Alex Coad

Alex Coad is a Professor at Waseda Business School, Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. He previously held positions at CENTRUM Católica Graduate Business School (Peru), Max Planck Institute (Germany), Aalborg University (Denmark), and SPRU (UK). His research focuses on firm-level R&D investment, entrepreneurship, innovation policy, and high-growth firms. He has published over 90 articles in top journals like Research Policy and Journal of Business Venturing, with over 11,000 citations and an H-index of 47. He serves as Editor for Research Policy and Small Business Economics, and Associate Editor for Industrial & Corporate Change. In 2016, he received the prestigious Nelson Prize from UC Berkeley.

Education: PhD from Université Paris 1 (France) and Sant’Anna School, Pisa (Italy). Prior roles include Economic Analyst at the European Commission (Sevilla) and academic appointments at leading institutions globally. His work bridges theoretical contributions on firm growth dynamics with policy-relevant analyses of innovation ecosystems and high-growth enterprise strategies.

Research highlights include studies on high-growth firm identification, entrepreneurial ecosystems critiques, and the impact of digitalization on enterprise performance. His recent work explores pandemic effects on firm resilience and productivity, as well as policy frameworks for supporting transformative innovation.

Editorial roles demonstrate his leadership in scholarly communication:

• Editor, Research Policy (FT Top 50 journal)
• Editor, Small Business Economics
• Associate Editor, Industrial & Corporate Change

Awards and recognitions underscore his impact: the 2016 Nelson Prize honors his contributions to entrepreneurship research. His work frequently addresses policy implications, such as optimizing SBIR schemes and evaluating innovation procurement strategies in Central/Eastern Europe.

Key collaborations involve international organizations and cross-disciplinary teams, reflecting his emphasis on applied research with societal relevance. Current projects include analyzing post-COVID firm recovery patterns and exploring digital technologies' role in new high-growth enterprises.