ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Director Frédéric Delmar outlined the concept of the school’s new centralised entrepreneurship institute at the anniversary event
E mlyon was launched by entrepreneurs, the suburbs of Écully one hundred years later. Now, with around 9,000 students and an alumni network of more than 45,000, the school has returned to the city centre. To mark its relocation, Emlyon is reasserting its emphasis on entrepreneurship and looking to ramp up its impact on the communities it serves. “Since its creation, entrepreneurship has been a topic that we have developed at the school,” explains Emlyon’s executive president and dean, Isabelle Huault. To co-ordinate its expertise and offerings around entrepreneurship, the school has created a new centre called the Institute for Impactful Entrepreneurship and Innovation (I2E). It launched last November, as part of the celebrations marking Emlyon’s relocation to the Gerland district of France’s second‑largest city. having been established by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Lyon in 1872. Its first home was in the heart of the city, before its growth entailed moving to a new site in At its helm is entrepreneurship professor Frédéric Delmar. He says the new institute is the result of trying to put all Emlyon’s activities in this area “under a single umbrella” in a way that simplifies its offerings for those outside the school, making them more accessible and appealing. “We’re doing so many different things at so many different levels that it was difficult for an outsider to understand,” Delmar reasons, before adding: “In this competitive market, our history of entrepreneurship had become a bit faded over the years.” Yet, as Delmar outlines, the school has an extensive and varied output A rich history of start-up support at Emlyon Business School dating back four decades has been given a new lease of life with the launch of a centralised institute that brings all its innovation offerings and activities under one roof. Tim Banerjee Dhoul visited the school’s new city campus to find out more about its spirit of entrepreneurship
in entrepreneurship that encompasses everything from research and course programming to its Makers’ Lab; the latter of which is a prototyping workshop space where students can bring ideas to life using 3D printers, laser cutters and sewing machines. Huault remarks that entrepreneurial spirit is embedded in Emlyon’s DNA and points to the impact of the school’s incubator in particular. Established in 1984, its 40th anniversary set the stage for the launch of I2E. “Emlyon was the first business school in France to launch an incubator and since then, around 1,800 start-ups and 15,000 jobs have been created. So, the output is rather good and it’s an important platform for highlighting and promoting our spirit of entrepreneurship.” For Delmar, the time of the incubator’s establishment in the 1980s came at “the beginning of entrepreneurship as we know it.” He explains that the period remains “very special” for scholars of innovation and new enterprise because of the way in which long-held belief in large organisations and the Fordism model of mass production began to be challenged by the development of IT and the emergence of young tech players, such as Apple and Microsoft. Placing an emphasis on learning With such deep roots, supporting entrepreneurs to get their businesses off the ground is something that holds a singular significance at Emlyon. “We were the pioneer in this field in France and that’s why having an incubator to help start-ups grow and develop is very important for a school like us,” enthuses Huault.
Ambition • ISSUE 1 • 2025 27
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