HEC PARIS AI & Entrepreneurship
Fourth edition

HEC Paris AI and Entrepreneurship Workshop

Saturday 12 December 2026
HEC Paris campus, Jouy-en-Josas, France

Organised by Thomas Åstebro, Carlos Serrano and Saeid Kazemi
Department of Economics and Decision Sciences, HEC Paris

Call for papers

Thomas Åstebro and Carlos Serrano announce the fourth edition of the workshop, at the HEC Paris campus in Jouy-en-Josas.

01

Full-length paper

Due 30 September 2026. Submission details follow.

02

Not already accepted

Papers accepted for publication are not eligible.

03

Decisions

Early October 2026.

Keynote speakers

Assistant Professor of Economics

Ashesh Rambachan

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Econometrics and machine learning; human and algorithmic decision-making.

Associate Professor of Strategic Management

Kevin Bryan

University of Toronto

Innovation, entrepreneurship, technological change, and the economics of AI.

Topics

The workshop welcomes submissions on a broad range of topics related to entrepreneurship and AI. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Implications of AI for the organization of firms and markets
  • Entrepreneurship and innovation
  • Technology adoption, and how AI and humans cooperate
  • Labor markets, re- and upskilling
  • Organizational learning
  • Entrepreneurial selection and mentorship
  • Strategic management decisions under uncertainty
  • Governance and risk management
  • Comparisons with past technology revolutions

Key dates

30 Sep2026

Submission deadline

Full-length papers.

Early Oct2026

Decisions communicated

Authors and discussants confirmed.

10–11 DecThu–Fri

HEC Paris Entrepreneurship Workshop

Separate workshop, immediately before this one.

11 DecFriday

Welcome dinner

Paris.

12 DecSaturday

Workshop

Papers, keynotes and discussion, HEC Paris campus.

12 DecEvening

Main dinner

Near Versailles.

HEC Paris Entrepreneurship Workshop · 10–11 December 2026

Organised by Johan Hombert and Jessica Jeffers. Entrepreneurship, finance and innovation.

Details

Practical information

Address
HEC Paris campus · Building S
1 Rue de la Libération, 78350 Jouy-en-Josas, France
Google Maps
Date
Saturday
12 December 2026
Accommodation
On-campus conference hotel
Covered for speakers and discussants
Contact
Submissions, logistics and any questions
HEC Paris campus · Jouy-en-Josas Interactive map appears on the published site.

HEC Paris campus, Jouy-en-Josas · open in Google Maps for directions

Supporting organisations

12 December 2026

Programme

Published once decisions are made.

Announced early October

Papers are due 30 September 2026; decisions follow in early October. The running order appears here once fixed.

Call for papers

Shape of the day

Previous editions: two keynotes, six papers, a closing roundtable.

Discussants

Each paper was paired with a discussant. Travel funding prioritises discussants and junior scholars.

Dinners

11 December in Paris; 12 December near Versailles.

2023 · 2024 · 2025

Past editions

Programmes from 2023, 2024 and 2025.

2025

Third edition · 13 December 2025

Keynotes by Emma Brunskill (Stanford) and Luis Garicano (LSE)

Friday 12 December
20:00
Welcome dinner in Paris
By invitation only
Saturday 13 December
08:30 – 09:00
Coffee and welcome
Thomas Åstebro and Carlos Serrano (HEC Paris)
09:00 – 09:45
Training in the Age of AI: A Theory of Apprenticeship Viability
Luis Garicano (London School of Economics)
09:45 – 10:35
Voice AI in Firms: A Natural Field Experiment on Automated Job Interviews
Luca Henkel (Erasmus University) and Brian Jabarian (Chicago Booth) · Discussant: Craig L. Anderson (HEC Paris)
10:35 – 10:50
Coffee break
10:50 – 11:40
Noise or Signal? Professional Background and Prediction of Startup Success
Jacqueline Lane, Nathan Rietzler and Yuqi Zhang · Discussant: Thorsten Grohsjean (Bocconi University)
11:40 – 12:30
Cognitive Uncertainty in Venture Selection: the Roles of Experience and Complexity
Thomas Åstebro, Andrew Funck and Francesco Giordano (HEC Paris) · Discussant: Jose Peñalva (Universidad Carlos III Madrid)
12:30 – 13:30
Lunch
By invitation only
13:30 – 14:15
Estimating the Value of Personalization
Emma Brunskill (Stanford University)
14:15 – 15:05
AI Regulation, Startup Financing, and Talent Allocation
Junida Mulla (Oxford University) · Discussant: Paola Criscuolo (Imperial College London)
15:05 – 15:20
Coffee break
15:20 – 16:10
Internal Initial Conditions and Path Dependence: An Experimental and AI-Synthetic Study
Arnaldo Camuffo, Alfonso Gambardella and Saeid Kazemi (Bocconi University) · Discussant: Igor Asanov (University of Kassel)
16:10 – 17:00
Automation or Augmentation? Task Characteristics, Human-Centered Goals, and the Deployment of AI
Maximilian Koehler and Henry Sauermann (ESMT Berlin) · Discussant: Eduard Talamàs (IESE)
17:00 – 17:15
Coffee break
17:15 – 18:00
Roundtable — Mentorship as Infrastructure in the Age of AI
Thomas Åstebro, Andrea Pignataro and Carlos Serrano
18:00
Closing remarks
20:00
Main dinner near Versailles
By invitation only
2024

Second edition · 14 December 2024

Keynotes by Joshua Gans (Rotman) and Timothy Bresnahan (Stanford)

Friday 13 December
20:00
Welcome dinner in Paris
By invitation only
Saturday 14 December · Room 219, Building S
08:30 – 09:00
Coffee and welcome
Thomas Åstebro and Carlos Serrano (HEC Paris)
09:00 – 09:45
Knightian Uncertainty and Bayesian Entrepreneurship
Joshua Gans (Rotman, University of Toronto)
09:45 – 10:35
Theorizing with Large Language Models
Matteo Tranchero (Wharton), Cecil-Francis Brenninkmeijer, Arul Murugan and Abhishek Nagaraj (UC Berkeley) · Discussant: Henry Sauermann (ESMT Berlin)
10:35 – 10:50
Coffee break
10:50 – 11:40
Working Together, Forever? Project Evaluation, AI, and Managerial Redundancy
Vivek Choudhary (Nanyang), Arianna Marchetti (London Business School), Yash Raj Shrestha (University of Lausanne) and Phanish Puranam (INSEAD) · Discussant: Ronald Klingebiel (Frankfurt School)
11:40 – 12:30
AI and Theory-Based Decisions: Experimental Evidence and Research Program
Arnaldo Camuffo, Alfonso Gambardella, Saeid Kazemi, Abhinav Pandey and Andrea Pignataro (Bocconi University) · Discussant: Gael Le Mens (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
12:30 – 13:30
Lunch
By invitation only
13:30 – 14:15
The State of Artificial Intelligence Usage and Prospects for the Future
Timothy Bresnahan (Stanford University)
14:15 – 15:05
Artificial Intelligence in the Knowledge Economy
Enrique Ide and Eduard Talamàs (IESE) · Discussant: Ricardo Alonso (London School of Economics)
15:05 – 15:20
Coffee break
15:20 – 16:10
Reputational Algorithm Aversion
Gregory Weitzner (McGill University) · Discussant: Cathy Liu Yang (HEC Paris)
16:10 – 17:00
Experimental Evidence on AI-based Job Market Matching and Market Participation
Kevin Boudreau (Northeastern / NBER) and Sarah Bana (Chapman / Stanford) · Discussant: Sara Signorelli (École Polytechnique / CREST)
17:00 – 17:15
Coffee break
17:15 – 18:15
Roundtable — The Future of Compute in Europe?
Clara Chappaz (French Government), Maria Maragkou (Riverlane) and Philippe Notton (SiPearl) · Moderated by Thomas Åstebro (HEC Paris)
18:15
Closing remarks
19:30
Main dinner
By invitation only
2023

First edition · 16 December 2023

Keynotes by Alfonso Gambardella (Bocconi) and Avi Goldfarb (Rotman)

Friday 15 December
19:30
Welcome dinner in Paris
By invitation only
Saturday 16 December · Bellon Amphitheatre, Building S
08:30 – 09:00
Coffee and welcome
Thomas Åstebro and Carlos Serrano (HEC Paris)
09:00 – 09:45
Theory-driven, Data-driven, and AI-driven Innovations
Alfonso Gambardella (Bocconi University)
09:45 – 10:35
Algorithmic Management in Scientific Research
Maximilian Koehler and Henry Sauermann (ESMT Berlin) · Discussant: Chiara Franzoni (Politecnico di Milano)
10:35 – 10:50
Coffee break
10:50 – 11:40
Machine Predictions and Causal Explanations
Xi Kang (Vanderbilt) and Hyunjin Kim (INSEAD) · Discussant: Arnaldo Camuffo (Bocconi University)
11:40 – 12:30
The Crowdless Future?
Leonard Boussioux (University of Washington / MIT) and colleagues at Harvard Business School · Discussant: Ammon Salter (Warwick)
12:30 – 13:30
Lunch
By invitation only
13:30 – 14:15
Pause Giant AI Experiments?
Avi Goldfarb (Rotman, University of Toronto)
14:15 – 15:05
GPTs are GPTs
Tyna Eloundou and Sam Manning (OpenAI) with colleagues · Discussant: Mireia Giné (IESE)
15:05 – 15:20
Coffee break
15:20 – 16:10
Combining Human Expertise with AI
Nikhil Agarwal (MIT) and colleagues · Discussant: Kevin Bryan (Rotman, University of Toronto)
16:10 – 17:00
Will It be Cost-Effective to Automate?
Maja Svanberg (MIT) and colleagues · Discussant: Antonin Bergeaud (HEC Paris)
17:00 – 17:15
Coffee break
17:15 – 18:15
Roundtable with industry experts
Moderated by Peter Fischer (HEC Paris)
18:15
Closing remarks
19:00 – 22:30
Dinner near Versailles
By invitation only