Digital Disruption Chair
The ESSEC Digital Disruption Chair supports today’s leaders and prepares the next generation. It helps organizations understand and respond strategically to emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, blockchain and quantum computing. Based on ESSEC Business School’s Paris and Singapore campuses, the Chair works with both the people developing these technologies and the executives deploying them.
The Chair conducts applied research into how emerging technologies reshape industries. Students selected through an application process contribute to this work through projects with companies at the technological frontier. The Chair also contributes to public debate through the Digital Disruption Matrix, its annual barometer of emerging technologies, and its regular publications.
The Chair brings together an ecosystem spanning finance, consulting and technology. BNP Paribas and Sia are Chair partners, while Google, Amazon and SAP support its work and activities.
“We prepare students to understand emerging technologies, question their promise and explore their applications. Working with the people who develop and deploy them, students learn to exercise judgment, experiment and make decisions that shape the future of organizations.”
Professor and Holder of the Digital Disruption Chair
The Chair develops an essential capability: understanding emerging technologies to make better strategic decisions. Students learn to assess their maturity, identify relevant applications and anticipate their implications for business models, organizations and society.
The experience combines academic teaching, company projects and direct exchanges with executives, entrepreneurs, technology experts and public decision-makers. Students test their analyses against practical realities and develop recommendations, tools or prototypes that address concrete challenges.
Offered in France and Singapore, the Chair connects students with European and Asian innovation ecosystems. It develops critical thinking, the ability to work across disciplines and the confidence to engage with both technical teams and business leaders.
Teaching that connects understanding with decision-making. The Digital Disruption and Digital Disruption Challenges seminars, complemented by Digital Humanism, bring together strategy, technology and human considerations.
Company projects supported by professional mentors. Students explore emerging challenges, from agentic AI and digital assets to cybersecurity, and develop practical responses.
Direct access to the people making technology decisions. Masterclasses, small-group discussions and company visits connect students with the people developing, deploying and governing technologies.
Learning expeditions into innovation ecosystems. These visits introduce students to companies and institutions, expose them to different approaches and help them explore how industries are changing.
Research and insights that inform public debate. The annual Digital Disruption Matrix, alongside the Chair’s analyses and public contributions, extends the conversation to businesses and wider audiences.
In Paris-Cergy, the program is open to students enrolled in the Master in Management – Grande École, Global BBA years 4 and 5, and Specialized Master’s programs.
In Singapore, it is open to Master in Management – Grande École students studying on that campus, including those on the TIE track.
Admission to the Chair is by application.
Chair Professor
Chair Assistant
Executive Director
Research Manager
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