Kent Business School is pleased to welcome Dr Dirk Libaers. Dr Dirk Libaers is associate professor in entrepreneurship and innovation at the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University in Boston. Prior to this he was based at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he remains a visiting fellow at the Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Dr Libaers has also held and holds visiting professorships at the University of Sussex and TU Delft in the Netherlands. Before entering into academia, Dr Libaers gained more than a decade of experience working for firms in the construction and consumer electronics industries.
Dr Libaers’ research focuses on the effective translation of scientific discoveries in university labs into marketable products; new product development activities in new and small firms in both developed and emerging markets; and new venture internationalization and survival processes. Current projects include a study of the impact of creativity on innovation in different empirical contexts, the development of new metrics for platform-based products, the study of antecedents of business model innovation as well as an effort to gain deeper insights into how entrepreneurial opportunities are recognized. Dr Libaers’ research offers practical implications for entrepreneurs and managers by exploring solutions for making the commercialization process more effective and efficient, and providing methods to enhance the performance and survival prospects of new ventures.
Dr Libaers has published in, among others, the Journal of Business Venturing, the Journal of Product Innovation Management, Research Policy, R&D Management, and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. He will work closely with Professor Meyer on topics related to entrepreneurship and innovation. Both share an interest in utilising patents as an indicator of science based innovation.