Ajay Agrawal

Ajay Agrawal is the Geoffrey Taber Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management where he conducts research on the economics of artificial intelligence, science policy, entrepreneurial finance, and geography of innovation. Professor Agrawal is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, MA, co-founder of The Next 36 and NextAI, and founder of the Creative Destruction Lab.

Degrees:

• PhD in Strategy & Business Economics, University of British Columbia
• Visiting Scholar, PhD dissertation research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• M.Eng./MBA, University of British Columbia,
• MBA program Visiting Scholar, London Business School
• BSc, University of British Columbia

Academic Positions

• 2014-present  Professor of Strategic Management; Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
• 2008-2014  Associate Professor of Strategic Management; Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
• 2003-2008  Assistant Professor; Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
• 2001-2003  Assistant Professor; Queen''s School of Business, Queen''s University
• 1998  Lecturer; Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia

Honors and Awards

• 2017  Distinguished Scholarly Contribution Award; Rotman School of Management
• 2013-2018  Principal Investigator Award; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
• 2013  Professor of the Year (Awarded by MBA Class of 2013); Rotman School of Management
• 2012  Professor of the Year (Awarded by MBA Class of 2012); Rotman School of Management
• 2011  ''Professor of the Year'' and ''Most Challenging Professor'' (Awarded by MBA Class of 2011); Rotman School of Management
• 2010  Martin-Lang Award for Excellence in Teaching; Rotman School of Management
• 2009  Principal Investigator (2009-2012); Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Award
• 2005  Research Grant (2005-2010), Senior Investigator; National Science Foundation
• 2005  Connaught Research Grant Award (2005-2007); University of Toronto
• 2004  Research Award, three-year grant, single author applicant (2004-2007); Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
• 2003  Nominated for Polanyi Prize in Economics
• 2003  Nominated for 2003 Teaching Excellence Award; Queen’s University Commerce Society
• 2002  New Researcher Award; Queen’s University, School of Business
• 2002  Research Award (INE), three-year grant, single author applicant (2002-2005); Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
• 2002  D.I. McLeod Research Fellowship
• 2002  Best Paper; Academy of Management, BPS Division
• 2002  Top Nominee, 2002 Teaching Excellence Award; Queen’s University Commerce Society
• 2001  Short-listed for Young Economist Essay Prize; European Association for Research in Industrial Economics (EARIE)
• 2001  Best Student Paper Award 2001; Portland International Conference for Management in Engineering and Technology (PICMET)
• 2000  Best Dissertation Award Runner-up; jointly awarded by INFORMS and the Academy of Management, Technology and Innovation Management Division
• 2000  Nominated for the Carolyn Dexter Best International Paper Award
• 1999  Entrepreneurship Research Fellowship; University of British Columbia
• 1998  Entrepreneurship Research Fellowship; University of British Columbia
• 1995  International Business Scholarship; University of British Columbia

Selected Publications - Papers

• How stars matter: Recruiting and peer effects in evolutionary biology with J. McHale, A. Oettl Research Policy 2017
• What to Expect From Artificial Intelligence with J. Gans, A. Goldfarb MIT Sloan Management Review 2017
• Are Syndicates the Killer App of Equity Crowdfunding? with A. Goldfarb, C. Catalini California Management Review 2016
• Diaspora Networks, Knowledge Flows, and Brain Drain Intellectual Property, the International Mobility of Knowledge Workers, and the Brain Drain, World Intellectual Property Organization 2016
• Does standardized information in online markets disproportionately benefit job applicants from less developed countries? N. Lacetera, E. Lyons Journal of International Economics 2016
• Roads and Innovation with A. Galasso, A. Oettl Review of Economics and Statistics 2016

Research and Teaching Interests

Professor Agrawal currently teaches the Creative Destruction Lab MBA course and previously has taught "Competition and Strategy in Creative Industries" and "Corporate Strategy" in the MBA program and "Economics of Innovation" in the PhD program at the Rotman School of Management. He also taught "Technology Strategy" (MBA), "Business Strategy" (undergraduate), and "Economics of Innovation" (PhD) at Queen's University. Professor Agrawal's research explores the economics of artificial intelligence, science policy, entrepreneurial finance, and the geography of innovation.