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Meet our researchers

Find more information about the researchers involved in the Gothenburg U-GOT KIES centre.

Purushottam Adhikari

PhD student, Purushottam Adhikari is a PhD student in Economic Geography at the Center for regional analysis at the Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.

Adhikari holds a MA in media and communication studies from Malmö University and obtained his MSc Degree in European Studies from the University of Gothenburg in 2022. His Master's thesis investigated the EU's Action plan for the Circular economy focusing on how stakeholders in Sweden implemented circular economy initiatives for electric vehicles batteries. Adhikari’s research investigates the intersection of economic geography and innovation studies, by focusing on circular economy and (regional) innovation systems.

His research interests are:

  • Sustainability transitions and Innovation systems
  • Innovation Policy
  • Regional economic development

Amel Attour

Associate Professor with French Accreditation to direct Research and for Full Professor. Sophia-Antipolis, Université Côte d’Azur, France.

Amel Attour is Associate Professor in Innovation and Strategic Management at Université Cote d’Azur and researcher at GREDEG (research institute in Economics, Management and Law research Group (GREDEG)). Originally PHD in Economics, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, 2008, she obtained the French accreditation to direct research in Management, University of Grenoble-Alpes, 2018. She started working as a research engineer at Orange Labs Sophia Antipolis where she prepared her PhD dissertation about digital policy innovation diffusion in French local governments. Then, she was Associate Professor in Economics and Management at University of Lorraine and researcher at the Bureau for Economic Theory and Applications -Nancy where she has lead researches on digital innovation in local governments’ systems and on nascent ecosystems in smart cities. She was Head of “Economics Organisations Business” Department of Mines Nancy which is one of the French generalist engineering Grandes Ecoles. She came back 2013 at Université Cote d’Azur where she is head of Technology degree graduate (DUT in French) in Information & Communication, option Communication of organisations, IUT Nice Cote d’Azur. She teaches: strategic management, business model innovation, business and innovation ecosystems.

Her research fields are:

  • Business model
  • Digital innovation and knowledge management within innovation ecosystems.

Her research is published in high journal such as small business economics, energy policy, the French Journal of Information system management, knowledge management and practice.  and she contributes to society through several reserach projects that involve local governments, smes, and international companies. She is also co responsible for a research program of the GREDEG insitute, that is ESIA.   

Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen

Professor of Economic Geography, University of Buffalo, USA.

Dr. Bagchi-Sen is Professor and School Director at School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University. Her research interests are transdisciplinary in the fields of international business, innovation ecosystems, and urban-regional restructuring.  In international business, she has worked on the spatial and temporal dynamics of foreign direct investment, internationalization of pharmaceutical companies, and the importance of collaboration in innovation in the bioeconomy. She was one of the first group of visiting faculty members at the School of Business, Economics and Law at Gothenburg University, Sweden.  She is currently a member of the International Academic Advisory Council at the School of Business, Economics and Law.

Her research interests are:

  • Urban Development
  • Geography
  • Spatial and Economic Analysis
  • Spatial Analysis

She has served as the Chief Editor of one of the flagship journals, The Professional Geographer, of the American Association of Geographers, and as Associate Editor of two other highly ranked journals, Applied Geography and Papers in Regional Science.  She has served as a Program Officer for the National Science Foundation’s Human Environment and Geographical Sciences and the Sustainable Regional Systems Research Networks programs.  She also assisted with proposal evaluation with the new (2021) program on Build and Broaden 2.0: Enhancing Social, Behavioral and Economic Science Research and Capacity at Minority-Serving Institutions.

Catherine Beaudry

Professor, Département de mathématiques et de génie industriel Polytechnique Montréal, Canada.

Dr. Beaudry is Professor in Economics of Innovation at the Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering. She holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Economics and Management of Innovation (“Innovation Chair”) at Polytechnique Montréal and leads the Partnership for the Organization of Innovation and New Technologies (4POINT0). She holds a master’s degree and PhD in economics from the University of Oxford.

Her research interests are:

  • The impact of science, technology and innovation;
  • The development and testing of innovation indicators;
  • Ecosystems of innovation.

Her research is published in journals such as Research Policy, Journal of Technology Transfer, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Technovation, Industry and Innovation, or Scientometrics. She contributes to society through serving on the Canadian Statistics Advisory Council, the Deputy Minister Steering Committee of Policy Horizons Canada, the Expert Panel on Clean Growth of the Canadian Climate Institute and the Advisory Board to the Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy (CSTP) of the OECD.

Karin Berg

Senior Lecturer at the Department of Economics, Geography, Law and Tourism, at Mid Sweden University.

Karin Berg completed her doctoral degree in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management of Intellectual Asset, at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. 

Berg obtained her MSc Degree in Innovation and Industrial Management from the University of Gothenburg in 2013. Her Master's thesis examined ideation in the Norwegian context and received the Malmsten Award 2013 for best master thesis at Innovation and Industrial Management together with co-author Ingvild Nyløkken.

Berg’s research focuses on academic engagement with industry, more precisely how industrial PhD students can influence firms’ capabilities for innovation.

Her research interests are

  • Academic engagement with industry
  • Innovation management
  • Knowledge management

Isabel Maria Bodas Freitas

Professor of Technology Management and Strategy, Grenoble Ecole de Management.  Visiting Professor, Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.

Isabel Bodas Freitas received her PhD in Science and Technology Policy from SPRU, University of Sussex, UK. Before joining Grenoble Ecole de Management, she was post-doc researcher at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), and at the Politecnico di Torino.

Her main research interests are:

  • Economics of science and innovation
  • Knowledge development and diffusion in different organizational and industry contexts
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Innovation policy
  • Organization innovation

Her research has been published in leading outlets including Organization Science, Research Policy, Industrial and Corporate Change, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Journal of Product Innovation Management.

Marouane Bousfiha

Visiting Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer, Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.

Dr. Marouane Bousfiha is a Visiting Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. His research project is part of Professor McKelvey’s Swedish Research Council Distinguished Professors’ Research Program on “Knowledge-intensive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Transforming society through knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship”.

Marouane obtained his PhD Degree from Chalmers in Technology Management and Economics in 2020. His doctoral thesis investigated the practice and identity of academic entrepreneurs. During his PhD studies, Marouane has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University. His research is published in the Academy of Management Review.

His research interests are

  • Entrepreneurship theory
  • Design
  • Identity
  • Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Johan Brink

Senior Lecturer at the Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.

Dr. Brink took his PhD in 2007 at Chalmers University of technology in Technology Management. Prior to this Brink have a MSc Degree in Biotechnology Engineering as well as Studies at the Business School at Gothenburg University in both Business Administration as well as Finance and Economics. Dr Brink have also professional experience as Management consultant.

His research interests are:

  • Entrepreneurship; especially science-based and organizational aspects
  • The impact of science, technology and innovation, especially in the biosciences

Dr. Brink is engaged as coordinator for the master program in Innovation and industrial management, sits at the board of Venture Cup Väst, an Entrepreneurship support NGO, as well as editorial board at European Journal of Innovation Management.

Oskar Broberg

Associate Professor, Unit for Economic History,  Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg

Dr. Broberg completed his thesis in 2006, on the incorporation of Swedish businesses during the industrial breakthrough. His research interests are business history, mainly with a focus on financial history – including international publications on financial modernisation, stock exchanges and financial derivatives. He has also been active in environmental economic history, with research and teaching dealing with the development of the organic food stuff industry.

Dr. Broberg is also engaged in teaching and responsible for the bachelor program hosted by the department of Economy and Society (including economic history, human geography and innovation & entrepreneurship). During the past few years Dr Broberg have engaged in the production of different kind of pods, to be used in teaching but also to distribute academic knowledge to a wider audience.

Anders Broström

Anders Broström is Managing Director of Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum. He is also Associate Professor and university lecturer in economics with a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship at the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, Department of Industrial Economics, and Visiting Professor at the University of Gothenburg, Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

His research interests are focused on the economics and management of knowledge. In particular,

  • (Higher) education
  • Scientific research
  • Innovation

Articles documenting his research in these areas have been published in e.g. Research Policy, the Journal of Technology Transfer, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Industrial and Corporate Change and the Journal of Product Innovation Management. Anders currently serves as Associate Editor for Industry & Innovation.

Current lines of inquire are to investigate the incentive structures of science and academic careers as well as universities as organisations and their responsiveness to the external environment. Furthermore, Anders engages in research concerning entrepreneurship and labour market dynamics, in particular concerning the individual returns to entrepreneurship, venture legitimation, and sustainability.

Linus Brunnström

Dr. Linus Brunnström is an Innovation Advisor at Chalmers University of Technology and a guest researcher at U-GOT KIES and affiliated with the University of Gothenburg’s Centre for Sea and Society. He holds a PhD in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management of Intellectual Assets, with a dissertation on how Swedish university incubators support the formation of knowledge-intensive entrepreneurial firms.

Between 2021 and 2025, Dr. Brunnström led a Wallander-funded postdoctoral project on sustainable growth in maritime innovation ecosystems. His research explored how universities contribute to the blue economy by connecting academic knowledge, infrastructure, and entrepreneurship. He continues to collaborate within Professor Maureen McKelvey’s Distinguished Professors’ Program on Knowledge-Intensive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems.

At Chalmers, he supports research commercialization and ecosystem development, advising researchers and teaching in Chalmers’ PhD course on research utilization. He has organized stakeholder dialogues and moderated international roundtables on entrepreneurial ecosystems, strengthening Chalmers’ innovation networks. He is also involved in AI implementation at the central administration.

His recent publications include an open-access article on the societal impact of transdisciplinary ocean research centres, comparing models in Sweden and Germany as well as a chapter on how social scientists can positively affect environmental sustainability. His work bridges theory and practice, advancing understanding of how universities foster innovation-led societal transformation.

His research interests are

  • Universities’ role in society
  • Knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship (especially in relation to universities)
  • Marine industries and sustainable development
  • Innovation ecosystems
  • Role of social science in technology impact

Guido Buenstorf

Guido Buenstorf is Professor of Economics at the University of Kassel. He leads the Economic Policy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the Institute of Economics and is director and executive board member of the International Center for Higher Education Research (INCHER).

Buenstorf holds a PhD in economics from Friedrich Schiller University Jena. Before joining the University of Kassel, he was research group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Economics. From 2016 to 2021, Buenstorf was Visiting Professor at Gothenburg University, where he is a steering committee member of the Center on Knowledge-Intensive Innovation Ecosystems (U-GOT KIES). Since 2022, he has been a member of the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (Expertenkommission Forschung und Innovation - EFI) that advises the German Federal Governments and publishes an annual report on research, innovation and technological performance in Germany.

His main research interests are:

  • the economics of science and innovation
  • entrepreneurship research
  • regional economics

His work has been published in leading outlets including the Economic Journal, PNAS, Research Policy, Industrial and Corporate Change, the Journal of Urban Economics and the Journal of Economic Geography.

Alisa Chabanyuk

PhD student, Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. 

Alisa Chabanyuk is a PhD student in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management of Intellectual Assets. She is undertaking her doctoral education as part of Professor McKelvey’s Swedish Research Council Distinguished Professors’ Research Program on “Knowledge-intensive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Transforming society through knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship”. 

Alisa obtained her MSc degree in Innovation and Global Sustainable Development from Lund University in 2021. Her Master’s thesis investigated the geographic distribution of Industry 4.0 patenting activity in Sweden. The results were juxtaposed to patterns observed during the third industrial revolution.

In her PhD dissertation, Chabanyuk is investigating the governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Of specific interest is the interplay between regulation and experimentation as well as the use of scientific knowledge in shaping policy.

Her research interests are:

  • Innovation governance
  • The role of universities in society
  • Knowledge-intensive innovation ecosystems

Pernille Clausen

Pernille Clausen is Assistant Professor at the Department of Business Development and Technology at Århus University. 

Pernille obtained her doctoral degree in Business Development and Technology from Aarhus University in November 2022. As a Ph.D. candidate, Pernille investigated digital transitions on the shop floor management level in manufacturing in collaboration with industrial partners, particularly exploring how to develop visualization boards to handle contemporary shop floor tasks in a smart manufacturing setting.

Pernille’s research interests are in particular on:

  • Socio-technical interactions
  • Smart work
  • Digital transition/transformation
  • Visual management solutions for manufacturing

Mark Dodgson

Mark is a researcher, teacher, and author with extensive experience in academia and business. He is currently Emeritus Professor at the University of Queensland; Visiting Professor at Imperial College London; and Executive-in-Residence at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Previous roles include Senior Fellow, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex; Executive Director, National Graduate School of Management, Australian National University; and Director of the Technology and Innovation Management Centre, University of Queensland. His PhD is from Imperial College London, and his various professorial chairs have been in innovation management and innovation studies.

He has written or edited 19 books and written over 100 academic articles on innovation and entrepreneurship, and has researched and taught the subject in over sixty countries around the world. His research addresses how innovation is changing with an especial interest in project-based organizations, science-business collaboration, the behaviours of highly successful entrepreneurs, and innovation in professional services companies and in philanthropy. He has published widely on innovation in 18th century England, and his most recent book is on innovation in China. He has recently completed a research project on the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine and is currently finishing writing a book on the development of power from nuclear fusion.

Mark has advised numerous companies and governments throughout Europe, Asia, and North and South America and has been on the Boards and Advisory Boards of two multibillion-dollar companies and five start-ups. 

Carita Mirjami Eklund

Associate Senior Lecturer, Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.

Dr. Eklund completed her doctoral degree in economics and business administration, at the University of Vaasa. During the university studies, she visited Germany: Johannes Gutenberg Universität von Mainz, US: Stanford University and Denmark: Aarhus University. These visits were inspirational fueling interest for mobility and its benefits for innovation. After, she has been a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Aarhus, university teacher at the University of Vaasa and a visiting Fulbright-KAUTE scholar at the university of Virginia.

Her research interests are broad:

  • Innovation competences
  • Female entrepreneurship

Some of the specific research topics include productivity, high growth phenomena, creativity as a source of innovation and entrepreneurship, gender in business, female entrepreneurship, register data, design lead innovation, business benefits from high education and educational diversity and intangible capital.

Dr. Eklund has published research on high growth firms, productivity, educational diversity and intangible capital that is a form of knowledge capital owned by the company. She has worked with both Finnish and Danish register data sources. 

Mark Elam

Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg.

Mark completed his PhD at the Department of Technology and Social Change, Linköping University where he also recently held a Visiting Professorship. Prior to this, he was also a Visiting Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen. He is interested in research and education at the interface of Innovation Studies and Science and Technology Studies (STS). He is member of the governing board of the European Inter-University Association of Society, Science and Technology, which co-ordinates a Master’s degree combining education in both fields with 13 participating universities. He is also one of the organizers of the joint GU/Chalmers STS Seminar.

His research interests are:

  • Environmental technologies and innovation
  • Addictive technologies
  • Public involvement and participation in science and technology

Hani Elzoumor

Visiting Researcher, Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. 

Dr. Hani Elzoumor obtained his PhD in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the University of Gothenburg in 2025, as part of Professor McKelvey’s Swedish Research Council Distinguished Professors’ Research Program on “Knowledge-intensive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Transforming society through knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship”. 

Dr. Elzoumor has also obtained his MSc Degree in Knowledge-based Entrepreneurship from the University of Gothenburg in 2019. His Master’s thesis, conducted in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology, examined sustainability transition challenges in Västra Götaland’s mobility sector and was recognized by the Gothenburg University Sustainability Thesis Award (GUSTA).

Dr. Elzoumor’s research interests span innovation economics, strategic management, industrial organization, entrepreneurship, and finance. His current research and teaching activities focus on the following areas:

  • Innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems
  • Sustainable innovations and sustainability transitions
  • Open and collaborative innovations
  • Economic performance of firms
  • Entrepreneurial finance
  • Digitalization and AI strategies in firms
  • Quantitative methods in innovation and entrepreneurship research

     

Madeleine Englund

PhD student, Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. 

Madeleine Englund is a PhD student in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management of Intellectual Assets. She is undertaking her doctoral education as part of Professor McKelvey’s Swedish Research Council Distinguished Professors’ Research Program on “Knowledge-intensive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Transforming society through knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship”. 

Englund obtained her MSc Degree in Innovation and Industrial Management from the University of Gothenburg in 2015. Her Master's thesis investigated Chinese entrepreneurs’ perceived challenges from a gender perspective. Together with co-author Sofia Berg the thesis was granted the Sten A Olsson foundation scholarship, which facilitated research on site in Hangzhou, China.

Englund is investigating knowledge-intensive innovative entrepreneurship in equestrian sports technology.

Her research interests are

  • Knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship
  • Sports innovation, specifically horse-tech
  • Innovation ecosystems 

Susanna Fellman

Professor, Business History, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg

Dr. Susanna Fellman is Professor of Business History (the Torsten Söderberg and Ragnar Söderberg Chair in Business History) at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her current research interest are competition policy in historical perspective, business interest and policy formulation and history of management.

She took her PhD in 2001 at University of Helsinki, Finland where she worked as researcher and acting professor until 2011, when she moved to Gothenburg.

Her research interests are:

  • History of competition policy and market regulation
  • The professionalization and modernization of management
  • Nordic model of capitalism

Her research is published leading journals in her field, such as Business History Review, Business History and Organization Studies. Her research contribute to the understanding of market transformation, institutional change in modern capitalism.

Leticia Foerster

Lecturer, Université Côte d’Azur/ CNRS-GREDEG; Head of Transformation and Project Management, MLAdvisory

Leticia Foerster completed her doctoral degree in Strategy and Innovation Management of Urban Mobility at the Université Côte d’Azur/CNRS-GREDEG (research institute in Economics, Management and Law). Her research has been published in the Journal of Innovation Economics and Management. Her work focuses on business transformation, ecosystem formation, and sustainability, contributing to our understanding of these areas. In addition to her academic pursuits, Leticia Foerster is responsible for the Project Management Department at MLAdvisory. Her role involves supporting banks in their transformation processes, ESG integration, and compliance with regulations.

She teaches business model innovation, business and innovation ecosystems and business challenges for smart cities.

Her research interests are:

  • Business model innovation
  • Smart Cities
  • Innovation and Business Ecosystems

Roberto Fontana

Roberto Fontana is Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Pavia (Italy) and a Research Fellow of the Invernizzi Center for research on Innovation, Organization and Strategy (ICRIOS) at Bocconi University (Italy). He holds a MSc and a PhD in Science and Technology Policy Research Studies from SPRU-University of Sussex (UK).

His research focuses on innovation and industrial dynamics with specific reference to the role of founders’ the pre-entry experience in influencing the post entry performance of old and new firms.

He has published extensively on these topics as well as on other topics related to university-industry relationships, technological regimes, innovation diffusion in high-tech industries. He is a member of the International Schumpeter Society and an Advisory Editor for the Journal of Evolutionary Economics. He is currently a recipient of the Broman Foundation scholarship.

His research interests are:

  • Innovation in hi-tech industries
  • Industrial dynamics
  • Entrepreneurship

Ethan Gifford

Associate Professor, Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg

Dr. Gifford holds a Ph.D. in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management of Intellectual Assets. He is currently employed as an associate senior lecturer at the University of Gothenburg, where he also completed his Ph.D.

Ethan’s research interests are

  • Knowledge intensive entrepreneurship
  • Innovation ecosystems
  • Sustainable development
  • Firm growth and internationalization
  • Entrepreneurship and higher education

Ethan’s research is published in peer reviewed journals such as Industry and Innovation, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, and Studies in Higher Education. His societally focused contributions includes teaching within the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship, and working with university incubators and tech transfer offices in commercialization of research activities.

Ethan is also a member of the review board for Sustainability, has received the Adlerbert and Broman scholarship for his research projects, and is a process leader at U-GOT KIES with responsibility for digitalization and seminars/workshops.

Erik Gustafsson

Senior lecturer, Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Societ, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Dr. Erik Gustafsson holds a Ph.D. in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management of Intellectual Assets from the University of Gothenburg. He currently holds a position as a senior lecturer at the University of Gothenburg where he also serves as subject coordinator for innovation and entrepreneurship as well as programme director for the M.Sc. programme in Knowledge-based Entrepreneurship.

His research interest are:

  • Entrepreneurship in cultural and creative industries
  • Knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship
  • The role of artistic and aesthetic knowledge for sustainable transition in creative industries, especially fashion

His research is published in, for example, Journal of Social Entrepreneurship and on Routledge.

During the years 2020-2024, Dr. Gustafsson held a postdoctoral scholarship from the foundation Jan Wallanders och Tom Hedelius stiftelse samt Tore Browaldhs stiftelste for the project “Fashioning a sustainable future?”.

Lina Hartmann

PhD student, Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. 

Lina Hartmann is a PhD student in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management of Intellectual Assets. She is undertaking his doctoral education as part of Professor McKelvey’s Swedish Research Council Distinguished Professors’ Research Program on “Knowledge-intensive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Transforming society through knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship”. 

Hartmann obtained her MSc in Knowledge-Based Entrepreneurship from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her Master’s Thesis quantitatively investigated the impact of female entrepreneurship on a country’s innovative performance.

Her research interests are:

  • Academic engagement
  • Knowledge-based entrepreneurship
  • University-Industry Collaboration

Martin Henning

Professor of Economic Geography. Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg

Martin is also affiliated with CRA Center of Regional Analysis at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, and with the Work and Employment Research Centre (WE).

Martin has a PhD in Economic geography from Lund University (2009), and he works at University of Gothenburg University since 2014.

His research especially focuses on

  • Labour mobility
  • The long-term evolution of regional economies
    all with a bit of a quantitative touch.

Martin’s work is published in a range of well-known journals, and he particularly takes an interest in research communication to external stakeholders.

Magnus Holmén

Professor of Innovation Sciences, Halmstad University. Visiting Research Fellow at  the Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.

Dr. Magnus Holmén is a Professor in Innovation Sciences with a focus on Industrial Management, at Halmstad University. During his doctoral studies, he studied the emergence of technological innovation systems within regions. As a research associate at the Australian National University, he analyzed the emergence and growth of sectoral and national innovation systems.

His research interests are

  • The nature and process of business model innovation
  • Emergence and co-evolution of ecosystems and business models
  • Relationship between technological change and competition
  • The nature of innovation and competition in specific domains, such as health innovation and energy.

He contributes to society through teaching on the master level, developing new programs and courses for practitioners and master programs, interacting with firms and public organizations in research projects.

He is the research director for the Center of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Learning research (CIEL) at the school of Business, Innovation and Sustainability, Halmstad University. He was a visiting scholar at the Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research (SCANCOR) at Stanford University in 2019.

Astrid Heidemann Lassen

Associate Professor of Operations and Innovation Management, Aalborg University. Researcher in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management of Intellectual Assets, University of Gothenburg. GU Visiting Professor: Handels VPP 2014-2018 and ES 2018-2020. Honorary Visiting Professor 2018 -

Dr. Astrid Heidemann Lassen is Associate Professor in Operations and Innovation Management at Aalborg University, Denmark, Department of Materials and Production. Astrid is Head of Section in Production and Vice Head of Department. Since 2015 she has been Honorary Visiting Professor at the Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Her research interests are in particular on

  • Organizational capabilities for innovation
  • Digital transformation
  • Knowledge intensive entrepreneurial ventures

Her research has been published extensively in international journals, conferences and books, and she is an experienced speaker on such topics in industrial settings. Astrid is a member of U-GOT KIES Steering committee.

Nathalie Lazaric

Professor of Economics, CNRS (Centre National de Recherche Scientifique), Université Côte d’Azur Sophia Antipolis., Visiting Professor (VPP) , School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg 2019-2021.

Professor Lazaric is a French economist recognized among the Top 10-15% authors in France and the EU, and Top 4 % women economists worldwide (Repec).

Her research interests are

  • organizational routines and dynamics of change
  • Ecological innovations
  • Business models in energy and mobility
  • Pro environmental behaviours.

Her research is published  in a large range of top academic journals,  like Organization Science, Industrial and Corporate Change, Research Policy, Ecological Economics, Small Business Economics, Energy Policy, Journal of Institutional economics, Industry and Innovation, Regional Studies, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Climate Policy and she contributes to society through many field- experiments in transport and mobility with SMEs and large Companies and through  key notes and interviews in local and international media. She has published more than 50 articles in a large range of top academic journals, like Organization Science, Industrial and Corporate Change, Research Policy, Journal of Institutional economics, Industry and Innovation, Regional Studies, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Climate Policy.

She is currently President of the EAEPE (European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy), chair of many International scientific committees such as International Schumpeter Society and EGOS (European Group Organizational Studies), advisory Editor of Journal of Evolutionary Economics, editor of the Editor of the REPE-Review of Evolutionary Political Economy of and Senior Editor of Organization Science. She has been involved in several national and European projects on energy consumption and sustainable issues. In France she supervised TICELEC- IT for sustainable behaviors in electric consumption. Nathalie is a member of U-GOT KIES Steering committee.

Daniel Ljungberg

Associate professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Unit for innovation and entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.

Dr. Daniel Ljungberg is Associate professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He holds a Ph.D. in Technology Management and Economics from Chalmers University of Technology. He is employed at University of Gothenburg since 2011.

His research interests are

  • Academic engagement and university-industry collaboration
  • University strategy and management
  • Economics of science and innovation
  • Knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship

His research is published in well-known journals such as R&D Management, Technovation, Industry and Innovation, Industrial and Corporate Change, Creativity and Innovation Management, and Journal of Evolutionary Economics.

He leads and coordinates U-GOT KIES’s involvement in NORSI (the Nordic Research School in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and he represents the center on the NORSI General assembly.

Oscar Llopis Corcoles

Associate Professor in Business Management, Department of Business Management Faculty of Economics, University of Valencia, Broman Scholar  and Affiliated researcher at the Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the University of Gothenburg.

Dr. Llopis Corcoles holds a PhD in Business Management from the University of Valencia and INGENIO (CSIC – UPV). His academic career started in 2010 when he joined INGENIO (CSIC - UPV) as a predoctoral researcher. Oscar has also visited highly reputed centers such as the Copenhagen Business School (Denmark) and the Università di Pisa (Italy). After obtaining his PhD (2013), he joined the Groupe de recherche in Économie théorique et appliquée (GREThA), at the University of Bordeaux (France) as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2016 he moved to the Rennes School of Business (France) as Associate Professor in the Strategy and Innovation area. In 2018 he joined the Department of Business Management at the University of Valencia (Spain).

His research interests are

  • Academic engagement
  • University – industry collaboration
  • Knowledge and innovation networks
  • Economics of science
  • Scientific novelty

His research has been published in renowned journals such as Research Policy, R&D Management, Science and Public Policy or Research Evaluation. He also teaches courses related to strategic management, innovation and entrepreurship at undergraduate and graduate levels. 

Oscar is also the track chair of the Strategic Interest Group (SIG) on Behavioral Strategy, at the European Academy of Management (EURAM). He has been also involved in several national and international research projects to evaluate the impact of public science funding or to assess the relevance of knowledge networks in biomedicine, among others.

Hanna Martin

Associate Senior Lecturer in Economic Geography, Department for Business Administration School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg

Hanna is an associate senior lecturer in Economic Geography at the School of Business, Economics and Law, at the University of Gothenburg Hanna holds a PhD in social and economic geography from Lund University (2016).

Her research interests cover

  • Regional economic development
  • Socio-technical transitions
  • Innovation systems and innovation system transformation

Hanna publishes in well-known international journals in the fields of regional development and economic geography. She is actively engaged in research communication to external stakeholders as well as within various research networks.

Roman Martin

Professor in Economic Geography, Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg

Roman is teaching in economic geography, international business and European studies. His research is placed at the intersection of economic geography and innovation studies, with particular focus on innovation-based regional development, regional innovation systems and policy, clusters and cluster policy, as well as innovation and knowledge networks.

His research interests are:

  • Economic Geography of Innovation
  • Regional Development
  • Innovation Systems and Policy

Roman’s research is published in well-known journals such as Economic Geography, Environment and Planning A, Environment and Planning C, European Urban and Regional Studies, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, and Industry and Innovation. 

Roman is currently director of the Centre for Regional Analysis (CRA) at the University of Gothenburg. Further, he is a member of the steering committee of the Centre for European Research (CERGU) and the Regional Studies Association (RSA) Ambassador to Sweden. Together with Johan Jakobsson, he is coordinating the Masters’ Program in International Business and Trade (IBT).

Maureen McKelvey

Professor of Industrial Management, Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.

McKelvey's research focuses on the development and use of knowledge at the interplay between innovation management and entrepreneurship with science and engineering.

She has published extensively in highly ranked journals and has had high level positions in expert groups and written reports, for Swedish organizations as well as for the OECD and the European Union. She has also served on DIME, DRUID, Imperial College Business School Innovation, Manchester Institute of Innovation, GEM in Grenoble, among others in her career. In 2017 she was awarded a large grant as part of the Swedish Research Council’s Distinguished Professors Programme.

Further, McKelvey has been part of developing several masters programmes in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship, in which she also taught several courses. What drives her in her work and research is a curiosity for the ever changing nature of technology, society and economy.

Bastian Rake

Senior Lecturer in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management of Intellectual Asset at the Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Gothenburg. Before joining the University of Gothenburg, he worked as Assistant Professor at Maynooth University School of Business and as Assistant Professor at the Chair of Organisation, Technology Management and Entrepreneurship (Prof. Dr. Carolin Häussler) at the University of Passau. He obtained his PhD from the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena where he was a member of the DFG Graduate College ”The Economics of Innovative Change” jointly hosted by the Max Planck Institute of Economics and Friedrich Schiller University Jena.

Dr Rake’s research interests are

  • Knowledge generation and innovation in knowledge-intense industries
  • Alliances, collaboration, and innovation networks
  • Internationalization of science and R&D
  • Reporposing and exaptation

Dr Rake's research appeared in renowned journals such as Research Policy, R&D Management, Industrial and Corporate Change, Industry and Innovation, Drug Discovery Today, as well as Innovation: Organization & Management. Bastian Rake has also published practitioner-oriented contributions in outlets like RTÉ Brainstormand the Business & Society Blog. Bastian Rake is also affiliated researcher at the International Center for Higher Education Research (INCHER) at the University of Kassel. Dr Rake’s recent collaborative research project on science-policy interactions has obtained funding from Research Ireland. He currently serves as one of the Academic Editors of PLOS ONE and has co-edited a special issue on “Rethinking Medical Innovation” in Innovation: Organization & Management.

Elena Raviola

Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Professor of Design Management. Design Unit, HDK-Valand, Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts, University of Gothenburg.

Professor Raviola is expert on digitalization and new forms of organizing in cultural and creative industries. She has extensively studied the transformation of the field of news production and conducted ethnographic studies in Italy, France and Sweden. Her research interests are

  • Cultural entrepreneurship
  • Digitalization, including artificial intelligence
  • Professional work.

Her research is published in Organization Studies, Academy of Management Annals, Journal of Cultural Economy, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Journal of Media Business Studies. She contributes to society through understanding what are the wider societal implications of digitalization and the entrepreneurial dynamics around it.

She also directs the Business and Design Lab, a research center between the School of Business, Economics and Law and the Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts, University of Gothenburg, and co-leads with professor Gregor Noll the research program on AI, the Social Contract and Democracy, financed by WASP-HS. She has been visiting researchers at Stanford University, Harvard University, Bocconi University and Sciences Po. Elena is a member of U-GOT KIES Steering committee.

Rögnvaldur Saemundsson

Professor of Industrial Engineering, University of Iceland. Researcher, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. Lecturer, Department of Innovation Management, School of Business, Innovation and Sustainability, Halmstad University.

Rögnvaldur Saemundsson is a professor in Industrial Engineering at the University of Iceland and holds part time positions in Innovation Management at Gothenburg University and Halmstad University. He received a Tekn. Dr. degree from Chalmers University of Technology and has previously worked as a R&D manager in the medical device industry.

Saemundsson's main research interests are:

  • Medical Innovation
  • Innovation Governance
  • Technology Management

His work has been published in outlets such as Technovation, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Long Range Planning, Small Business Economics, Industrial and Corporate Change, Science & Public Policy, and Industry & Innovation. Rögnvaldur is a member of U-GOT KIES Steering committee.

Maria Spante

Senior lecturer, Associate professor, School of Business, Economics and IT, Division of Informatics, University West, Sweden.

Dr. Maria Spante is associate professor in field information systems. Dr Spante took her PhD at Chalmers University of Technology in 2009 studying social interaction in virtual reality.

Her main interests are

  • Digital competence and competence development in general
  • Formative interventions as research methods particularly working with Activity theory and Change Laboratory
  • Co-design processes in organizations and interprofessional collaboration

Her research is published in diverse places and she contributes to society by formative intervention empower professionals in organizations to tackle social injustices and improve organizational practices through work integrated learning.

She is also responsible for the development of Online Change Laboratory international group in the Activity Theory node at University West, and active in the node development.

Furthermore, she is elected head of the quality development board at the department of Economy and IT at University West.

Viktor Ström

Postdoctoral Scholar, Unit of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.

Viktor Ström hold a PhD in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management of Intellectual Asset. His research is done within Professor McKelvey’s Swedish Research Council Distinguished Professors’ Research Program on “Knowledge-intensive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Transforming society through knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship”. 

Ström quantitatively analyzes academic engagement with industry in the engineering sciences. More specifically, he has analyzed the scientific outcomes of knowledge-based interactions between university professors and firms, in electrical engineering. He has also investigated characteristics of who academic researchers within electrical engineering co-author scientific papers with (i.e., who are their industry co-authors?). 

His research interests are 

  • Knowledge Networks 
  • University-Industry Collaboration 
  • Academic engagement with industry in engineering 

Stefan Szücs

Associate Professor in Political Science and Senior LecturerDepartment of Social Work, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Dr. Stefan Szücs is Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer at University of Gothenburg. Between 1998 and 2011, he headed local governance and innovation policy research at the Swedish Center for Public Sector Research (CEFOS). He obtained his PhD in Political Science by a thesis on local elites in Europe (1998), published within the framework of the international research program Democracy and Local Governance (DLG), directed by Prof. Dr. Henry Teune, Department of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

His research interests are

  • Governance
  • Public Policy
  • Politics of Innovation and Reform

His research is published in prominent journals such as European Planning Studies, Governance, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Journal of Integrated Care, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, as well as the Journal of Evolutionary Economics. 

Dr. Szücs is a member of the Standing Group on Local Government and Politics at the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR), and is currently active in Forte’s (Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare) research program Quality, Organization and Processes of Welfare Governance (includes COVID-19 related research). Stefan is a member of U-GOT KIES Steering committee.

Alexander Styhre

Professor, Chair of Management and Organization, Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.

Alexander Styhre, Ph.D. (Lund University, 1998) is chair of Management and Organization, Dept. of Business Administration, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. Previously Styhre worked at Chalmers University of Technology, Department of Technology Management and Economics, 1999-2010, from 2006 as full professor in project management, and in 2008-2010, as the chair of operations management.

Styhre’s research interests cover wide areas, including innovation management, corporate governance, and urban development and construction industry studies. Studies have been conducted in the pharmaceutical industry, automotive industry, construction industry, video game industry, in the health care sector, and elsewhere.

Styhre has published widely in the field of organization studies, and Styhre’s work has appeared in a variety of organization studies journals. Styhre is the former Editor-In-Chief of Scandinavian Journal of Management, and currently serves on the editorial board of Organization Studies and Academy of Management Review. Since 2017, Styhre is a member of the board of Scandinavian Academy of Management.

Johannes Tröndle

PhD student, Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. 

Johannes Tröndle is a PhD student in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management of Intellectual Assets. He is undertaking his doctoral education as part of Professor McKelvey’s Swedish Research Council Distinguished Professors’ Research Program on “Knowledge-intensive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Transforming society through knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship”. 

Johannes obtained his MSc in Innovation and Industrial Management from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. In his Master´s Thesis he investigated qualitatively the potential for collaborations within hydrogen ecosystem for fuel-cell trucks.

His research interests are:

  • Knowledge spillovers
  • Pharmaceutical industry
  • Patent based research

Yifei Wang

PhD student, Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg

Yifei Wang is a PhD student in Economic Geography. She obtained her MSc Degree in Urban and Economic Geography, Utrecht University, in 2021. Her master’s thesis investigated the location choices of Chinese greenfield investments across EU regions.

Yifei’s research focuses on how globalization and foreign ownership affect local economic development in advanced economies.

Her research interests are:

  • Multinational enterprises
  • Regional economic development

Stijn van Weegberg

PhD student, Unit for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. 

He is undertaking his doctoral education as part of Professor McKelvey’s Swedish Research Council Distinguished Professors’ Research Program on “Knowledge-intensive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Transforming society through knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship”.

Van Weegberg obtained his MSc in Entrepreneurship and Business Design, with a specialization in Technology Venture Creation, from the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. His Master’s Thesis investigated the development of Entrepreneurship Addiction in First-Time Entrepreneurs. His dissertation focuses on how entrepreneurs in the SportsTech industry experiment and develop knowledge to advance their technological innovation in the venture creation process.

His research interests are:

  • Knowledge-Intensive Entrepreneurship
  • Entrepreneurial Experimentation
  • Sports Innovation and Sports Technology
  • Ecosystems
  • User Innovation

Björn Remneland Wikhamn

Professor of Management and Organization, Department of Business Administration, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Section Management and Organization.

Björn Remneland Wikhamn is a professor of Management and Organization, and his main research interest, as well as teaching activities, involve the broad fields of innovation management, strategy, HRM, and organizational theory. 

In recent research projects he has studied open innovation in e.g., life sciences, video game development and automotive industry, and in particular studied how large incumbent firms collaborate with small entrepreneurial scaleups. He is the academic examiner and academic responsible for the master program Matix - Management for Growth, at the School of Business in Gothenburg (www.matix.se).

He has publications in e.g., R&D Management, Int. J. of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Creativity and Innovation Management, Int. Journal of Innovation Management, and Scandinavian Journal of Management. He has also published several books and reports. Björn is a member of U-GOT KIES Steering committee.

Olof Zaring

Professor in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Management of Intellectual Assets. Department of Economy and Society, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.

Professor Zaring publishes in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship, and also has extensive teaching experience at the graduate and post-graduate level. He is chairman of U-GOT KIES Steering commitee. His research interests are:

  • Innovation governance
  • Entrepreneurial education
  • Academic engagement for innovation