IESE welcomes 371 students from 60 nationalities to the MBA Class of 2028. The new cohort is the first to experience IESE’s redesigned MBA curriculum for the age of AI, with AI capabilities integrated throughout the first year. Entrepreneurship will also play an expanded role, with two mandatory courses taught by IESE’s Sandra Sieber and Liinus Hietaniemi covering entrepreneurial mindsets, ideation, technology tools and action-based learning. The sequence will prepare students for the Summer Entrepreneurship Experience and help them develop entrepreneurial skills from the outset.​​​​

Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) has been recognized in TIME and Statista’s 2026 ranking of America’s Best Incubators and Accelerators, ranking #15 in the U.S. and #1 in Washington. The recognition comes as IESE deepens its involvement in the global CDL network through CDL San Sebastian, where the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center co-leads the Artificial Intelligence and Quantum streams, under the direction of Professor Sampsa Samila. The initiative connects science-based startups with experienced entrepreneurs, investors and researchers to help turn breakthrough technologies into scalable ventures.​​​

What happens when engineering students are challenged to take technology from idea to market? This summer, the EuroTeQ Ignite Bootcamp at IESE brought together students from eight European universities to develop solutions to technology-driven sustainability challenges. Working in multidisciplinary teams, they combined engineering expertise with entrepreneurial thinking, supported by IESE faculty and industry mentors. A new video captures the experience, from hands-on workshops and teamwork to the final pitches. Watch the video.

IESE will bring together the international search fund community in Barcelona this October for two key events. The third Women in Search Forum on 14 October will offer prospective and active female searchers a space to exchange experiences and insights. The following day, the 2026 IESE International Search Fund Conference will feature the release of the new International Search Fund Study, alongside research and discussions on current trends in entrepreneurship through acquisition. Find out more.

How can established companies turn innovation into growth? IESE’s Leading Innovation with Entrepreneurial Mindset program, taking place in Barcelona on 23–25 November, will explore how senior leaders can embed innovation into strategy, governance and culture. Led by Entrepreneurship faculty Sandra Sieber and Mathieu Carenzo, the three-day program will focus on open innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems, with participants learning to scale ideas, leverage external partners and drive growth through experimentation and risk-taking. 

IESE’s Business Angels and Family Offices Network begins its 2026–2027 academic year in October, with the first Investment Forum taking place on 28 October. This year’s activities include four investment forums in Madrid and Barcelona, two Investors’ Workshops and opportunities for members to connect with entrepreneurs and explore co-investment. The Network will continue to promote a more professional and collaborative approach to early-stage investing while connecting investors with new startup opportunities. Find out more.

Why do promising innovations sometimes struggle to gain traction? A new IESE case by Professors Yuliya Snihur and Christoph Zott follows Indian healthcare venture Inditech as it tests a new in-clinic diagnostics business model. Despite positive customer feedback, physicians rarely incorporated the solution into their routines. The case explores what entrepreneurs can learn from this gap, highlighting the importance of testing not only a product, but the behaviors, workflows and incentives that determine whether a business model actually works. Read more.​​​​​

A new IESE report by the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, developed as part of the European Innovation Council Scaling Club, explores how policymakers can address the growth capital gap facing Europe’s deep-tech scaleups. The study examines barriers limiting access to private and corporate venture capital and proposes measures to mobilize more investment, including late-stage co-investment, more integrated capital markets and patient capital suited to the longer development timelines of deep-tech ventures. Find out more.