HEC Paris, the Top 4 European Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The Financial Times has placed the HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute at number 4 in its Europe's Leading Start-Up Hubs ranking. In 2025, this ranking powered by the Financial Times, Sifted and data provider Statista, rated 150 of Europe’s startup hubs — centres that offer incubator or accelerator programmes to founders who want to build or grow a company — to find the best on offer across the continent.
HEC Paris is proud to debut in the ranking with its Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute securing a position in the Top 4. This achievement demonstrates HEC Paris' influence beyond its campus boundaries, and the robustness of its ecosystem.
What The Ranking Says About HEC Paris
This ranking highlights the impact of the most effective incubation and acceleration programs in Europe, based on the satisfaction of entrepreneurs supported between 2018 and 2023. This number 4 position indicates HEC Paris' consistent delivery of tangible results in terms of startup creation/development, funding attraction, and overall ecosystem strength.
Undeniably, the European startup landscape is a dynamic and fiercely competitive arena, where innovation, talent, and a robust ecosystem are instrumental to successfully support promising startups. This top 4 placement of the HEC Paris Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute also reflects its commitment to fostering a thriving entrepreneurial environment to support entrepreneurs at every stage of their journey, regardless of their profile.
In 2024, the HEC Paris Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute recorded impressive achievements, showcasing the power of its ecosystem:
- 594 startups were supported by the Institute’s 30+ programs.
- Over 100 of these startups align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
- 39% have at least one woman as a founder or co-founder.
- 1,7B€ has been raised by the HEC Paris community in 2024
Over the past five years, fundraisings amounted to 16.4 billion euros, with 86% of these startups showing a 3-year survival rate.
So far, the HEC Paris community is accountable for the creation of 16 unicorns, including 14 still active (including HEC Alumni still on the startup's board). In France, 27% (7 out of 26) of active French unicorns were founded by a former HEC Paris student: Mirakl, Doctolib, Ankorstore, Qonto, Ivalua, Younited, and Aircall.
"The position of the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in this ranking confirms the quality of support offered by HEC Paris to entrepreneurs, and our commitment to creating a diverse ecosystem conducive to startup success. We will continue to innovate and push boundaries to shape the future of entrepreneurship and have an impact on the economy and society."
Inge Kerkloh-Devif, Senior Executive Director of the HEC Paris Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute.
A Thriving Ecosystem
To make this happen, HEC Paris can rely on the Institute’s three Centers: The Incubation and Acceleration Center and the Deep Tech Center, both hosted at Station F, which secured the number 2 position in the ranking, as well as the Social Entrepreneurship Center. These Centers aim to support entrepreneurs from all backgrounds through various support programs adapted to all stages of business project maturity, such as the Incubateur HEC Paris, Startup Launchpad, Challenge Plus, Creative Destruction Lab - Paris, Stand Up, Accelerateur ESS, etc.
The Institute also benefits from a rich network of 1,000+ experts and mentors, academic excellence, cutting-edge research — HEC Paris has just inaugurated the ION Management Research Lab to understand mentorship's impact on performance and innovation —, strong industry connections, and a vibrant and committed network of alumni. These key assets led the Institute to reach the top 4 in this Financial Times ranking.
The Financial Times crowns a year rich in successes for the Institute, which has also seen its startups and alumni distinguish themselves in 2024 in various major rankings and competitions:
- 42.5% of startups selected in the STATION F Future 40
- 26% included in the Spring50
- 20% featured in the LinkedIn Top Startups France
- Winner of the Female Founder Challenge (VivaTech) and the LVMH Innovation Award
Find out how HEC Paris startups performed in 2024 French and European rankings.
The Methodology Behind the Financial Times’ Europe's Leading Startup Hubs Ranking
The Financial Times, through Sifted, a leading publication covering the European tech and startup scene, collaborated with data provider Statista to produce the ranking. Statista developed a comprehensive scoring system to evaluate institutions by integrating multiple factors, including data supplied by the centers, alumni feedback and evaluations, industry perception of the center's reputation, and the performance history of companies that participated in the program.
More precisely, the evaluation criteria considered include mentoring, infrastructure, business development advice, legal assistance, as well as access to funding and networking opportunities.
These elements were combined using a weighted methodology to produce the final scores.