As part of Quantum Year 2025, San Sebastian will host the newest Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) location in Europe. The program is being launched thanks to a collaboration between the Basque Government and the Gipuzkoa Provincial Council through BIC Gipuzkoa, and IESE Business School.
CDL-San Sebastian will launch its activities in September 2025 and will be located in the Tandem building, within the Euskadi Technology Park in Donostia. This infrastructure supports the institutional strategy for the development of quantum technologies as a driving force behind the future economic model, and marks a key milestone in establishing Gipuzkoa as a leading European hub in the quantum field.
Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a not-for-profit organisation offering a mentorship program for early-stage science/technology-based companies with high scalability potential. CDL has designed an innovative program that combines scientific research with an entrepreneurial mindset, providing founders with comprehensive strategic support. This includes mentoring from entrepreneurs who have founded, led, and sold high-impact tech companies; technical advice from leading scientists, engineers, and economists worldwide; involvement of international IESE MBA students.
CDL-San Sebastian joins the global CDL Quantum program, joining CDL-Toronto (Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto), and CDL-Montreal (HEC Montreal) in a coordinated effort to accelerate the commercialization of quantum technologies. CDL Quantum has supported over 170 ventures since 2017 – nearly one in five quantum startups globally – and has helped generate more than CAD 2.9 billion in equity value. Founders in the program benefit from goal-oriented mentorship by world-class entrepreneurs and technical experts, access to a curated global network of quantum researchers and investors, and technical programming delivered in partnership with organizations such as IBM Q and Xanadu (an alumni of CDL-Toronto).
One notable alumnus is Multiverse Computing, founded in San Sebastian in 2019 and accelerated through CDL Quantum 2019/20. Multiverse recently secured a €215M Series B to expand adoption of its quantum-inspired model compression platform, which shrinks large AI models by up to 95% and reduces inference costs by 50–80%. “Multiverse is a proud alumnus of both CDL and BIC Gipuzkoa—two powerhouse institutions that have shaped our journey in ways we’ll never forget. I’m beyond excited to see them come together in San Sebastian, and honoured to have played a small part in building this bridge and helping expand a world-class deep tech ecosystem,” said Sam Mugel, CTO at Multiverse Computing, and a CDL Quantum Alumni Mentor.
The addition of CDL-San Sebastian strengthens the region’s emerging leadership in the field and supports its broader strategy to position quantum technologies as a key pillar of industrial growth. Designed to reflect the region’s research strengths, CDL AI draws on the region’s leadership in language technologies, computational linguistics, and AI-driven communication. The CDL-San Sebastian AI stream focuses on founders building commercial applications of artificial intelligence, with a particular emphasis on natural language processing and multilingual models.
This launch of CDL-San Sebastian aligns with the installation of Europe’s first IBM Quantum System Two in San Sebastian at the IBM-Euskadi Quantum Computational Centre scheduled for late 2025. Backed by the Basque Government and Gipuzkoa Provincial Council in partnership with IBM, this state-of-the-art infrastructure will provide a critical resource for CDL Quantum ventures.
Applications for CDL-San Sebastian’s AI stream are open till September 30, 2025 @ 11:59 PM ET. Learn more and now on the CDL website: https://creativedestructionlab.com/locations/sanSebastian/.
Sonia Sennik, Chief Executive Officer at Creative Destruction Lab, said: “San Sebastian brings distinctive strengths in artificial intelligence and quantum science to our global CDL network. Our collaboration with BIC Gipuzkoa and IESE enables founders to turn deep research into commercially scalable ventures, and reflects our continued commitment to deliver high-impact programs to scientific founders around the world.”
Mikel Jauregi, the Basque Government’s Minister of Industry, Energy Transition, and Sustainability, emphasized the importance of opening this center at a crucial moment for enhancing Euskadi’s strategic positioning in this field, coinciding with the Quantum Year 2025. “The step we take today with the launch of CDL in Donostia-San Sebastian is a commitment to gain industrial and business competitiveness and represents a leap forward in our strategy for more and better industry. And we do it through cooperation among different institutions and public-private collaboration.”
Marisa Arriola, Managing Director of BIC Gipuzkoa said: “The collaboration agreement with CDL and its quantum technology startup acceleration program represents a qualitative leap for Euskadi and Gipuzkoa in generating and transferring knowledge, promoting the creation of highly competitive companies and high-quality jobs.”
According to Professor Gaizka Ormazabal, Associate Dean for Research and Doctoral Programs at IESE: “Fostering entrepreneurship is an essential part of IESE’s mission. Our goal is to develop leaders who will have a profound and lasting impact through their professional excellence and spirit of service. Entrepreneurs with a true purpose provide a great service to society. These initiatives seek to support this effort.”
About Creative Destruction Lab
Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a nonprofit organization that delivers an objectives-based program for massively scalable, seed-stage, science- and technology-based companies. Its nine-month program allows founders to learn from experienced entrepreneurs, increasing their likelihood of success. Founded by Professor Ajay Agrawal in 2012 at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, the program has expanded and now has 15 sites across nine countries: Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Halifax, Paris, Madison, Seattle, Estonia, Berlin, Melbourne, College Station, Milan, London, and San Sebastian. Learn more at creativedestructionlab.com.
About Gipuzkoa Provincial Council (BIC Gipuzkoa)
BIC GIPUZKOA BERRILAN is the Center for Business and Innovation (CEI) of Gipuzkoa. BIC GIPUZKOA acts as a facilitator in the process of creating new innovative companies, as well as an active agent in the process of supporting and promoting entrepreneurial culture in Gipuzkoa. Since its creation in 1993, it has become an important driver of regional development with sufficient capacity to anticipate, adapt and respond to the specific needs of new entrepreneurs.
About IESE Business School
IESE is the graduate business school of the University of Navarra. It is one of the world’s most international business schools, with campuses in Barcelona, Madrid, Munich, New York and São Paulo, and programs offered throughout Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. For more than 60 years, IESE has been at the forefront of management education and leadership development. It has done this through offering transformational educational experiences to more than 60,000 entrepreneurs and executives. IESE´s mission today remains the same as it was back in 1958: to educate and inspire leaders who wish to have a positive and lasting impact on people, business and society.
