Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank
Chair of Innovation Management
and Entrepreneurship

Prof. Dr. Kelvin W. Willoughby

My whole career—spanning several continents and several decades—has been devoted to finding answers to this question, and to helping students, executives, entrepreneurs and policy-makers find answers to the question for themselves, their organizations and their communities. The words of two amazing innovators, in particular, have guided my intellectual and practical journey:

“You should decide what is good and what is important, and then you should do it, otherwise you will be wasting your life.”  – E. F. Schumacher, international economist and author of “Small is Beautiful”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”  – Steve Jobs, entrepreneur and co-founder of Apple and Pixar

In 2021 I joined the Stiftungsfonds Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management as a Professor. My expertise lies in the strategic management of intellectual property, technology-based entrepreneurship, and strategic planning for technology-based industry development. I have conducted a variety of studies, and produced numerous publications, in the above fields in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Russia. I have doctoral degrees in both strategic management and technology studies, and a master of laws degree in intellectual property law. My undergraduate training was in environmental studies and philosophy.
In addition to my academic work, I have been active as an international consultant and advisor to industry and government, and a founding member of a digital media technology company in the United States.

My academic affiliations have included, among others: the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), in Moscow, Russia; Curtin University, in Australia; the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis; the State University of New York at Stony Brook; the University of Utah; and, the University of California at Berkeley.

Publications