Staff Profile
Professor James Cunningham
Prof of Entrepreneurship & Innovation
James A. Cunningham is a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom and is an affiliated member of Centre for Innovation Research at Lund University, Sweden. He has held academic positions at University College Dublin, University of Galway and Northumbria University. At University of Galway he held a variety of leadership positions including Head of Strategic Management group, Executive MBA Programme Director, Director of the Centre of Innovation and Structural Change, and founding Director of the Whitaker Institute. At Northumbria University he was subject group leader and Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange for the Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Strategy.
Professor Cunningham’s research intersects the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategic management. His research focuses on strategy issues with respect to scientists as principal investigators, university technology transfer commercialization, academic, public sector and technology entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial universities, entrepreneurial ecosystems and business failure.
His has papers published in leading international journals such as Research Policy, Small Business Economics, R&D Management, Long Range Planning, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Technology Transfer, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, International Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research and the Journal of Rural Studies among others. Awards for his research include seven best paper conference awards and two case study international competition awards.
Professor Cunningham has published several books on the themes of strategy, entrepreneurship, technology transfer, and technology entrepreneurship with leading publishers such as Oxford University Press, Palgrave MacMillian, Routledge, Springer, and World Scientific Publishing. His most recent book publications include Technology and Innovation Policy An International Perspective (2021), Advanced Introduction to Technology Policy (2021) and Women and Global Entrepreneurship: Contextualising the Everyday Experiences (2021) and Technology Entrepreneurship: Bringing Innovation to the Marketplace (2020).
Professor Cunningham has successfully secured research funding and is an experienced principal investigator leading large scale multi-partner publicly funded research programs for funded agencies such Northern Peripheries Programme (EU), the Irish Higher Education Authority, Irish Research Council, and Science Foundation Ireland. He is the author of numerous commissioned research reports for organizations such as the Australian Skills Council, the American Chamber of Commerce, Ireland, Galway City and County Councils, Galway Chamber of Commerce, and the Creative Edge. In addition, he has contributed to policy development processes on technology transfer, innovation, and entrepreneurship in Ireland. His most recent commission research for the EU Commission and the Joint Research Council was focused on project co-ordinators - scientists in the principal. investigator role. He co-authored two technical reports- Roles and Responsibilities of Project Coordinator: A Contingency Model for Project Coordinator Effectiveness and The Role of Project Coordinator in European Commission Framework Programme Projects. Professor Cunningham has also co-created impact toolkits for scientists in the principal investigator role.
Professor Cunningham regularly delivers invited keynote talks and presentations nationally and internationally to business, policy, and academic audiences as well as delivering executive master classes on strategy development, new venture creation, innovation and technology entrepreneurship.
My research interests intersect the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategic management. My current research focus is on three main themes:
Academic Entrepreneurship and University Technology Transfer
Some issues of current issues of focus include the role of scientists in the principal investigator an how do they shaping science, markets and society? What is the impact orientation of scientists in the principal investigator role? How scientists in the principal investigator role create and capture value for diverse stakeholders? How scientists engage with entrepreneurial ecosystems and other stakeholders in commercialising their research?
Entrepreneurial University
As universities are extending their mission focus to technology and knowledge transfer some issues of current focus include business models, missions and drivers of entrepreneurial universities. The organisational structures, strategies and entrepreneurial architecture that entrepreneurial universities adapt to realise their mission focus in different contextual settings. How do entrepreneurial universities engage formally and informally with civic and societal issues? What is the role and capabilities of technology transfer offices in supporting entrepreneurial university mission expansion?
Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policies
Different actors contribute to the development of entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems and as such how do these ecosystems evolve overtime? What tensions emerge among ecosystems actors over the stage of entrepreneurship? What is the economic, technological and social impact of entrepreneurial ecosystems? What governance systems are used to support ecosystem evolution? What is the impact of entrepreneurship, innovation and technology policies? What is role of public sector R&D in realising innovation and technology policies?
For a full list of publications see ResearchGate.
I welcome PhD and visiting doctoral enquires around these three research themes.
-
Articles
- Pattinson S, Cunningham J, Preece D, Davies MAP. Trust building in science-based SMEs in the North East of England: an ecosystem perspective. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 2022, 29(6), 902-919.
- Albats E, Alexander AT, Cunnningham JA. Traditional, virtual, and digital intermediaries in university-industry collaboration: exploring institutional logics and bounded rationality. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 2022, 177, 121470.
- Buratti M, Cantner U, Cunningham JA, Lehmann E, Menter M. The dynamics of entrepreneurial ecosystems: an empirical investigation. R&D Management 2023, 53(4), 656-674.
- O'Kane C, Zhang JA, Haar J, Cunningham JA. How scientists interpret and address funding criteria: value creation and undesirable side effects. Small Business Economics 2022, (ePub ahead of Print).
- Messina L, Miller K, Cunningham JA, McAdam R, Hewitt-Dundas N. Exploring the influence of innovativeness on the pace of internationalisation of University Spin-Outs: A Born Global Perspective. Studies in Higher Education 2022, 47(10), 2071-2087.
- Pattinson S, Cunningham JA. Entrepreneurship in Times of Crisis. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation 2022, 23(3), 71-74.
- Amankwah-Amoah J, Nyuur RB, Hinson RE, Kosiba JP, Al-Tabbaa O, Cunningham JA. Entrepreneurial strategic posture and new technology ventures in an emerging economy. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research 2022, (ePub ahead of Print).
- Walsh G, Cunningham JA, Mordue T, McLeay F, O'Kane C, Connolly N. What business schools do to support academic entrepreneurship: a systematic literature review and future research agenda. Studies in Higher Education 2021, 46(5), 988-999.
- Cunningham JA, Lehmann EE, Menter M. The organizational architecture of entrepreneurial universities across the stages of entrepreneurship: a conceptual framework. Small Business Economics 2022, 59, 11-27.
- Cunningham JA, Link AN. Latent technology as an outcome of R&D. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 2021, 162, 120371.
- Harr J, O'Kane C, Cunningham JA. Firm-level antecedents and consequences of knowledge hiding climate. Journal of Business Research 2022, 141, 410-421.
- Miller K, Cunningham JA, Lehmann E. Extending the university mission and business model: influences and implications. Studies in Higher Education 2021, 46(5), 915-925.
-
Authored Books
- Cunningham JA, Link AL. Technology and Innovation Policy: An International Perspective. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2021.
- Link AN, Cunningham JA. Advanced Introduction to Technology Policy. Edward Elgar, 2021.
- Evers N, Cunningham J, Hoholm T. Technology Entrepreneurship: Bringing Innovation to the Marketplace. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020.
- Cunningham JA, Harney B, Fitzgerald C. Effective Technology Transfer Offices: A Business Model Framework. Cham: Springer, 2020.
-
Book Chapters
- Cunningham JA. COVID-19: Entrepreneurial Universities and Academic Entrepreneurship. In: Audretsch, D.B., Kunadt, I.A.M, ed. The COVID-19 Crisis and Entrepreneurship. International Studies in Entrepreneurship. Springer, Cham, 2022, pp.209-227.
- Dolan B, McGregor C, Cunningham JA. Medical Device Scientists’ Influence on Research Impact within Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: A Systematic Literature Review. In: Fernandes C; Ramírez-Pasillas M; Ferreira JJ, ed. Universities, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, and Sustainability. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021, pp.311-332.
-
Edited Books
- McAdam M, Cunningham JA, ed. Women Global Entrepreneurship: Contextualising Everyday Experiences. London: Routledge, 2021.
- Cunningham JA, Whalley J, ed. The Internet of Things and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Challenges and Opportunities. Cham: Palgrave Pivot, 2020.