Stanford Expands Global Reach, Innovation Research

The Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship recently announced that it has joined the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where it will enhance the global reach and innovation research at the business school.

Focused on understanding the development and practice of innovation and entrepreneurship around the world, SPRIE’s core activities include global interdisciplinary research, seminars, and conferences, as well as publications and briefings for industry and government leaders. Current research focuses on the dynamics and sustainability of Silicon Valley and high-technology areas across Europe and Asia, and their collaboration and competition in the evolving global innovation network.

SPRIE research focuses on the nexus of innovation and entrepreneurship in high-technology clusters, through questions such as:

• What factors enable innovative and entrepreneurial regions to advance and be sustained? What divergent models and strategies are evident in emerging regions?
• Why have some regions lagged, despite strong assets such as skilled workers or capital investments? What obstacles hinder a region’s development?
• How do the flows of ideas, technology, people, and capital define new global linkages? How do these shape the emerging global high-technology system?
• With the rise of China, India, and other high-technology powerhouses, what new patterns of interaction are emerging among major players? How can companies and governments best respond to new critical challenges and opportunities?

“Innovation and entrepreneurship are hallmarks of the GSB experience,” says Garth Saloner, dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “We are thrilled to welcome SPRIE, a catalyst for cutting-edge knowledge in this space, and a natural fit for us. SPRIE complements and augments many of our existing efforts, including the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Center for Global Business and the Economy.”

SPRIE is led by faculty directors William F. Miller and Henry S. Rowen, as well as Associate Director Marguerite Gong Hancock. Miller, the former provost of Stanford University and the Herbert Hoover Professor of Public and Private Management, Emeritus, at the business school, is also a professor emeritus of computer science at the engineering school. He is an expert on international security, economic development, and high-tech industries in the United States and Asia.

“We are very pleased to join the Graduate School of Business and look forward to collaborating on international and interdisciplinary research and conferences relevant to business students, executives, and government leaders from around the world who are focused on leading innovation and creating value,” Miller says.