10 February 2011 By Northern Lights
Bradford University School of Management has appointed a leading academic in entrepreneurship and innovation, Professor Christos Kalantaridis.
A much published academic, he has recently worked collaboratively with Aalto University in Finland – a world leading centre for helping businesses to innovate, particularly in technologies – and with partners in four European countries to develop best practice in transferring knowledge from universities to organisations.
Dr Sarah Dixon, dean of the School, said: “Innovation is critical to the UK economy – and Christos’ appointment is important in terms of helping public and third sectors to adapt to new ways of working and for businesses to develop world-beating products and services.
“We were impressed by the quality of Christos’ research and his strong relationships with businesses – particularly important since a key focus for our School is to engage closely with organisations. We want to share our knowledge and leading edge research and to encourage peer-to-peer learning.”
Prof Kalantaridis will lead the Innovation Club which helps regional organisations to share ideas on encouraging innovation and break down barriers. He is keen to hear from businesses and others about what they see as the barriers and carry out research to identify how to ensure good ideas are developed and sustainable- and find new ideas from working with customers and suppliers.
Prof Kalantaridis said: “Businesses want solutions now and I am keen to see how we open the School and our resources to organisations small and large – and link our research to their needs. We can make a difference to them and to the economy. I am already getting out and about and would welcome leaders from all sectors coming to see me at the School.”