Honorary retired professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Exeter, and senior researcher at Made4Impact Ltd.  Originally a chemical engineer, Professor John Bessant has been active in research, teaching and consultancy in technology and innovation management for over 40 years. In 2003, he was awarded a Fellowship with the Advanced Institute for Management Research and was also elected a Fellow of the British Academy of Management. He served on the Business and Management Panel of both the 2001 and 2008 Research Assessment Exercises. He has acted as advisor to various national governments, numerous companies and to international bodies including the United Nations, The World Bank and the OECD.  His publications include over 40 books and 150 articles in the field of innovation management.

Professor of Product Innovation Engineering at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and Permanent Visiting Professor at Luiss School of Business and Management in Rome. He has previously been director of the Institute for Management of Innovation and Technology in Sweden, and Visiting Professor at the University of Bologna and at Aalborg University. Moreover, he is chairman of the Continuous Innovation Network (CINet), senior advisor of the Creativity and Innovation Management journal, and is active as a board member and consultant to several industrial companies, as well as in various executive training programs.

Ph.D., professor at the School of Management, Zhejiang University, doctoral supervisor, deputy dean, Young Yangtze Scholar of the Ministry of Education, executive deputy director of the Research Center for Innovation Management and Sustained Competitiveness of Zhejiang University, co-director of the Intellectual Property Management Institute of the School of Management . ISO/TC 279 registered expert, SAC/TC554 committee member.