Creative Destruction Lab - Paris
Launched in 2020, the CDL Certificate – HEC Paris puts students on the front lines of launching a startup.
Work Directly with Successful Entrepreneurs
Established by Professor Ajay Agrawal at the Rotman School of Management in 2012 and now at 14 locations worldwide that run more than 22 different streams, the Creative Destruction Lab is a seed-stage program with a proven track record for vaulting science- and technology-based startups to commercial success.
To date, CDL has helped create an equity value of over $37 billion in companies worldwide. HEC Paris was the eighth university worldwide to become a CDL site. Overall, more than 7,900 founders in 2,900+ ventures have participated in CDL.
CDL trains HEC Paris MBA students to be effective business consultants in any field. Participants work directly with one of the companies in CDL-Paris, helping ventures develop financial models, evaluate potential beachhead markets, and fine-tune their strategies for scaling up their businesses.
The program at HEC Paris is competitive, so students must apply to be considered since seats are limited. During the 10-month program, which may include participation in initial venture selection, students gain first-hand experiences in all aspects of scaling a DeepTech company, with clear and concrete learning outcomes.
You will:
• Develop your consulting skills
• Learn how to evaluate early-stage science- and technology-based ventures
• Learn how to prioritize goals for CEOs
• Learn best practices directly from seasoned business operators
• Learn how to tackle climate change, space or AI challenges and spot opportunities for application of new technology
To earn the CDL Certificate, the HEC Paris experience begins in July and August with a general asynchronous introductory course. This is followed by face-to-face, stream-specific advanced and super-advanced courses running through April (with the option to complete the program by December), designed to deepen your understanding of entrepreneurship. Most of your time, however, is devoted to working as a consultant for one of the CDL-Paris companies, helping these ventures commercialize their science for the benefit of humankind - the core mission of CDL.
You will engage closely with early-stage startups, CDL mentors, and potential investors. Regular in-person sessions bring all these stakeholders together to assess the viability of each venture. As a result, MBAs must be highly professional and motivated to thrive in this environment.
About the Creative Destruction Lab-Paris Streams
Founded in 2020 in partnership with HEC Paris, CDL-Paris hosts four ‘streams’ or verticals of focus.
The CDL-Paris Climate stream supports climate-focused ventures developing solutions to preserve and protect the natural world.
The CDL-Paris Space stream – run jointly with CDL-Toronto, CDL-Texas, and CDL-Milan – works with science and technology ventures applying advanced solutions such as artificial intelligence to space-related products and services.
The AI & Machine Learning stream is designed for founders creating industrial applications that leverage the latest advances in structuring information, predicting patterns, and solving complex problems.
The Next Generation Computing stream – delivered in collaboration with CDL-Berlin – focuses on ventures pioneering transformative computing technologies such as quantum computing, neuromorphic hardware, and novel chip architectures, with the potential to redefine industries and solve previously intractable challenges.
Every year, up to 40 highly scalable startups are admitted per stream, each supported by two (or one) HEC Paris MBA student consultants. Using an objectives-based approach, CDL mentors help companies cut through distractions and focus on achieving their most critical short-term milestones.