Paul Duan (born in July 1992) is a French social entrepreneur, founder of the NGO Bayes Impact.
Early life
Paul Duan was born in 1992 in Trappes to Chinese immigrant parents. He was educated in Buc at a Franco-German high school, the Deutsch-Französisches Gymnasium in Buc.
He went on to study a mixture of mathematics, economics and political science at Berkeley, the Sorbonne University, and Sciences Po, where he delivered the school's commencement speech in 2017.
Paul Duan started his career as a data scientist of Eventbrite, a Silicon Valley event management and ticketing start up. Paul Duan met les algorithmes au service des demandeurs d'emploi, La Tribune, September 24, 2014
Bayes Impact
In 2014, Paul Duan left his job as a Silicon Valley engineer to start Bayes Impact. Bayes Impact was one of the first non-profits to be admitted to Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley technology incubators. Bob Emploi, l’algorithme qui s’attaque au chômage, Les Echos, June 26, 2018
Since then, Paul Duan and his team have worked on multiple projects throughout the world, ranging from helping microfinance institutions operating in Africa reduce the cost of their loans, to launching an online platform in partnership with the California Department of Justice to collect police use-of-force data from more than 800 police agencies.How One Nonprofit Is Using Data Science To Transform Lives And Communities, Forbes, March 24, 2015
Since 2016, Bayes Impact's main focus is Bob, an online and open-source platform that uses artificial intelligence to provide data-driven, personalized advice to unemployed individuals in France to help them improve their chances. For this project, Paul Duan and his team received support from several French political leaders, including François Hollande, Emmanuel Macron and Myriam El Khomri. Paul Duan, soldat antichômage, Le Figaro, November 21, 2016 Opération séduction pour Emmanuel Macron dans la Silicon Valley, L'Express, January 8, 2016
Other activities
In 2016, Paul Duan played a role in creating France's version of the Presidential Innovation Fellowship program with President François Hollande. Henri Verdier, Forbes, November 23, 2016
Paul Duan is the author of the Citizen-led Public Services manifesto, published in June 2018. The Citizen-led Public Services vision actively encourages public institutions to recognize entrepreneurial projects that uphold public service values; and give them incentives like funding, access to data and distribution networks. Un Pacte pour un service public citoyen, La Tribune, June 15, 2018
Paul Duan also served as a member of Action Publique 2022, the French government reform group headed by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. Pour Paul Duan, le service public de demain sera citoyen, lagazette.fr, June 13, 2018
Awards
In 2015, Paul Duan was recognized as a Forbes 30 under 30.Paul Duan, Forbes
In 2017, he became the youngest Ashoka fellow in France.Paul Duan, Ashoka, 2017
In 2018, Paul Duan won Humanitarian of the Year at the MIT Innovators Under 35 Europe summit.Innovators Under 35, MIT, 2018
Documentary Le rêve de Paul Duan, Infrarouge, France 2, September 2018 Documentaire : Paul Duan, le chômage et les algorithmes, France Inter, September 25, 2018
References