Dr. Joel West
Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Emeritus, Keck Graduate Institute
Dr. West received his M.A. in Religion from Cranmer Theological House (2021), Ph.D. in Management from the University of California, Irvine (2000), and S.B. in Interdisciplinary Sciences (Meteorology) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1979).
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Dr. Joel West is an entrepreneurship faculty member at Hildegard College, specializing in open innovation, ecosystems, and entrepreneurship. His research explores network forms of open innovation collaboration and coopetition, including communities, consortia, ecosystems, and platforms. Additionally, he focuses on entrepreneurial entry and growth strategies during the early stages of new technological regimes, as well as the impact of technological change on industry structure over time.
Before joining Hildegard College in 2022, Dr. West was a Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Keck Graduate Institute, one of the seven Claremont Colleges. There, he was involved in the Team Masters Program, strategic planning initiatives, and taught courses on innovation management and entrepreneurship. Prior to his academic career, he accumulated over 20 years of experience as an engineer, manager, and entrepreneur in the computer industry, including co-founding Palomar Software, a Macintosh software development company.
Dr. West is a renowned expert in open innovation and has made significant contributions to the field. He has co-founded two high-tech startups: Palomar Software and Shield Pharma, which commercializes pharmaceutical discoveries. He co-edited influential books such as Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm (2006) and New Frontiers in Open Innovation (2014), alongside Henry Chesbrough and Wim Vanhaverbeke. Additionally, he co-founded openinnovation.net, a comprehensive resource hub for open innovation research and practice. His extensive publications explore themes such as ecosystems, platforms, and the strategic utilization of open and user innovation, shaping the understanding and implementation of open innovation strategies in both academic and business contexts.