David Gann

Summary

David Gann CBE CEng FICE FCGI is Imperial College''s Vice President, leading Innovation. He is a member of the College''s Executive Board.

David is an academic, university leader, strategist and advocate, renowned for his work on innovation, entrepreneurship and technology management. His research spans strategy, management science and systems engineering. His distinctive strength is in building relationships proactively and internationally, to connect ideas, research and solutions with substantial funding between academia, business and government.

He plays a central role in developing the vision, strategy and innovation agenda for Imperial College''s 25-acre White City Campus and the development of new ventures such as Imperial College ThinkSpace, increasing and diversifying the College''s income.

In 2015 he led a review of Imperial''s Technology, Transfer, Translation and Collaboration activities, Pathways to Societal Impact.

David was previously Deputy Principal, Imperial College Business School. David is Professor of Innovation and Technology Management at Imperial College Business School and Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London. He has a PhD in Industrial Economics, is a Chartered Civil Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art and a Fellow of the City & Guilds Institute.

David was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 Queen''s Birthday Honours for services to engineering. He is the recipient of the 2014 Tjalling C. Koopmans Asset Award, for extraordinary contributions to the economic sciences. 

OFFICE:

Executive Officer: Dr Claire Thorne

Executive Assistant: Virginia Harris

RESEARCH

David''s main research interest is innovation: exploring why and how innovation happens, the ways it continually transforms the world we live in, and how it can be managed. He is a Professor in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Department of Imperial College Business School.

ADVISORY POSITIONS

• Non-Executive Director, Directa Plus plc. a graphene company
• Member, McMillan Task and Finish Group on Technology Transfer, Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)
• Member, Steering Group, League of European Research Universities (LERU) Enterprise and Innovation Community (EIC)
• Chairman, Smart London Board, reporting to Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London
• Member and Higher Education Representative, London Enterprise Panel.
• Member of the London Enterprise Panel’s Digital, Creative, Science & Technology Group
• Member, London Enterprise Panel''s Economic Development Plan for London Advisory Group
• Member of the Smart Cities Forum
• Member of the Greater London Authority''s Investment Infrastructure Plan Advisory Group
• Member of the Imperial College India Foundation board
• Patron, Trustee and Board Member of Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

• World Economic Forum blogs
• May 2016 - China Daily Europe: Smart city tech vital for China
• Sept 2015 - China Daily Europe: Perfect partnerships for progress
• July 2015 - FT China: Entrepreneurship, ivory tower and Great Expectations
• June 2015 - City A.M.: London tech has already surpassed San Francisco - and it can do better yet
• June 2015 - Architect''s Journal: Architecture tomorrow - university buildings
• May 2015 - Telegraph letters: Profitable inventions
• Dec 2013 - FT: Building on London''s scientific tradition

Imperial''s new WHITE CITY CAMPUS

• January 2016 - Imperial celebrates topping out at new White City hub
• October 2015 - New UK-Chinese entrepreneurship hub planned for White City Campus
• July 2014 - Imperial West: London''s new innovation district
• May 2014 - £40m gift: Michael Uren Biomedical Engineering Hub
• April 2014 - Imperial West as a world-leading Innovation District: A guide to best practice and feasibility
• March 2013 - Imperial West: Launching the vision

SELECTED REPORTS

• The Future of Smart: Harnessing digital innovation to make London the best city in the world. Update Report of the Smart London Plan, 2013. Smart London Board, 2016
• Smart London Plan: Using the creative power of new technologies to serve London and improve Londoners’ lives, Smart London Board, 2013
• Digital Money: A Pathway to an Experience Economy a report on Digital Money, by Imperial College London and Citi, 2015
• Getting Ready for Digital Money: A Roadmap a report on the Digital Money Readiness Index, by Imperial College London and Citi, 2014
• The Innovation Studies Centre: Impact Report 2003-2013 Imperial College Business School, 2014

SELECTED VIDEOS

• BBC World News interview: London Technology Week 2016 Launch Report: What the world may be like in 2036, 2016
• People''s Daily: Very Short Introduction to Innovation interview, 2015
• Thomson Reuters Techvision Highlights: New Patterns of Innovation in the Era of Big Data, 2014
• White City Campus Imperial West: London''s new innovation district, 2014
• The Innovation Studies Centre, 2014
• FT: London’s big science experiment, 2013  
• White City Campus Imperial West: Launching the vision, 2013
• Research series: Digital City Exchange, 2012  
• Tech Foresight 2032 event: The future is coming, 2012
• Global Entrepreneurship Development Index (GEDI) conference, 2012  
• A Short History of Innovation, 2010