The ION Management Science Lab is the result of a €10 million gift from Italian entrepreneur Andrea Pignataro’s ION Foundation. Its main focus will be analyzing the impact of mentorship in areas such as innovation and company performance. As well as startups, it will also focus on mentorship within medium-sized and larger organizations, including non-profits.
The lab, which will launch in partnership with the HEC Foundation and the Deep Tech Center at the HEC Paris Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute, aims to draw on academia and industry, including the non-profit sector, to produce insights to inspire and inform innovation.
Pignataro is the founder and CEO of ION Group, a financial data and technology firm, and one of the world’s top 100 billionaires, according to Forbes. Through the ION Foundation, an affiliate of ION Group, he has previously established similar Management Science Labs in Italy at Milan’s Bocconi University and in the US at Utah University, which the HEC lab will collaborate with.
Announcing the new lab at HEC Paris, Pignataro said he was pleased to support the transformative impact of mentorship.
“Mentorship is everywhere—driving learning and growth in startups, universities, and businesses of all sizes—and its relevance only intensifies in an age of rapid AI-driven transformation. Through data-driven experimentation and theoretical modeling, we hope to foster the partnerships between academia and industry to propel innovation,” he added.
Similarly Eloic Peyrache, dean of HEC Paris, highlighted the effect that mentorship can have in propelling growth of all organizations.
“This initiative aligns with our commitment to empower individuals through cutting-edge insights that drive impactful change,” he said.
Professor Carlos Serrano, who will take the role of scientific director of the Lab, added: “In an era of rapid AI-driven transformation, we will bridge practice with academic insights to unlock mentorship’s potential in fostering learning and driving growth in startups, corporations, and universities.”
