opportunities that CDL presents HEC Paris MBA students: First, exposure to seasoned entrepreneurs who offer raw, unadulterated advice on how to build and scale up a start-up; second, the opportunity to apply business theory to real-world problems by working as a consultant for the venture; lastly, and quite simply, CDL presents you with the unparalleled opportunity to be part of something potentially huge, right from a very early stage and in a controlled environment."
Learn more about CDL-Paris...
News
CDL-PARIS OPERATIONS TEAM
CDL-PARIS ACADEMIC TEAM
