emlyon celebrates opening of this Lyon campus
Two months after a very successful start to the new academic year, emlyon business school is celebrating the opening of its new campus in the Gerland district of Lyon. This is an opportunity to bring together all the school's stakeholders (local authorities, institutional players, professors-researchers, partner companies, students, learners, alumni, employees of the school, entrepreneurs, etc.) to the new site, which reflects the School's "raison d'être": “train and support all throughout their lives, informed leaders able to transform organizations efficiently for a fairer society, with more solidarity and respect for the planet.
The new emlyon campus: a dynamic and attractive place where the future is being built
With 30,000m2 based on the former Nexans industrial site, including 7,000m2 of collaborative spaces and 1,600m2 dedicated to community life, the new campus embodies the ambition of the School's strategic plan: Résonances 2028. It demonstrates emlyon business school's commitment to training ‘makers', i.e. committed students capable of exploring alternative futures, building and taking concrete action in the service of society. The Lyon campus reflects the values and DNA of the School:
- A sustainable and responsible place. Thanks to a third of the campus surface occupied by the garden and outdoor spaces (i.e. around 9,000m2 of green space), 500 solar panels on the roof and a building certified HQE Excellent and BREEAM Very Good and OsmoZ. mission-driven company,emlyon wishes to anchor its social and environmental values at the heart of its educational approach. For example, 100% of students, lecturers and staff have been trained in social and environmental issues.
- A lively and inspiring place dedicated to teaching through action. With 97 connected classrooms, a makers' lab, the latest teaching tools, and modular spaces to adapt the campus to the needs of students, professors and teams. The makers' spirit, a strong feature of emlyon's DNA, and this new campus play a major role in the school's attractiveness, as illustrated by the recruitment of some fifteen new research professors at the start of the new academic year, bringing the total number of professors to 180.
- A place that is connected and open to the world. Thanks to its location at the heart of a rich academic ecosystem, which stimulates hybrid knowledge, interdisciplinarity, and intellectual exchanges, and a quality neighbourhood with the future WHO academy and the Lyon BioPôle biocluster. It will also consolidate links with the Lyon ecosystem, for example through collaboration with the LYFE institute. It is also a nodal point, putting the School and its students in closer proximity to local, cultural and socio-economic affairs, as well as national and international players, thanks to its accessibility.
With this campus, emlyon is offering all its stakeholders an exceptional location: for students, academic excellence that will enable them to build their future for a fairer society that respects the planet; for companies, the ability to train their employees to anticipate changes in the world in which they operate; for professors and employees, an innovative, modern working environment that is connected to the city and the world
Entrepreneurship and innovation at the heart of emlyon's DNA and educational project
As part of the celebrations for its new campus, emlyon is announcing the creation of the Institute for Impactful Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I2E). This new Institute aims to strengthen the visibility and coordination of all entrepreneurship initiatives within the school, for all stakeholders. The I2E Institute is fully in line with the School's strategy, reflecting its commitment to training action-oriented leaders and change entrepreneurs.
The Institute will be organised around two major centres: an innovation centre and an entrepreneurship centre. It will be based on 4 types of initiatives:
- Dedicated programmes and courses: The entrepreneurship and innovation department at emlyon brings together nearly 30 professor-researchers and offers more than 80 courses in all the main programmes, in initial and continuing education.
- A research centre: InvEnt Entrepreneurship and Innovation hosts all research on entrepreneurship and innovation at the School. The centre benefits from the active contribution of researchers from multiple disciplines, such as management, anthropology, corporate finance, economics, and sociology.
- emlyon venture Labs: emlyon was a pioneer, being the first business school to launch an incubator in 1984 (40 years ago to the day). Present on the Lyon and Paris campuses, the Incubator has been responsible for the creation of 1,800 businesses and 15,000 net jobs in 40 years. Today, to go further and anticipate the needs of entrepreneurs, the incubator and accelerator offerings are merging to become ‘emlyon venture labs' and thus provide greater clarity.
- An entrepreneurship space: a real showcase for the School's offer in this area thanks to its central position on the new campus and visibility from the street, this space of almost 250 m² will be a place for exchanges and meetings between students, entrepreneurs, professors and experts.
The entrepreneurial spirit has been at the heart of emlyon since its creation. The School was founded on the initiative of silk entrepreneurs to provide theoretical and practical training for future leaders. This heritage has flourished within the School over its 150 years of existence, and the creation of our Institute for Impactful Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I2E) marks a new stage. This will enable us to raise the profile of our initiatives, which are designed to have a positive impact on society as a whole
Three days of celebrations to officially launch the campus
From 21 to 23 November, emlyon business school celebrated the inauguration of its new campus with three exceptional days of festivities and exchanges. This landmark moment embodies a new era for the School and its roots at the heart of the city of Lyon, around its ambition to train the decision-makers of tomorrow:
- On Thursday 21, the official launch with nearly 1,000 guests - students, institutional and economic partners, teacher-researchers gather around an immersive ceremony. An event punctuated by experiential tours of the campus christened ‘The Sounds of makers.'
- Friday 22 celebrates the 40th anniversary of the emlyon incubator and the official launch of the Institute for Impactful Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This day will bring together on campus 40 startups incubated at emlyon over 4 decades as well as a pitch competition. The incubates will be sharing their successes and innovations, and the School will be emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurship in its strategy. It was also an opportunity to make official the ‘emlyon venture labs' offering within the I2E Institute.
- Saturday 23 is dedicated to the alumni community, with the ‘emlyon alumni connect' day. This unique event brings together more than 1,000 alumni from different generations around participative workshops, a conference by the Leadership Academy for New Futures and the presentation of the Alumni Makers Awards 2024.
About emlyon business school:
Founded in 1872 by the Lyon Chamber of Commerce, emlyon business school has an enrollment of over 9,050 students of 130 nationalities across four campuses worldwide (Lyon, Shanghai, Paris, and Mumbai). The school relies on a Faculty of 170 internationally recognized professors and researchers, and a network of 200 global academic partners, to provide learning tracks of academic excellence open to the world. The school runs a community of 45,000 alumni spread over 130 countries. As a benefit corporation (société à mission) emlyon aims to “train and support informed leaders, throughout their lives, who are able to transform organizations efficiently for a fairer society and with greater solidarity and respect for the planet”. The school's pedagogy closely links action and reflection. Skill hybridization and social responsibility are also at the heart of its training programs, where the best of both socio-economic and academic worlds meet. The strategic plan, “Resonances 2028”, reaffirms the importance of the “maker spirit” that has been the DNA of emlyon since its creation. The plan is built around the five qualities expected of “makers”, emlyon students, to become entrepreneurs of change, namely: academic excellence; entrepreneurial spirit; engagement; hybrid knowledge; resonance with society.