HEC Paris and Sanofi are joining forces to introduce a new stream dedicated to biotechnology within the Deep Tech innovation program, Creative Destruction Lab Paris (CDL-Paris). This initiative seeks to deepen the understanding of the scientific, technological, and entrepreneurial challenges transforming the healthcare sector. The program will be open to HEC Paris MBA students, equipping them with knowledge of new innovation dynamics in life sciences.
In an era where artificial intelligence, computation, and automation are accelerating biological research, the stakes extend beyond scientific discovery. The ability to transform an advancement into a developable, verifiable, industrializable, and ultimately patient-accessible technology is becoming crucial. It is precisely this continuity between research, development, experimentation, industrialization, and scaling that the new Biotech stream at CDL-Paris embodies.
The Biotech stream will support innovations addressing major contemporary health challenges, from novel therapeutic approaches to technologies for better measurement, modeling, production, and industrialization of life sciences. Projects will focus on areas such as treatments for cancer, rare diseases, autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, as well as RNA, cell, and gene therapies. Significant emphasis will also be placed on technologies accelerating research, like AI applied to drug discovery and life sciences modeling, while integrating production and quality considerations for large-scale deployment.
The Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), established at HEC Paris in 2020 and affiliated with the HEC Institute's Deep Tech Center, is a non-profit international program. It mentors scientific projects for nine months, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, economists, and scientists around strategic objectives. Since 2020, 415 projects have participated in the program in Paris. The Biotech stream is the sixth CDL stream in France, following Climate, AI, Space, Next Generation Computing, and Carbon Removal.
HEC Paris MBA students will have the opportunity to participate in the Biotech stream, directly engaging with the challenges of technological innovation and entrepreneurship in healthcare. They will collaborate with entrepreneurs, experts from various fields, and experienced mentors, receiving a certificate upon completion. This approach connects HEC Paris's expertise in management, strategy, and entrepreneurship with the profound transformations underway in life sciences.
Inge Kerkloh-Devif, Senior Executive Director at HEC Institute and co-site lead of the Creative Destruction Lab Paris, added: 'Faced with accelerating scientific advancements, the challenge in biotechnology is now to transform discovery into scalable, industrializable, and developable solutions. With Sanofi, this new CDL-Paris stream allows us to enhance our students' training in the scientific, technological, and entrepreneurial transformations shaping the future of health, by fostering direct interaction with researchers, entrepreneurs, experts, and mentors. This partnership also helps bridge education, research, and innovation within a European biotechnology ecosystem focused on sustainable health impact solutions.'
