Joaquim Vilà

Areas of Interest

• Creative problem solving through design thinking
  
• Systematic innovation: The role of managers in the front-end innovation process
  
• Top management Innovation leadership competences
  
• Strategic thinking for middle managers
  
• Drivers of a sustainable innovative culture

Joaquim Vilà is a Professor of Strategic Management, Innovation and Design Thinking, as well as the Academic Director of IESE''s Executive Education Focused Programs on Innovation Implementation and Design Thinking.

He has worked as a research fellow at the Reginald H. Jones Center for Management Policy, Strategy and Organization of the Wharton School and as a research associate in the Management and Technology Program, also at Wharton.

He serves as an instructor in executive education programs and a consultant on design thinking and innovation capabilities, implementing management innovation, and drivers of sustainable innovative culture, as well as experiential learning in design thinking for creative problem solving and developing innovation capabilities in top leaders and strategic thinking capabilities in middle managers. He provides consulting to more than 50 national and international corporations, including Roche Diagnostics, Amgen, Telefónica, Komatsu, Nutrexpa, Uniland, APLI, Henkel, Nestlé, Premo and Sener. He also serves as innovation director in the board of several Spanish companies.

Prof. Vilà has published in the areas of innovation and design thinking, strategy making, organizational renewal and top-management innovation systems. His current research focuses on: how to improve innovation competencies through strategic thinking, design innovation, and the role of top-management leadership in reinventing and transforming a business, as well as how to nurture a sustainable culture of innovation.