EM Lyon Business School

EM Lyon's 'Early Makers' tagline is not marketing. It is a pedagogical commitment to learning by doing. Students are expected to create — businesses, social projects, digital products, art installations — as part of their education. The school's maker labs, incubator, and prototyping facilities exist to turn classroom concepts into real-world outputs.

This approach attracts a different kind of student than traditional grande écoles. EM Lyon students tend to be more creative, more comfortable with ambiguity, and more willing to fail forward. The school actively selects for this mindset in admissions, which creates a campus culture that is entrepreneurial without being cutthroat.

For Indian students who have creative side projects, community initiatives, or nascent business ideas, this environment is more supportive than schools that primarily reward test scores and prestigious internships. EM Lyon will see your non-traditional experiences as strengths, not curiosities.

Lyon is consistently ranked as one of the best cities to live in France, and for good reason. It is the country's gastronomic capital (UNESCO-designated), a UNESCO World Heritage site for its Renaissance architecture, and home to a diverse economy spanning biotech, gaming, manufacturing, and tech startups. And it costs 30-40% less than Paris.

For students, this translates to affordable apartments in beautiful neighbourhoods, a vibrant food and nightlife scene, and easy access to the Alps and Provence. The city is walkable, well-connected by TGV (Paris is 2 hours by train), and has a student population of over 170,000 across its universities.

For Indian students, Lyon offers a more manageable cultural immersion than Paris. The city is smaller, less overwhelming, and more welcoming to newcomers. The Indian community is small but growing, and the city's food culture — while different from home — is a genuine life highlight.

EM Lyon's incubator has launched over 1,400 companies since its creation. The school provides seed funding competitions, mentorship from alumni entrepreneurs, and physical space in Lyon's growing startup ecosystem. The incubator is not a theoretical exercise — companies born here have raised real funding and grown into real businesses.

The school's partnerships with Lyon's biotech cluster, the gaming industry (Ubisoft has a major studio in Lyon), and the French Tech initiative provide students with industry-specific entrepreneurial opportunities. Unlike Parisian schools where everyone wants to start the next unicorn, EM Lyon's entrepreneurial culture is grounded in Lyon's real economy.

For Indian students considering entrepreneurship in Europe, EM Lyon provides a lower-cost, lower-risk launchpad than Paris or London. The cost of starting a business in Lyon is lower, the local government is startup-friendly, and the EM Lyon alumni network provides a warm market for early customers and investors.