Technology and Innovation

We are a multidisciplinary group of globally recognised scholars with core expertise in digital and other technology-based innovations. The group’s work is underpinned by research centres that focus on developing and disseminating knowledge relating to the use of technology in organisations. These include:

Centre for Creativity enabled by AI (Professor Neil Maiden)
Centre for Healthcare Innovation Research (Professor Harry Scarbrough)
Centre for Creativity in Professional Practice (Dr Sara Jones)
Business School Learning Laboratory (Professor Clive Holtham)

Research

Our research covers the whole spectrum of topics in technology and innovation, including:

  • Digital technologies and strategic and organisational innovations
  • Bridging the innovation-execution gap in the digital economy
  • The role of digital technologies in supporting creativity and design
  • Impact of family ownership on innovation and strategic choice architecture
  • Global innovation management and the innovation process
  • Economic analysis of digital technologies and competitive interactions
  • Digital technologies impact on the development of science and technology-intensive products
  • Digital transformation of health and social care
  • Innovative methods and technologies for teaching and learning
  • The applications and impacts of AI and other emerging technologies

Our research has been published in leading journals including  Managements Science, Research Policy, Journal of Management, MIS Quarterly, Communications of the ACM, Journal of Operations Management, Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Information Systems Research, Organization Studies, Strategic Organization, R&D Management, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Human Relations, Academy of Management Discoveries, Academy of Management Perspectives, British Journal of Management. We collaborate with leading academics from science, engineering, medicine, law, psychology and the arts, and engage closely with business leaders and policy makers through applied research, consultancy and executive development programmes.

We welcome PhD applications both in the full-time and executive programmes.  Interested candidates are encouraged to contact members of the group for an informal discussion.

Teaching

Our members teach courses across all levels. Our growing teaching portfolio is informed and updated to reflect our ongoing research, and our pedagogic research informs an innovative approach to management learning which we apply across our undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

Our group contributed to the development of an innovative and successful Masters in Innovation, Creativity and Leadership. Our teaching of the practice of management on our new cluster of BSc courses in Business Management, on the previous Management and Business Studies undergraduate courses, and on the MSc in Management, prepares students to deal with an uncertain and fast-changing business environment. We have developed a large-scale business simulation, Millcaster Global Industries, within which first year undergraduates address issues characterised by the term VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity). Examples of our teaching include:

  • Digital Technologies and Business Innovation - core module for the Bayes Full Time MBA and Executive MBA programmes
  • Technology and Innovation - core module for Bayes’ online Global MBA
  • Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship pathway (in collaboration with Bayes’ Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group )  within the BSc degree in Business Management including specialist modules in Digital Business and in the Economics of Digital Business
  • Technologies, Creativity and Innovation - core module for the Masters in Innovation Creativity and Leadership, exploring ways in which digital technologies, including AI, impact on innovation and creative processes
  • Family Business - highly popular elective on Masters programme aimed at students from family owned businesses understand the challenges they are likely to face as they step into their family business and best practices they can follow in dealing with these challenges.
  • Management Lab and Business Skills - core module for the BSc Business Management addressing key management concepts, relating these to contemporary business challenges, and providing a base for students to develop their own interests beyond the curriculum
  • Virtual Organisation - elective module for final year undergraduates which addresses the intersection between technological innovation and changing patterns of work
  • Technology and Innovation Management - core module for the BSc in Business Management focusing on technology-based innovation as a source of economic development and competitive advantage.

Recent research projects and industry engagement

Our group has been very successful in winning substantial external research funding from a variety of sources, including ESRC, EPSRC, ARHC, Innovate UK, British Council, the EU and from industries.  Our recent research projects include:

CebAI: Creativity enabled by AI [2020-2024], Funded by Research England
Total funding £3,569,113

Prof. Neil Maiden (Principal Investigator)

Innovation for African Universities [2021-2023], Funded by British Council
Total funding £3,046,660

Dr Sara Jones (Co-Investigator)

Building a Well Communities Research Consortium to address health disparities through Integrated Care Systems [2022-2023], Funded by UKRI (AHRC)
Total funding £242,805

Dr Sara Jones (Co-Investigator)

Creative Spark, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan [2018-2023], Funded by British Council
Total funding £225K

Dr Sara Jones (Principal Investigator)

SCAMPI: Self-Care Advice, Monitoring, Planning and Intervention [2017-2020], Funded by EPSRC 
Total funding £943,000
Prof. Neil Maiden (Principal Investigator) and Prof. Feng Li (Co-Investigator)

INJECT – Innovative Journalism: Enhanced Creativity Tools [2016-2019], Funded by EU H2020 Innovation Action
Total funding €1M
Prof. Neil Maiden (Project Coordinator and Principal Investigator)

DCHub –The Digital Creativity Hub [2015-2017], Funded by RCUK and 80 Business Partners
Total funding [£5M + Co-Funding from Business Partners]
Prof. Feng Li (Business Theme Leader)

Boosting Resilience – Survival Skills for the New Normal [2017-2019], Funded by Arts Council England
Total funding £460K

Dr. Sara Jones (Principal Investigator)

NEMOG – New Economic Models and Opportunities for Digital Games [2013-2016], Funded by EPSRC & ESRC Joint Programme
Total funding £1.2M
Prof. Feng Li (Business Theme Leader)

CareVBook ­– Digital Apps to Capture and Assess Care Experiences [2016-2018], Funded by Innovate UK - KTP Programme
Total funding £240K 
Prof. Neil Maiden (Principal Investigator)

Some of our thought-leadership projects are sponsored by industries.  Recent examples include:

More information on our group’s research projects is available on the personal pages of our experts.

Technology and Innovation Experts

Full-Time and Executive PhD Students - Current

  • Sami Assadi
  • Ammara Awais
  • Menghan Cui
  • Maged Elshenawy
  • Yimeng Qin
  • Aakif Rahman
  • Jafar Sabbah
  • Sukrit Vinayavekhin