Francis Hintermann holds a combination of roles that span global business, cutting-edge research, and higher education. As the Global Research Executive Director for Accenture, he directs a network of researchers and strategists across 20 countries, helping organizations rethink their operations, use technology to improve performance, and prepare for the future. Hintermann brings this perspective into the Sciences Po classroom, where for nearly two decades he has taught Corporate Strategy at the School of Management and Impact. 

Hintermann entered Sciences Po for his Bachelor’s degree in Economics-Politics and enjoyed the connection between them, thus continued to pursue both fields academically, in political science at Paris Sorbonne and economics at the Paris School of Economics. Hintermann described Sciences Po as a formative experience because of the way the courses combined academic study with real-world application. He recalled, “what I appreciated at Sciences Po was the constant back and forth between theory, learning and practice. We had professors coming from the business world, coming from roles in public institutions, and sharing their experiences.”

This blend of theory and practice guided Hintermann into consulting. “From the very beginning I went into strategy consulting because I wanted to understand how the world is changing, anticipate what was coming next, and help companies to perform better,” he said. His motivation to work in the field also stemmed from its visible effects. He explained, “for me, helping organizations at a micro level was a way to see the impact of what I could do in a very tangible way.” Over the years, he has worked for both private businesses and public institutions, including the French administration and the European Commission, helping organizations change and have higher levels of performance. Additionally, Hintermann has represented Accenture at the Business 20 as part of the G20 summit, an experience that connected well with his political science-economics background. Nearly a decade ago, he moved to New York City to transform research and thought leadership operations at Accenture through the development of AI-First strategic research and thought leadership produced inhouse and in partnership with leading academic institutions, technology companies, and AI startups.

A major aspect of Hintermann’s work at Accenture is navigating changing technologies- namely artificial intelligence. He believes it represents a profound shift in how organizations operate. “We’re putting a lot of artificial intelligence in the way we work every day, in the way we collect data, analyze data, and in the way we produce some outputs,” he said. Unlike earlier waves of technology innovation that occurred gradually over time, Hintermann explained, “it’s impacting all industries at the same time, so suddenly it’s something where everybody’s involved.”

He sees AI not as a threat, but as a tool for growth. “We do not believe at all in a doomsday scenario where plenty of jobs are going to be automated. What we believe in is that all the jobs are going to be impacted in the sense that lots of the tasks that we have in our jobs are going to be either automated or augmented,” he said. He continued that, “the real difference is going to be about creativity, and the way that people can enhance that creativity process with artificial intelligence. We have to reinvent business processes with AI agents at the core of these new processes.”

Looking ahead, Hintermann’s priority is helping organizations move to implement AI at the enterprise level. When artificial intelligence is properly applied, “there are many, many benefits that we can invent with it. We can create lots of new value for businesses, for public institutions and for education as well.” He thinks education in particular is a field that will be redefined because “now we’ve got the possibility to have a more individualized education with paths to grow for different people depending on where they come from and their pace and way of learning.”

Alongside his corporate role, Hintermann has carried this perspective on applying innovation back into the classroom at Sciences Po, in the School of Management and Impact. “Stewardship matters to me as I pay back now the school for the education that I was lucky to receive years ago from the previous generation. I help the new generation to sharpen their analytical capabilities and sharpen their strategic views of the world while I learn from them about the aspirations and the expectations of the next generation,” he said. Hintermann’s recent courses focus on AI’s impact on business, drawing on diverse perspectives from students across the globe. “Each of them are coming with different experiences, different views and then we can have a stimulating discussion about what’s coming and the impact it’s going to have on businesses.”  

To current students and young professionals, Hintermann stresses curiosity and critical thinking, as Luis Vassy recommended to Sciences Po students during his welcome speech to the new students at the start of this academic year. The openness to innovation and the importance of pairing it with a global outlook are ideas engrained in Hintermann’s courses. “I do my best to convince students that you can be a student of Sciences Po, combine expertise in social sciences and new technologies, artificial intelligence in particular, and become a unique professional with these types of skills,” he said.