Bureau Sylvain | ESCP Business School

Sylvain Bureau

Full Professor of Entrepreneurship and Art Thinking

Department : Entrepreneurship
Campus : Paris

Sylvain Bureau explores the similarities between creative practices in the worlds of science, art, and business. He co-founded the Art Thinking Collective and the Jean-Baptiste Say Institute at ESCP. His work has led to numerous academic articles, which have frequently been featured in the media (Financial Times, Forbes Japan, France Culture, Huffington Post, Harvard Business Review France, Les Échos, Usbek & Rica). (…)

Building on his research, Sylvain developed Art Thinking, a method he teaches through the Improbable seminar in France (ESCP, École Polytechnique, CentraleSupélec, 42, École de Guerre) and abroad (Stanford, HEC Montréal, University of Oulu, Catholic University of Milan) in collaboration with artists and cultural institutions, particularly the Centre Pompidou and the Louvre Museum. The participants trained by Sylvain are often executives and engineers from organisations such as Airbus Defence & Space, BPCE Group, CNES, EDF, Daher, Galeries Lafayette, Orange, and Sacem.

To enhance his teaching practices, Sylvain has completed two courses on online and offline teaching at Harvard Business School (in 2009 and 2020) and the International Teacher Program (2017 and 2018). In 2021, the Improbable seminar was recognised as one of the top 10 pedagogical innovations worldwide.

Sylvain holds a PhD from École Polytechnique (recipient of the best thesis award in 2007) and is a graduate of École Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay in economics. He has also been a visiting scholar at Duke University, UC Berkeley, and the City University of New York.

PUBLICATIONS
AWARDS AND HONORS

Beyond entrepreneurial chaos: Establishing company principles through the plasticity method

ESCP Impact Papers, 2024-24-EN

Research and expertise

News & events

Events

Financial Institutions and Corporate Finance

04 June 2026 - 05 June 2025
07.00 am - 02.00 pm

Events

Women’s Health as an Economic and Innovation Frontier

26 Mar 2026
05.00 pm - 08.00 pm

2025

The Improbable seminar was listed as highly commended

Financial Times

Research and expertise

News & events

Events

Financial Institutions and Corporate Finance

04 June 2026 - 05 June 2025
07.00 am - 02.00 pm

Events

Women’s Health as an Economic and Innovation Frontier

26 Mar 2026
05.00 pm - 08.00 pm

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Academic Articles

2025

Legitimising destructive entrepreneurship: the case of a crypto-entrepreneur

Academic Articles

2025

The dialectic of “creative-destruction”: A fabric of entrepreneurial heroes The case of an emblematic novel: The Ladies’ paradise.

ESCP Impact Papers

2025

AI vs AI: The battle between artificial and artistic intelligence to shape human creativity

Other Intellectual Contributions

2025

De la créativité à la « crédation » : quand les créatifs détruisent la planète

Academic Articles

2024

Enseigner l’Anthropocène par les imaginaires.

Conference Presentations

2024

Imagining the improbable when the probable becomes unacceptable. Using an art-based pedagogy to teach the Anthropocene.

Conference Presentations

2024

Critical Thinking: A must have to deal with Gen AI and the Climate Crisis

Conference Presentations

2024

Using Arts for Mobilising Impact in Higher Management Education

ESCP Impact Papers

2024

Regaining control in troubled times: Art Thinking as a method in a PUCA world

ESCP Impact Papers

2024

Beyond entrepreneurial chaos: Establishing company principles through the plasticity method

Research and expertise

News & events

Events

Events

FT Responsible Education

2025

Financial Times

Research and expertise

News & events

Events

Events