H. W. Chesbrough is a professor at the Luiss Guido Carli University in Italy, having previously held a professorship at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with a minor in Engineering from Yale University, from which he graduated with honours. Subsequently, Chesbrough was awarded an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and a PhD in Business Administration from the University of California.
He is best known as an organisational theorist who developed the theory of open innovation. This theory argues that organisations should not only create or improve technology in their own operations, but also share it openly by adopting or licensing solutions developed by others or selling their own solutions to other companies or organisations.
This theory is also widely developed at the KTU School of Economics and Business: it is used as a foundation for preparing bachelor’s and master’s theses and executing doctoral research. According to the Honorary Doctor of KTU, this theory is also of great importance for Lithuanian businesses seeking to apply various innovations. “Based on my research, the European Commission introduced Open Science, Open Innovation, Open to the World concept that directs Lithuanian and other European countries research and innovation towards exchange of knowledge and more innovation in Europe. I believe that Lithuanian companies, especially those participating in Horizon Europe calls, apply open innovation principles, even if they sometimes do not call it open innovation”, says the author of 5 books based on the theory of open innovation.
During his scientific career, Chesbrough has been awarded more than 20 academic prizes, authored seven monographs, published more than 140 scientific publications, and has been cited more than 100 thousand times.
Together with KTU scientists, the Honorary Doctor carries out various research activities, contributing to the quality of the university’s scientific publications and promotion of scientific research.
H. W. Chesbrough founded the Berkeley Innovation Forum (BIF) at the University of California in 2005, which he has been organising since. Although the Forum is membership-based, including executives of multinational companies actively applying the principles of open innovation in their operations, KTU researchers are granted exclusive access to the organised events.
During the Open Innovation Seminars, visiting researchers and PhD students from the University of California present their research on phenomena related to the management and processes of product, service and business model innovation. Thanks to an exclusive collaboration, KTU PhD students and researchers also participate in these events.
Title of Honorary Doctor is awarded for outstanding research achievements within the global arena in the field of technology and open innovation management, as well as sustainable collaboration and training of young researchers at Kaunas University of Technology.
