Scott Stern

Scott Stern is the David Sarnoff Professor of Management in the Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management Group at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Stern explores how innovation and entrepreneurship differ from more traditional economic activities, and the consequences of these differences for strategy and policy. His research in the economics of innovation and entrepreneurship focuses on entrepreneurial strategy, innovation-driven entrepreneurial ecosystems, and innovation policy and management. Recent studies include the impact of university research on both the quantity and quality of entrepreneurship, the drivers and consequences of entrepreneurial strategy, the impact of regional clusters, and the role of institutions in shaping the accumulation of scientific and technical knowledge.

He has worked widely with practitioners in bridging the gap between academic research and the practice of innovation and entrepreneurship. This includes advising start-ups and other growth firms in the area of entrepreneurial strategy, as well as working with governments and other stakeholders on policy issues related to competitiveness and regional performance. In recent years, Stern has developed a popular new MIT Sloan elective, Entrepreneurial Strategy, co-founded the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program, advised the development of the Social Progress Index, and served as the lead MIT investigator on the US Cluster Mapping Project.

Stern started his career at MIT, where he worked from 1995 to 2001. Before returning to MIT in 2009, he held positions as a professor at the Kellogg School of Management and as a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Stern was the co-founder and director (through 2021) of the Innovation Policy Working Group at the National Bureau of Economic Research. In 2005, he was awarded the Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship. In 2018, he joined the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Board on Science Technology and Economic Policy (STEP).

Stern holds a BA in economics from New York University and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.