Dietmar Harhoff

Dietmar Harhoff is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition and Professor for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich. His research focuses on innovation, entrepreneurship, intellectual property, industrial economics, and economic policy. 

Prior to his current position at the Max Planck Institute, he was Full Professor and Director of the Institute for Innovation Research, Technology Management and Entrepreneurship at LMU Munich (1998–2013). From 2001 to 2019, he established and ran the LMU Entrepreneurship Center together with partners from business and industry. In 2010, Dietmar Harhoff co-founded the German Accelerator Program. He has also co-founded start-ups and is a seed investor in young firms. He has served in advisory functions to private and public organizations at various times. From 2007 to 2019, he was Chairman of the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI), which presents annual reports on research, innovation and technological performance to the German Chancellor. In 2019, he was appointed chair of the Commission for the establishment of the German Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND). He is now member of the SPRIND supervisory board. 

Dietmar Harhoff is elected member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BAdW).