ESSEC Business School is committed to being a business school of reference in its support of organizations and society, positively influencing the way we address the major challenges of our time. We keep in with the expectations of our students and executive education participants who seek to undertake and create projects that are economically viable but also inclusive, innovative, sustainable, environmentally-sound, and respectful of all stakeholders. This ambition is reflected in our Transcend strategy that aims to accomplish our mission of inspiring new forms of leadership that provide meaning and direction and have a positive impact on the world, the School is committed to three central axes of development: ensure sustainable growth for ESSEC, reinforce our premium and pioneering positioning and provide all stakeholders with an excellent ESSEC experience. The Metalab Institute for AI, Data & Society constitutes one of the four major axes of the ESSEC Transcend strategy. It fosters interdisciplinary scientific research and pedagogical innovation, leveraged by the on-going transformations in data and AI technologies, in the fields of economics and management, humanities, as well as statistical and engineering sciences. It brings together ESSEC faculty, students and partners to produce impactful research and education programs about the adoption of AI, and related technologies, by the society at large.
We are:
As a General Purpose Technologies, Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning have started profoundly to transform businesses and the society. With the emergence of new managerial models, new jobs, and fresh challenges, society increasingly calls on the services of leaders and managers who understand and can use those disrupting technologies to serve businesses’ main stakeholders. Our ambition is to help businesses and society understand, leverage and use artificial intelligence and the power of data to enable citizens, businesses, organizations, and citizens to make well-informed decisions in an ethical and fair manner.
We believe that the biggest obstacle to the implementation of AI in businesses is not the lack of data scientists, but the lack of business and societal leaders trained in AI.
In this context, ESSEC, as a leading business school, has an essential role to play for supporting the education and training of current and future leaders and managers, by disseminating the cutting-edge research of its faculty, spanning on a wide range of disciplines including strategy, human resources, economics, finance, information systems and statistics.
The Metalab Institute helps organizations navigate and better understand the social, economic, cultural, and ethical impacts of AI and data.
How do we design AI tools tailored to industrial and academic needs?
Example: AI Agents for Finance
— robust generative and predictive AI solutions for asset managers.
How can organizations successfully integrate AI?
Example: AI Acceptability with BNP Paribas and AI for Responsible Leadership with Accenture: analyzing use cases and supporting leaders in adopting AI for informed decision-making.
How does AI optimize organizational processes and outcomes?
Example: Robustness in AI, in partnership with BNP Paribas, exploring approaches to improve model resilience and performance.
How is AI transforming cognitive and creative processes?
Example: Chair in Cultural Industries, Arts & Creative Tech
— advancing the use of AI to innovate in pedagogy and stimulate creation/creativity.
How does AI address ethical, governance, and security challenges?
Example: Ethics of AI with Onepoint
— focusing on regulation and ethics to anticipate the potential impacts of emerging technologies.
With its industry and public partners, the Metalab Institute intends to produce and take part in impactful research projects, develop innovative educational programs, as well as animate the public conversation about the adoption of data and AI technologies by business and society.
One of Metalab Institute's first missions is to disseminate relevant content. Metalab Institute’s productions are of multiple forms:
The Metalab Institute faculty and practitioners are engaged in multiple collaborations aimed at advancing an effective and fair adoption of data science and AI.
Some of our current alliances cover the topics of Ethical development of AI technologies, or the efficient use of Data Science in Financial Markets. The Metalab Institute currently has two renowned corporate partners, with whom the projects jointly developed and implemented contribute to the success of its actions:
Involving prominent ESSEC research faculty in relevant domains as diverse as economics & management, the humanities, statistical and engineering sciences, the Metalab acts as a catalyst and funding arm for cutting-edge research aligned with our mission.
Social, Economic and Management Sciences have a long experience in studying, modeling and predicting human behaviors with a specific attention borne to the context they operate in. Indeed, as opposed to the laws of physics, those of humans do not obey deterministic rules. Humans may interact strategically, their preferences may change, and their behavior evolves over time often displaying puzzling and seemingly irrational patterns.
Similarly, the nature of business activity is that it involves many individuals interacting simultaneously with each other, where traditional experimental techniques can’t be applied to identify causal relationships and form prescriptions.
Through their academic research, the 160 Research Professors at ESSEC improve Society's understanding of the profound transformations caused by the advancement of science. We all prove everyday that social, economic and management sciences play a key role in fostering scientific and human progress.
