ESCP Business School and Hugging Face join forces to shape the future of AI in management education

ESCP Business School proudly announces a groundbreaking partnership with Hugging Face, the world’s leading open-source AI platform, co-founded by ESCP alumnus Clément Delangue.

This collaboration marks a decisive step in ESCP’s ongoing commitment to integrating artificial intelligence into education, research, and operations. Building on pioneering initiatives – including the collaboration with OpenAI for ChatGPT Edu access, the training of 1,000 “AI Champions” among students, faculty, and staff, and the integration of AI into programmes and operations – ESCP is setting a new benchmark for business education.

Through this partnership, the entire ESCP community (11,000+ students and 1,000+ professors and staff) will gain free access to Hugging Face’s state-of-the-art models and entire platform, creating hands-on opportunities in the classroom, in research, and in entrepreneurial ventures. The collaboration also extends to Hugging Face’s “Learn” hub, reinforcing AI literacy across ESCP’s six European campuses.

“By partnering with Hugging Face, our students, faculty and staff are not only learning about artificial intelligence, they are building with it. This partnership reflects our ‘Bold and United’ strategy, our conviction that AI is not just an augmented tool but a new language for management and innovation,” explains Prof. Léon Laulusa, Executive President and Dean of ESCP Business School.

“With this approach, ESCP positions itself as a unique living lab of Generative AI in management education. Our next ambition: to create a sovereign and transformative platform for our community. AIM – ESCP Intelligent Assistant Multirole – will redefine personalised learning, research, and administration, while fostering a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem around AI.”

“I started my entrepreneurial journey at ESCP Business School 15 years ago, so I’m beyond excited to be able to give back and foster the next generation of builders here in France and across ESCP’s European campuses,” says Clément Delangue, co-founder & CEO at Hugging Face and ESCP Alumnus (Master in Management, 2012). “AI is transforming education, and it’s great to see ESCP Business School, the oldest business school in the world – created in 1819, completely embracing it. By joining the Hugging Face academia hub, its 12,000+ students, professors and staff will not only be able to use AI but take an active part in building AI themselves, thanks to open science and open-source AI, all for free!” 

Through the Hugging Face platform, ESCP students will gain unique opportunities to: 

• Learn data science in and out of the classroom: Engage with large language models (LLMs), vision and multi-modal AI systems for class projects, applied research, and assignments both in and out of the classroom.
• Showcase & certify their skills: Publish projects on Hugging Face’s global platform, contribute to open-source projects, and strengthen their CVs with visible, verifiable evidence of technical expertise valued by recruiters.
• Accelerate entrepreneurship: Students participating in ESCP’s European startup incubator, the Blue Factory, or leading an entrepreneurial venture will also be able to leverage Hugging Face to rapidly prototype and integrate open-source AI into minimum viable products (MVPs) without high infrastructure or licensing costs.

Faculty will also benefit from the partnership, with access to Hugging Face for designing interactive resources, customised learning materials, and research applications. Professors will receive tailored training in September 2025, while students will be onboarded from October, ensuring seamless integration across ESCP’s multi-campus ecosystem.

“While the entire ESCP community will benefit from access to Hugging Face’s ‘Learn’ hub, students in data science and technology-focused courses will have the opportunity to engage more deeply with these tools through applied learning and project work,”

adds Francesco Rattalino, Executive Vice-President of Academic Affairs and Student Experience at ESCP Business School. 

“At ESCP, we advocate for the responsible use of AI under the shared conviction that technology itself isn’t good or bad, it’s how we use it that counts. We are proud to partner with Hugging Face whose commitment to open-source development and ethical AI complements our values and offers practical benefits across the School’s academic and entrepreneurial ecosystem,”

concludes Prof. Louis-David Benyayer, AI Initiatives Coordinator at ESCP Business School.