Thomas Åstebro

Thomas Åstebro is a Professor in the Department of Economics and Decision Sciences at HEC Paris, where he serves as Executive Director of the ION Management Science Lab and Scientific Director and Founder of the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) in Paris. His work focuses on AI-augmented talent selection, training, and venture development, with large-scale randomized trials conducted in collaboration with public institutions such as France Travail and in Ecuador.

His education includes a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University, a Master of Engineering, and an MBA from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. He has held academic positions at the University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, and KU Leuven.

Åstebro’s research spans entrepreneurship, innovation economics, behavioral decision-making, and AI in management. He investigates market entry behavior, academic entrepreneurship, venture financing, and the role of overconfidence and ambiguity in entrepreneurial decisions. His recent work emphasizes scalable interventions using AI tools in education and employment training.

His 15 most recent publications reveal a strong focus on behavioral and empirical entrepreneurship, with increasing integration of AI and data science in private equity, crowdfunding, and talent development. Key themes include investor herding, science-based startups, diversity in venture capital, and AI use in decision processes.

• Best Empirical Paper, AoM Entrepreneurship Division (2016)
• Chair of Excellence (2016)
• Management Science Distinguished Service Award (2014)
• Finalist, Prix Academique de la Recherche en Management (2015)
• Listed in Marquis Who's Who in the World
• Top 2% most downloaded author on SSRN

Åstebro has advised on innovation policy and led major research initiatives including CDL Paris and the ION Lab. He has organized numerous academic workshops on entrepreneurship and served in editorial roles for journals such as Management Science and Small Business Economics. He has secured funding for large-scale RCTs and training programs aimed at social entrepreneurship and unemployment reduction. He has also been involved in advising and mentoring startups through HEC Incubateur.

He leads the ION Lab, a research group dedicated to improving human decision-making through AI augmentation, and co-leads CDL Paris, a venture accelerator focused on high-growth science-based startups. These labs integrate academic research with real-world entrepreneurial training and mentorship.