Bayes Impact, new winner of the Degroof Petercam Foundation Prize

The Foundation focuses on social innovation for employment and is committed to selecting three projects each year dedicated to solutions that promote employment by building skills, promoting entrepreneurship and improving access to the job market.  The one million euros grant, spread over five years, is combined with active support from the bank and the contribution of expertise during this period.

Founded in 2014 by three young people, including Frenchman Paul Duan, Bayes Impact is an NGO whose objective is to put artificial intelligence at the service of the common good. Bayes Impact is at the origin of the citizen public service 'Bob', a free and open source platform using data science and artificial intelligence to support people seeking employment by proposing strategies in line with their aspirations, skills and the job market. Nearly 230,000 job seekers in France have already been supported by this platform. Bayes Impact is present in Belgium since 2019 and has just concluded a successful collaboration  with Actiris, the Brussels regional employment office.

Silvia Steisel, managing director of the Degroof Petercam Foundation, says: “From the various countries where our group is active, sixty-eight projects were selected by an independent European jury made up of representatives from both the academic and business worlds. The project defended by Bayes Impact, this year’s laureate of the Degroof Petercam Foundation Prize, is perfectly in line with the values defended by the Foundation and the Degroof Petercam group for a fairer and more inclusive society. »

Paul Duan, co-founder and president of Bayes Impact, added: "It is a great joy to be awarded the  the Degroof Petercam Foundation Prize. Thanks to this substantial support, our ‘Bob’ tool will benefit from additional resources that will enable it to accelerate its internationalization and increase its capacity to support job seekers in the face of the consequences of the economic crisis".

Two other projects were also awarded by the Foundation for an amount of 50,000 euros each. These are the Belgian computer coding school, Becode, and Ticket for Change, the French incubator for jobs with a social impact.

Last year, the one million euros grant was awarded to DUO for a JOB, which puts young job seekers with an immigrant background in contact with experienced people over fifty years old from the same professional sector, to be accompanied in their job search.