Infrastructure

The past decade saw huge growth in INSEAD’s global footprint. Not only did we inaugurate a new Middle East Campus in Abu Dhabi, we added a whole new location: the San Francisco Hub. In March 2023, we turned our attention to our original home in Fontainebleau – and still our largest site – with the launch of the masterplan for our Europe Campus Reimagination.

The ambitious project to transform the Europe Campus into a model for teaching excellence, sustainability, well-being and ease of access is now officially underway. It encompasses some 20 buildings on a site that was first developed 60 years ago and has grown organically ever since. Over the next ten years, the site will be transformed into a harmonious and flexible whole, designed not just for present needs but for the demands of decades to come. Indoor and outdoor spaces will play an even greater role than before in facilitating interaction, stimulating innovation and supporting inclusion – projecting the original vision of the campus as a meeting place for the world into a future where cross-cultural cooperation is more relevant than ever.

In parallel to completing Phase 0, the project team also embarked on Phase 1. This focuses on the Viatte Buildings, which formerly belonged to The European Centre for Executive Development / Le Centre Européen d'Education Permanente (CEDEP).

The chosen architectural firm, Wilmotte, carried out its extensive design studies in 2022–2023, including several surveys. We applied for the construction permit in March and obtained it early in the current Academic Year.

In 2022–2023, we acted on the previous year’s historic pledge to cut our schoolwide greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds (based on 2019 figures) before 2035. On the Europe Campus, we reduced our combined gas and electricity consumption by 35% compared to the previous year. This is the equivalent in terms of total carbon dioxide output to 221 round trips between Paris and New York. We also reduced our water consumption by 32%. These impressive results were achieved through a range of technical improvements, including: the replacement of three cooling units (one of them by helicopter!); the modernisation of our lighting system in several buildings with automated movement detection; and, thanks to State support, the insulation of the hot water system for a symbolic cost of €1.

Also in Singapore, in August 2023, we added more photovoltaic panels to those already on site. The new equipment will enable us to generate an additional 4.79% of our annual energy consumption. Thanks to the new panels, the previous installations and our earlier electricity-purchasing commitments, the Asia Campus is now 100% powered by renewable energy.

Another Asia Campus innovation of the year was our experiment in March with “hybrid cooling” – in other words, reducing background levels of air conditioning and using desk fans to ensure individual comfort. People working on campus were broadly satisfied with this simple change, which resulted in a 33% reduction in energy used for cooling. Indeed, these results were so impressive that they were covered in the Australian business press!

Over the last decade of rapid digitalisation at INSEAD, IT has moved from behind the scenes to the centre stage of institutional strategy. The Academic Year 2022–2023 was marked by further technological advancements and enhancements, reinforcing our commitment to innovation and excellence.

The beginning of the Academic Year saw the roll-out of our innovative Faculty Information System, which efficiently manages data, workflow automation and reporting for the department at the heart of the school, supporting our professors throughout their INSEAD careers. Early in 2023, we turned our attention to enriching INSEAD’s Salesforce CRM (customer-relationship management) platform with new integrations and a B2B portal launch, thereby streamlining Marketing and Recruitment operations for this strategically important new team. This was followed in the middle of the year by the launch of the Horizon project, which marks a transformation in the core business processes of finance and human resources.

INSEAD’s digital progress has not only enriched the experience of the school’s global community but also cemented our position as a leader in leveraging technology for educational excellence. At the same time, the accelerated pace of digitalisation means that we are already looking forward with great excitement to the next decade.