Innovation and Entrepreneurship online course

Who is John Bessant?

Originally a chemical engineer with a PhD for work on innovation within the chemical industry, Prof. John Bessant has been active in research, teaching and consultancy in technology and innovation management for over 30 years. He currently holds the Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Exeter University and is Adjunct Professor at the University of Stavanger, Norway. In 2003, he was awarded a Fellowship with the Advanced Institute for Management Research and was also elected a Fellow of the British Academy of Management. He served on the Business and Management Panel of both the 2001 and 2008 UK national Research Assessment Exercises.

After a spell in industry, he took up full-time research teaching in the field of technology and innovation management working at Aston’s Technology Policy Unit, the Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex University and at Brighton University where he directed the Centre for Research in Innovation Management (CENTRIM). His areas of research interest include the management of discontinuous innovation, strategies for developing high involvement innovation and the use of learning networks to facilitate diffusion of innovation. He is the author of 25 books and many articles on the topic and has lectured and consulted widely around the world. His most recent books include ‘Managing innovation’ (now in its 6th edition) and ‘Creativity and innovation management’.

He has also acted as advisor to various national governments and to international bodies including the United Nations, The World Bank and the OECD.

By appointing Professor Bessant as FAU-Ambassador, FAU honours one of the most renown experts on entrepreneurship and innovation management who can vitally foster the internationalisation and profiling of the science location Erlangen with his transnational network.

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