Dr. Amol Joshi
Thomas H. Davis Professor in Business; Associate Professor
BIOGRAPHY
Amol enjoys working with business leaders, corporate managers, aspiring entrepreneurs, and students of all levels around the world to help them pursue their business dreams. Amol has trained startup founders and executives in the U.S., Austria, Denmark, and Vietnam.
Amol researches how inventors create and commercialize new technologies and manage their intellectual property across organizational boundaries and international borders. He developed his expertise in innovation management over a 13-year career as an engineer, entrepreneur, and executive in venture capital-funded startups and high-growth public companies in Silicon Valley. He is the co-inventor of 2 patents for voice products. Amol co-founded BeVocal, a speech recognition software startup (acquired by Nuance Communications) and served as VP of Sales & Marketing (1999-2003).
His research is funded through competitive external grants from private foundations and government agencies. Amol is a 2016 Kauffman Foundation Junior Faculty Fellow and a 2010 Kauffman Dissertation Fellow in Entrepreneurship Research. In 2020, Amol was the co-Principal Investigator for a $200,000 RAPID grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to examine the effects of COVID-19 on the U.S. small business innovation ecosystem. He was also the Principal Investigator for a $50,000 NSF Innovation-Corps (I-Corps) grant (2015).
He is actively involved in analyzing and recommending improvements to innovation policies at the national, regional, and local government levels. Amol was appointed to four independent National Academies of Sciences Study Committees for evaluating the small business R&D grant programs and technology transfer processes at NASA (2023-Present), the NSF (2020-2023), National Institutes of Health (2020-2021), and the U.S. Department of Energy (2018-2020). These committees report their findings to the U.S. Congress. Amol also serves as a Faculty Research Fellow for CREATE, which is a non-partisan think tank and policy lab focused on statewide economic development issues in North Carolina. In addition, he is an Affiliate Researcher in Technology, Innovation, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship at RWTH Aachen U., which is the largest engineering university in Germany. Amol previously served on the External Advisory Boards for the WFU Department of Engineering (2022-2024) and the Georgia Tech School of Electrical & Computer Engineering (2013-2021).
Amol has published his research in leading scholarly journals, including: Strategic Management Journal (SMJ), Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS), Organization Science (OrgSci), Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies (JMS), Research Policy, Organizational Research Methods, Small Business Economics, Global Strategy Journal, European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS), Management Information Systems Quarterly Executive, PLOS ONE, and the Journal of Medical Internet Research. He currently serves on the Editorial Review Boards of 4 journals ranked in the Financial Times Top 50: SMJ, JIBS, OrgSci, and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.
HONORS
- 2024 - CTSI ePilot Ignition Fund Grant ($5,000), WFU Clinical & Translational Science Institute
- 2024 - Thomas H. Davis Professor in Business, Wake Forest University, School of Business
- 2024 - Cowan Faculty Research Award, Wake Forest University, School of Business
- 2023 - Outstanding Educator Award - Charlotte Saturday MBA Program, Wake Forest University, School of Business
- 2022 - Radical Collaboration Grant for Healthcare Innovation ($20,000), WFU Associate Provost for Research
- 2021 - Bern Beatty Faculty Fellowship, Wake Forest University, School of Business
- 2021 - High Impact Scholarship Award, Wake Forest University, School of Business
- 2020 - CREATE Fellow, Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
- 2020 - Finalist, Carolyn B. Dexter Best Paper Award, Academy of Management (AOM), Conflict Management Division
- 2020 - RAPID Grant for Research on U.S. Small Business Innovation Ecosystem ($200,000), National Science Foundation (NSF)
- 2019 - External Service Award, Oregon State University, College of Business
- 2019 - Prominent Scholar Award (received 2 awards, both in 2019), Oregon State University, College of Business
- 2019 - Scholarly Impact Award, Oregon State University, College of Business
- 2018 - Professor of the Semester Award for Teaching Excellence in Distance Learning Executive MBA Programs, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Shidler College of Business
- 2017 - Best Paper Prize for Article Published in 2017 SBE Special Issue on Minority Entrepreneurship, Small Business Economics (SBE)
- 2017 - Betty and Forrest Simmons Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award, Oregon State University, College of Business
- 2016 - Byron L. Newton Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, Oregon State University, College of Business
- 2016 - Kauffman Junior Faculty Fellowship in Entrepreneurship Research (1 of 7 nationwide), Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
- 2015 - Innovation-Corps (I-Corps) Grant ($50,000), National Science Foundation (NSF)
- 2015 - Newcomb Associates Award, Oregon State University, College of Business
- 2013 - Best Reviewer Award, Strategic Management Society (SMS)
- 2013 - Professor of the Semester Award for Teaching Excellence in MBA Programs, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Shidler College of Business
- 2012 - Professor of the Semester Award for Teaching Excellence in Executive MBA Programs, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Shidler College of Business
- 2012 - Finalist (1 of 7 worldwide), Academy of Management Wiley-Blackwell Award for Outstanding Dissertation Research in Business Policy and Strategy , Academy of Management, BPS Division
- 2012 - Best Reviewer Award, Academy of International Business (AIB)
- 2012 - Runner-Up, Best Conference Paper Award, Academy of International Business (AIB)
- 2012 - Shirley M. Lee Award for Research Excellence, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Shidler College of Business
- 2010 - Finalist (1 of 8 worldwide), INFORMS Organization Science Dissertation Proposal Competition, INFORMS Organization Science
- 2010 - Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship for Entrepreneurship Research (1 of 15 nationwide), Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
- 2010 - Peggy Lee-Sunil Wahal Award for Most Outstanding Ph.D. Student, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kenan-Flagler Business School
- 2010 - Future Faculty Fellowship (1 of 25 university-wide), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Office of the Provost and Center for Faculty Excellence
- 2004 - Top 40 Business Leader Under 40, Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal
EXPERTISE
- Creating and commercializing scientific discoveries and new technologies
- Transferring and licensing out technologies from universities and government labs
- Analyzing and evaluating national, regional, and local innovation policies
- Managing and protecting intellectual property (IP)
- Funding and supporting minority-, women-, and veteran-owned small businesses
- Internationalizing and expanding R&D operations via partnerships
RESEARCH INTERESTS
- Technology Entrepreneurship
- Innovation Policy
- Intellectual Property (IP)
- Inclusive Innovation
- Global Strategy
Google Scholar Citations: Publications and Patents
TEACHING INTERESTS
- Strategic Management, Entrepreneurship, Innovation Management, and Global Strategy for students at the undergraduate, graduate, MBA, Executive MBA, and PhD levels.
EDUCATION
- Ph D, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kenan-Flagler Business School (Business Administration (Strategy and Entrepreneurship)) - 2011
- MBA, Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business (Business Administration) - 1998
- MS, Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering (Engineering Sciences (Computer Architecture)) - 1997
- BS, Georgia Institute of Technology (Electrical Engineering (with Highest Honor)) - 1992
PUBLICATIONS
Journal of Management Studies
Journal of Management Studies
European Journal of Information Systems
European Journal of Information Systems
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Journal of Medical Internet Research
Research Policy
Research Policy
National Academies Press
National Academies Press
MIS Quarterly Executive
MIS Quarterly Executive
PLOS ONE
PLOS ONE
PLOS ONE
PLOS ONE
National Academies Press
National Academies Press
Research Policy
Research Policy
Emerald Publishing Group
Emerald Publishing Group
Organization Science
Organization Science
Research Policy
Research Policy
Organizational Research Methods
Organizational Research Methods
Lambert Academic Publishers
Lambert Academic Publishers
National Academies Press
National Academies Press
Global Strategy Journal
Global Strategy Journal
Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
IGI Global
IGI Global
Research Policy
Research Policy
Journal of Management
Journal of Management
Small Business Economics
Small Business Economics
Palgrave MacMillan
Palgrave MacMillan
Journal of International Business Studies
Journal of International Business Studies
Strategic Management Journal
Strategic Management Journal