INSEAD, The Business School for the World, celebrated five years of impact of its San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation during its second Americas Conference 2025 on 7-8 February.
Over 250 business leaders, government officials, INSEAD alumni, faculty, and staff convened for insightful and lively conversations centered around the theme: ‘The Future is Now: Bridging Business, Technology, and Humanity’.
The central question driving all the debates was: How can we harness the incredible potential of AI while prioritizing the well-being of humanity. Key themes that emerged included the ability for leaders to see beyond AI hype, a need to embrace disruption, the importance of organization-wide training and the value of balancing a strategic approach with the ability to experiment.
Francisco Veloso, Dean of INSEAD, Vic Woo, Senior Director of the INSEAD San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation and Mrs. Kristin Skogen Lund, Chairperson of the INSEAD Board, launched the celebration with a vibrant lion dance
INSEAD Dean Francisco Veloso said, “Celebrating five years of excellence of our San Francisco Hub is a significant milestone for INSEAD. It reflects our vision, resilience, and strong foundation to make an even greater impact in North America. As we look ahead, INSEAD remains committed to delivering cutting-edge programs and transformative education, combining global excellence with regional impact.”
Five Years of Impact: Foundations for the Future
Through research, teaching, corporate partnerships and events, the INSEAD San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation (the Hub) has made a significant local and regional impact. Key milestones:
- 2020: San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation inaugurated—expanding the school’s global presence in a dynamic ecosystem of cutting-edge technology, venture finance, and innovative education.
- 2021: Strengthened networks through lifelong learning—despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hub hosted virtual sessions and webinars, connecting alumni and business leaders across North America and reinforcing its role as a center for knowledge and transformation.
- 2021: Welcomed the first Master in Management class—21 students from diverse cohort participated in global exchanges, gaining insights from top faculty and industry experts.
- 2022: Expanded custom programs for U.S. companies, enhancing executive learning opportunities. The Hub also facilitated immersive Silicon Valley experiences by hosting the Global Executive MBA Key Management Challenges and the MBA elective “Building Business in Silicon Valley”.
- 2023: Hosted the inaugural INSEAD Americas Conference to discuss sustainable innovation’s impact on business and society. It also saw the launch of the INSEAD Business Sustainability Series.
- 2024: Expanded global influence through collaborations with World Economic Forum, the European Innovation Council, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business School, Berkeley Haas, Stanford GSB, and other institutions, solidifying the Hub as a centre for learning and exchange.
- 2025: Celebrated its 5th anniversary, now serving 4,000+ U.S.-based alumni as a hub for thought leadership, collaboration and professional growth. Over 55 years, 58% of INSEAD graduates have reached C-level leadership.
Key Highlights from the Americas Conference
- Launch of INSEAD Institute of Human and Machine Intelligence. Unveiled by the Dean of Research Lily Fang, the Institute aims to understand technology and its impact on every aspect of business and society. It seeks to remain at the frontier of the science, while continuously exploring how the developments impact society.
- Launch of The AI-First Entrepreneurship Lab. Led by Hyunjin Kim, Assistant Professor of Strategy, the Lab is designed to support entrepreneurs worldwide to create high-growth startups through: An acceleration program based on cutting-edge best practices in leveraging AI; In-person experiences in San Francisco, Abu Dhabi and Singapore; Ongoing support via our global community of innovators, mentors, and academics; Partnerships with leading VCs and companies developing new AI tools.
- “INSEAD Day” Declaration: San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu declared February 7 as ‘INSEAD Day’ and remarked: “By fostering collaboration between government, business, and academia, we can drive innovative policies and initiatives that strengthen San Francisco’s role as a global hub for business and technological advancement. INSEAD—an international management education institute, expanding its impact in North America from its strong bases in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East—perfectly aligns with the city’s aspiration to be a world-recognized center for social and economic growth."
Second INSEAD Business Sustainability Award. Led by Karel Cool, Professor of Strategy,, the Award recognize INSEAD alumni who are realizing exceptional achievements in aligning business success with sustainability demands. The winners are:
- Paul Manwell: Founder at TC Labs in Silicon Valley which leads the application of GenAI for reducing energy use at legacy heavy industry (refineries, petrochemicals)
- Georgina Grenon: The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Sustainability Director who played a key role in ensuring that Paris hosted the most sustainable Olympics to date.
- Zach Brown: Founder of Creattura from Japan, which pioneers the use of satellite data and low-tech sensors to transform rice production, reduce methane emissions and decarbonize food supply chains.
- Rafael Zanardo Nascimento: COO at Lemon Energy, a Brazilian climatech that connects retail power consumers with local renewable power plants to provide renewable energy that is up to 20% cheaper than energy from the grid with no need for solar panels and no CAPEX.
Mrs. Kristin Skogen Lund, Chairperson of the INSEAD Board, Francisco Veloso, Dean of INSEAD, Peter Joos, Deputy Dean of INSEAD, Vic Woo, Senior Director of the INSEAD San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation, Karel Cool, Professor of Strategy, together with the winners of the second INSEAD Business Sustainability Award
For more information of INSEAD San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation, visit here.
