Business Education And Digital Transformation: Interview with Francisco Veloso, Dean of Imperial College Business School

Dinis Guarda and Francisco Veloso, Dean of Imperial College Business School, sit together and have a vivid conversation about how business education is now shaped by innovation and technology, and how the business of the future looks like from an academic perspective. Both Dinis Guarda and Professor Francisco Veloso are expert in those areas, in which they are active as academic leaders, mentors, advisors and investors.

Professor Francisco Veloso is a Portuguese academic, PhD in Technology, Management and Policy from MIT and Dean of Imperial College Business School. Previously, he was the Dean at Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics, where he held the NOS Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Francisco also retains an adjunct appointment at Carnegie Mellon University, where he was a tenured Full Professor.

The present and future of business education is defined in Universities and Business Schools alike. Francisco Veloso ́s work and research focuses on high tech innovation and entrepreneurship and he leads one of the leading global business school. He has several dozen publications in leading academic journals and has won several awards for his contributions. He regularly contributes as a consultant and advisor to a range of start-ups, established firms, universities and governments around the world.

We speak with him about the challenges and opportunities, from the education perspective, in a world of increasing geo-politics unrest, tech disruption and powerful changes. Here are some of the questions Dinis Guarda asked:

1. Could you please tell us about your education and early career?

2. Coming from physics engineering you end up in business education. Can you tell us about how do you see this evolution?

3. You come from being dean of a business school in Portugal into the Dean of Imperial College Business London. Can you tell us about your journey that brought you here?

4. As Dean of a global leading business schools, how do you see business education and how business schools are and should be preparing the leaders of today and tomorrow?

5. How do you see the Imperial Business School role in creating business leaders in a world disrupted by geo-politics, fake news, manipulation of data and the increasing disruptive tech revolution?

6. Increasingly, one of the main trends now is continuous education and online executive business education and global business organisations offering online courses and training to executives on campus (Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, Berkeley, MIT…). How do you see these trends and what is the position approach of Imperial College Business school on that?

7. One of your areas of expertise is entrepreneurship. How do you see business education and challenges of the entrepreneurship mindset?

8. Your research has focused on how firms and regions develop and leverage science and technology for economic growth. In that context, how do you see that in a very complex unbalanced world today from an academic, economic, business education perspective?

9. Being an expert in business from an academic perspective, and at the verge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, how do you real innovation today and special challenges with ethics, geo-politics, ESG, social impact and sustainability?

10. How do you see the 4IR and special fintech, AI and Blockchain disruption?

11. Is IBS doing any strategic focus on blockchain education the biggest skill in demand in 2019 / 2020?

12. How to prepare for the AI automation revolution that isl shift the entire education and social systems and the way we do business going forward?

13. What policies, actions would you like to see implemented by business education institutions on a global scale?

14. What would be your top suggestions for business schools, and business MBA students today?

Professor Francisco Veloso’s Bio

Professor Francisco Veloso is the Dean of Imperial College Business School. Francisco has a PhD in Technology, Management and Policy from MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as an MSc in Technology Management and an Undergraduate Degree in Physics Engineering, both from the University of Lisbon. Previously, he was the Dean at Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics, where he held the NOS Chair in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Francisco Veloso’s research focuses on high tech innovation and entrepreneurship. He has several dozen publications in leading academic journals and has won several awards for his contributions. He regularly contributes as a consultant and advisor to a range of start-ups, established firms, universities and governments around the world.

He is currently a member of the RISE – Research, Innovation and Science Experts High-Level Advisory Body to European Commissioner Carlos Moedas. Francisco also retains an adjunct appointment at Carnegie Mellon University, where he was a tenured Full Professor.

Selected Publications

Journal Articles

Castellaneta F, Conti R, Veloso FM, et al., 2016, The effect of trade secret legal protection on venture capital investments: Evidence from the inevitable disclosure doctrine, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol:31, ISSN:0883-9026, Pages:524-541

Gonzalez-Brambila CN, Reyes-Gonzalez L, Veloso F, et al., 2016, The Scientific Impact of Developing Nations, PLOS One, Vol:11, ISSN:1932-6203

Cheyre C, Kowalski J, Veloso FM, 2015, Spinoffs and the ascension of Silicon Valley, Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol:24, ISSN:0960-6491, Pages:837-858

Cheyre C, Klepper S, Veloso F, 2015, Spinoffs and the Mobility of US Merchant Semiconductor Inventors, Management Science, Vol:61, ISSN:0025-1909, Pages:487-506

Horta H, Veloso FM, Grediaga R, 2010, Navel Gazing: Academic Inbreeding and Scientific Productivity, Management Science, Vol:56, ISSN:0025-1909, Pages:414-429

Benner MJ, Veloso FM, 2008, ISO 9000 practices and financial performance: A technology coherence perspective, Journal of Operations Management, Vol:26, ISSN:0272-6963, Pages:611-629