School lures DRUID to London

It was announced today that the 2010 DRUID Summer conference will be at Imperial College's Business School.

 

The summer conference of the Danish Research Unit for Industrial Dynamics (DRUID) will leave Denmark for the first time in its 13 year history in 2010 when it will be hosted by Imperial College Business School, it is announced today.

The DRUID Summer conference is internationally renowned as one of the leading forums for discussions about innovation and entrepreneurship.  The conference brings together academics from a wide range of specialisms to discuss issues related to entrepreneurship, strategy, business strategy and organisation.

The announcement was made at the beginning of this year’s event which is currently taking place in Copenhagen, will arrive in London on 15-18 June 2010.  Dr Ammon Salter, Reader in Innovation Management at the Business School, has been involved in setting up the collaboration.  Dr Salter said:

“DRUID has become one of the world's leading intellectual forums for discussions about technology, innovation and strategy. We are delighted to welcome DRUID to Imperial College and to bring this forum to the heart of London.”

Special attention is given to fundamental trends such as the growing importance of knowledge for competitiveness, the information technology revolution, and the internationalization of the economy.

"This is the very first time a DRUID flagship event will be held outside Denmark,” said Professor Peter Maskell, DRUID Director from Copenhagen Business School.  “We are very excited about the new promising possibilities this opens for our research community."

The conference’s focus overlaps with the Business School’s strengths in research and teaching: Innovation and Entrepreneurship.  Alongside a contribution by Dr Salter at this year’s event, papers are also being presented by four other academics from the Innovation and Entrepreneurship research group.  They will present their work on topics including licensing and technology commercialisation, user entrepreneurship in online communities and how proximity affects university – industry collaboration.

Dr Rekha Rao, a Research Associate at the Business School, whose research examines how SMEs commercialise their technology, is one of the speakers at the current DRUID Summer conference in Copenhagen.   Last year she was awarded the Young Scholar, Best Paper Award by the conference organisers for her work on the employment effects of innovation.

Ends
For further information contact:
Elliott White – +44 (0) 20 7594 9254
 
Notes to editors

More information on DRUID is available at:
http://www.druid.dk/
 
 
1) About Imperial College Business School
Imperial College Business School is a world-class provider of business education and research, focusing primarily on Imperial College’s well-established strengths.  The School possesses recognised, international expertise in three specialist areas: finance; innovation and entrepreneurship and healthcare management.

It is the only European School to have appeared in the Financial Times’ “Best in Entrepreneurship’ table, every year since the assessment began.  The School's Innovation and Entrepreneurship group is the leading research group of its kind in Europe, having received over £25m in funding from governmental and corporate sponsors.

The School offers bespoke executive education, MBA in full-time, Executive and Distance Learning modes; Master's programmes in Finance; Risk Management and Financial Engineering; Actuarial Finance; International Health Management; Management and a Doctoral programme.
www.imperial.ac.uk/business-school 
 
2) About Imperial College
Imperial College London – rated the world’s fifth best university in the 2007 Times Higher Education Supplement University Rankings - is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 12,000 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality.
Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and business, delivering practical solutions that improve quality of life and the environment - underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture.
Website: www.imperial.ac.uk <http://www.imperial.ac.uk>