Professor Erkko Autio is the QinetiQ-EPSRC Chair and Director of the Doctoral Programme at Imperial College London Business School. At the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group, he directs the Entrepreneurship, Transfer and Adoption theme and co-directs the Energy Business Research Laboratory. He is also a member of the Senate of Imperial College and serves in the Research Committee of ICBS.
Following his Doctorate at Helsinki University of Technology (HUT), he held a number of academic roles, including professor and director of the Institute of Strategy and International Business at HUT in 1999, Visiting Professor at CERN in 2001 and Professor at HEC Université de Lausanne in 2003, before taking up his current position at ICBS in 2006.
Erkko Autio has been a founder, non-executive director and advisory board member of a number of technology-based ventures and venture funds, and he has worked widely with industry and government in Europe and Asia. He has advised the European Commissioner for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and he chaired the Europe Innova Expert Panel on ‘Gazelle’ Policy from 2006 to 2008. Four technology ventures started by his students have been listed in Europe’s ‘100 Hottest Technology Ventures’ list. While at Helsinki University of Technology, over a period of 15 years, he was closely involved in launching and developing the Otaniemi Science Park – Innopoli complex. With over 330 tenants, it is the largest science park in the Scandinavian countries.
Erkko was a founding member of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor GEM initiative. His research focuses on technology strategy, ecosystem strategies, technology-based venturing, high-growth entrepreneurship, and new venture internationalisation.
Erkko serves and has served in numerous journal editorial boards, including Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Business Venturing, and Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice. His research has been published in Academy of Management Journal; Academy of Management Review; Strategic Management Journal; Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Journal of International Business Studies; Strategic Organization, Research Policy; McKinsey Quarterly; Journal of Management Studies; Journal of Business Venturing; Small Business Economics, among others. His research has been cited in more than 1 000 academic articles (ISI) and in some 200-300 news media in over 80 countries.
His doctoral students have received numerous awards for research excellence, including two ‘Best PhD Thesis’ awards by the Academy of Management. He is himself also a recipient of numerous awards, the most recent being the 2010 American Marketing Association’s Gerry Hill Award for an article that has significantly influenced entrepreneurship and marketing research over the past decade.
