Neil Thompson

Neil Thompson is an Assistant Professor of Innovation and Strategy at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Thompson researches how innovation happens and what's its effects are. This includes work around cutting-edge technologies:  Moore's Law, Cloud Computing, and Synthetic Biology, as well as how firms race to come up with and patent their innovations.

Thompson is also the CoDirector of the Experimental Innovation Lab (X-Lab), which partners with companies to use randomized control trials to answer important questions in business innovation and strategy.

Before returning to academia, Thompson worked for such varied organizations as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, Bain and Company, The United Nations, the World Bank, and the Canadian Parliament.

He received a BA in physics, and a BA (honors) in economics and international development from Queen's University, an MS in economics from the London School of Economics, an MS in computer science and an MA in statistics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in business and public policy from the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) University of California, Berkeley - Walter A. Haas School of Business (2007 — 2012)
• Master's degree University of California, Berkeley (2007 — 2012)
• Master's degree University of California, Berkeley (2007 — 2012)
• Master's degree University of California, Berkeley - Walter A. Haas School of Business (2007 — 2009)
• Master's degree London School of Economics and Political Science (2003 — 2004)
• Singularity University (2009 — 2009)
• Bachelor's degree Queen's University (1997 — 2001)
• Bachelor's degree Queen's University (1999 — 2000)

Companies

• Research Scientist MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (2019)
• Research Scientist MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) (2018)
• Member Board of Directors Accelerated Medical Diagnostics (2014)
• Visiting Professor Harvard University (2018 — 2019)
• Associate Member MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) (2017 — 2018)
• Assistant Professor of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management MIT Sloan School of Management (2013 — 2018)
• Business Advisor Accelerated Medical Diagnostics (2008 — 2012)
• Economic Researcher Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2008 — 2010)
• Business Advisor UC Berkeley-based pre-launch biotech company (2007 — 2008)