ETABLISSEMENT D'ENSEIGNEMENT SUPERIEUR CONSULAIRE HAUTES ETUDES COMMERCIALES DE PARIS

Their core work

HEC Paris is one of Europe's top business schools, with its H2020 research concentrated in financial economics and corporate finance theory. Their faculty leads advanced research on financial contracting, asset pricing, long-term savings mechanisms, and the impact of artificial intelligence on financial markets. Beyond pure finance, they bring economic analysis methods to policy-relevant questions — from childhood obesity economics to occupational safety and its link to firm performance.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their earliest H2020 work (2018–2020) combined health economics — the STOP childhood obesity project — with foundational financial theory in the WIDE project on contracting and asset pricing. From 2021 onward, the portfolio shifted decisively toward applied financial economics: long-term savings and insurance (LIFE), AI-driven financial markets (FIDAI), and labour economics (SAW). The trend shows a move from broader policy-oriented economics toward finance-specific research with growing attention to technology's role in markets.

HEC Paris is increasingly focused on how artificial intelligence and data abundance transform financial markets and corporate decision-making — a direction with strong industry relevance.

How they like to work

HEC Paris overwhelmingly leads its own projects: 4 out of 5 H2020 grants were coordinated in-house, mostly ERC grants awarded to individual principal investigators. Their single participation as partner (STOP) was in a larger consortium. This is typical of elite business schools where star researchers win personal grants rather than joining large multi-partner consortia — expect them to lead or contribute deep expertise, not serve as a support partner.

Despite their small project count, HEC Paris has collaborated with 23 unique partners across 15 countries, largely through the multi-partner STOP consortium. Their ERC projects are primarily single-institution, so the broad network comes from selective participation rather than habitual consortium building.

What sets them apart

HEC Paris brings world-class financial economics research to EU projects — a rare combination of rigorous quantitative finance theory with policy relevance. Unlike technical universities or research institutes, they offer the economic modelling and empirical finance expertise needed to evaluate market impacts, design incentive structures, and assess how technology disrupts financial systems. For any consortium needing a credible economics partner with brand recognition, HEC Paris is a top-tier choice in Europe.

Highlights from their portfolio

• WIDE
  Largest grant (EUR 1.24M ERC Advanced Grant) covering the full spectrum of financial contracting theory — from asset pricing to financial transaction taxes.
• FIDAI
  ERC Consolidator Grant (EUR 1.1M) at the intersection of AI and finance, directly relevant to businesses navigating data-driven investment decisions.
• STOP
  Their only partner role — a large multi-country consortium on childhood obesity, showing HEC can contribute economic analysis to health policy consortia.