IESE-led startups create 72,000 jobs worldwide and raise $11.8 billion in capital

Companies founded by the IESE community have created 72,000 jobs worldwide and raised $11.8 billion in capital as the school continues expanding its entrepreneurial ecosystem, according to a new report.

The report measures the impact of IESE’s entrepreneurship activities over the last two decades and sets out goals in the area for the year 2030. The numbers are based on an analysis of internal IESE data, complemented with external databases such as Crunchbase, Dealroom, PitchBook, and LinkedIn, among others.

Service to society

“Entrepreneurship is part of our school’s mission. We aim to develop leaders who will have a deep and lasting impact through their professional excellence and spirit of service. Successful entrepreneurs, those with a real sense of purpose, provide a great service to society,” says IESE Dean, Franz Heukamp.

Some data points of the impact report:

• 72,000 jobs have been created by IESE-trained entrepreneurs in five continents
• $11.8 billion of capital has been raised by IESE-founded companies
• 30% of IESE students have started a business within 5 years of graduation
• $70 million has been invested in startups by IESE alumni related mechanisms

A mindset across programs

IESE was the first European business school to teach entrepreneurship in its MBA program in 1974. Since then, the school’s entrepreneurship and innovation activity has grown in quality, quantity, connectedness and impact. Moreover, “the value of an entrepreneurial mindset is transmitted through all our programs and activities,” notes Prof. Mª Julia Prats, IESE Academic Director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center. Some highlights:

• 26 professors and external collaborators that support entrepreneurship teaching and activities
• 16 entrepreneurship electives
• 90 extracurricular events per year, such as entrepreneurship conferences, hackathons and workshops – quadrupling the activity of five years ago
• 1,400 IESE students supported every year by the school’s entrepreneurial ecosystem

Based on cutting-edge research

“IESE entrepreneurship faculty develops cutting-edge research, shedding light into novel, relevant, and impactful fields,” says Prof. Christoph Zott, IESE Head of the Entrepreneurship Faculty Department.

Some of the entrepreneurship knowledge outputs include:

• 22 competitive research projects for which IESE has been selected by the European Commission, and governments in Asia and Latin America
• 20 publications per year, including refereed articles, books, studies and business cases in outlets such as the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Strategic Management Journal, Harvard Business Review, MIT Management Sloan Review, and more
• 1,655 total publications over the years, when also counting book chapters, technical notes, proceedings and non-refereed articles

A leading ecosystem to support students, alumni, professors and society

“Entrepreneurship needs more than academic knowledge to flourish,” says Josemaria Siota, IESE Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center. “This is why the school has developed an ecosystem to support our students, alumni, professors and society to bring entrepreneurial dreams to life.”

This includes the WeStart and WeGrow mentoring initiatives, Technology Transfer Group, International Search Funds Institute, Open Innovation Institute, Business Angels Network, and more. Some recent achievements include:

• Global indexes in entrepreneurship and innovation have recognized this positive impact, especially during the past three years, ranking the school as one of the leading institutions in this field
• The World Economic Forum has chosen the school as co-curator for the topic of innovation
• The European Commission has selected IESE as a core partner of one of the new Digital Innovation Hubs to support the testing and adoption of emerging technologies

2030 goals in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals

The report also sets entrepreneurship goals for 2030, in line with three of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These are:

• Create 50,000 new jobs by supporting 5,000 entrepreneurs in building their startups and in raising at least €500 million in venture investment (UN Goal #8 Decent Work and Economic Growth)
• Impact 2,000 C-suite executives across the globe through IESE research and activities (UN Goal #17 Partnerships to Achieve the Goals)
• Release 200 new publications related to search funds, corporate venturing, technology transfer, and angel investment, to foster innovation (UN Goal #9 Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure)