Pierre-Alexandre Balland currently serves as the Chief Data Scientist of the Centre for European Policy Studies and is a Visiting Professor of the Growth Lab at Harvard University.

He is a French economist and one of Europe’s leading experts on complex economic systems, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technologies.


At the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Pierre-Alex leads a team that leverages artificial intelligence and data science tools to address a wide range of public policy challenges, ranging from AI strategy & policy, industrial & innovation policy, political polarization or Ukraine’s reconstruction. At the Harvard Kennedy School’s Growth Lab, he works with the academic team to advance fundamental research on economic complexity and its applications to technological change, industrial policy, green growth, and the future of work.

He previously held positions at Utrecht University, MIT and UCLA. He is a Visiting Professor at the Artificial and Natural Intelligence Toulouse Institute and a research fellow at the Center for Complex Systems Studies. Pierre-Alex is also a high-level policy expert that currently serves in the ESIR group to advise the European Commission on innovation policy.

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