Postdoc in Academic Entrepreneurship and Innovation Ecosystems

Are you interested in exploring the following questions? 

• How can universities, industry partners, and investors collaborate earlier to support the creation and development of academic spin-offs?
• Which challenge-driven approaches to knowledge valorisation work, for whom, and under what ecosystem conditions?
• How can evidence from European innovation initiatives be translated into transferable frameworks and effective policy recommendations? 

DTU Entrepreneurship invites applications for a postdoctoral position linked to EUIT “Empowering Universities and Industry Together to Scale a Challenge-Driven Model for Academic Spin-Off Creation”, a 24-month Horizon Europe project bringing together universities, innovation intermediaries, and industry-facing partners across Europe.

The project explores how early engagement with industrial and societal challenges can strengthen academic spin-off creation, technology validation, and pathways to market. The research will draw on evidence generated through project pilots, systematic evaluation, and comparative analysis to identify what works across different innovation ecosystems.

You will work with researchers at DTU Entrepreneurship and collaborate with international project partners across Europe. The position offers an opportunity to contribute to research with direct implications for universities, technology transfer organisations, and innovation policy. 

The period of employment is 1.5 years.

Responsibilities and qualifications

Your primary responsibility will be to conduct rigorous research and evaluation on academic spin-off creation and challenge-driven knowledge valorisation, with scope to develop scholarly research questions within the project's objectives.

Your tasks will include: 

• Developing conceptual and analytical frameworks for studying knowledge valorisation, academic entrepreneurship, and innovation ecosystems.
• Contributing to the design and implementation of a common monitoring and evaluation framework across project activities.
• Collecting and analysing comparative evidence, including successful and unsuccessful pilot cases across European ecosystem contexts.
• Conducting interviews, qualitative case studies, and, where appropriate, quantitative analyses of project monitoring data.
• Preparing research articles for publication in international peer-reviewed journals and presenting findings at academic conferences.
• Contributing to the development and validation of a transferable European Challenge-Driven Valorisation Framework.
• Collaborating with international project partners and contributing to policy briefs, reports, and knowledge exchange activities. 

We are looking for a motivated researcher with a strong interest in academic entrepreneurship, knowledge transfer, and innovation policy.

We expect you to have: 

• A PhD in entrepreneurship, innovation studies, management, economics, public policy, or a related field.
• Experience designing and conducting empirical research using qualitative and/or quantitative methods.
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English.
• The ability to work independently and collaborate with international research and practitioner partners.

Application procedure 

To apply, please read the full job advertisement by clicking the 'Apply' button

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DTU is one of Europe's leading elite technical universities. Through research and education at an international top level, we create solutions to the major societal challenges of our time and help secure Europe's global leadership in sustainable technological development. Since Hans Christian Ørsted founded DTU almost 200 years ago, our mission has remained the same: We develop and create value through the natural and technical sciences for the benefit of society. DTU has 13,800 students, 1,600 PhD students, and 6,500 employees. We work in an international environment and have an inclusive, stimulating, and informal work culture. DTU has campuses in all parts of Denmark and in Greenland and collaborates with the best universities around the world. 

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