INNOVATION EXPERTS RANKED WORLD’S TOP SCHOLARS

Dr. Robert Cooper	Dr. Scott Edgett

Dr. Robert G. Cooper and Dr. Scott J. Edgett have been named the world’s top innovation management scholars in the May 2007 issue of the prestigious Journal of Product Innovation Management.

Based on a study of nearly 1,200 scholars, Dr. Cooper ranks as the world’s top scholar and Dr. Edgett, seventh. The peer-reviewed journal is published by the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA), an organization which represents the world’s largest membership of innovation practitioners and academics. The study, by Dr. Jeff Thieme at the University of Memphis, examines almost 1,000 technical papers and articles written by academics around the world over the past 15 years.  

 “It’s great to be recognized by your peers, but it’s even more gratifying to see the amount of good scholarly work on innovation management that now exists,” said Cooper, who is widely considered the pioneer in the field of innovation management. 

“Most importantly however, it is that the knowledge in these articles is being applied and is making a real difference to companies around the globe.”
                                                                                                                       
In addition to writing about new product development and innovation management, Dr. Cooper is a Professor at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Management, a consultant to industry and a popular keynote speaker.  Dr. Edgett, a former Professor at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Management and long-time partner of Cooper, is the Chief Executive Officer of the rapidly growing innovation management specialty company, Stage-Gate Inc.  Edgett continues to provide hands-on advice to business executives seeking to improve the efficiency and profitability of their innovation processes.

“Obviously, innovation management is not simply a ‘flavour of the month’ issue, it is a management challenge that requires persistent and focused attention,” added Dr. Edgett.

“Our mission at Stage-Gate Inc. is to make sure our research actually makes a difference in companies − that it helps them innovate more efficiently and profitably.”
                                                                                                           
Dr. Cooper and Dr. Edgett are recognized as the world’s foremost experts on the world’s most widely implemented innovation process, Stage-Gate^®.  Their best practices research and resulting methodologies have led to some of the most important discoveries in product innovation today. They were the first to pinpoint what discriminates the winning products from losing products, to build the most accurate product success predictive tool (85% accuracy) and the first to introduce the concept of portfolio management for new products. Their collective works are considered to have achieved the most powerful impact on performance in product innovation today.  

Dr. Elko Kleinschmidt, an Associate Professor at McMaster who has collaborated with both Cooper and Edgett, is also ranked among the study’s top five scholars.

Contact

Executive Vice President
Stage-Gate Inc.
+1-905-304-8797
www.stage-gate.com

About Stage-Gate Inc.
Stage-Gate Inc. helps companies achieve growth through successful product innovation. The unparalleled breadth and depth of our founders’ research - internationally recognized thought leaders Dr. Robert G. Cooper and Dr. Scott J. Edgett - enable us to create relevant, practical products and services to help companies improve their innovation performance results.
We offer proven solutions to the most critical challenges in product innovation through our widely recognized and implemented products, our highly regarded and trusted consulting services, our award-winning research papers, best-selling books and first-rate seminars.
We also conduct unbiased, expert evaluation and validation of 3rd party innovation enabling tools through our Stage-Gate Alliance Program and Stage-Gate Ready Certification Program. 

About the Stage-Gate® Idea-to-Launch System
Stage-Gate is a business system designed to drive new products and technologies from idea to market faster and with higher rates of commercial success. Invented by Dr. Robert G. Cooper in 1985 as a result of his groundbreaking research studies, Stage-Gate is now widely accepted by industry as the preferred method for new product commercialization. According to the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and Advanced Market Research (AMR) the percentage of companies in North America, using a stage and gate system is almost 80%. For more information on the evolution of Stage-Gate, view this downloadable story of its history.

Dr. Robert G. Cooper
Dr. Robert G. Cooper is one of the most influential thought leaders in the business world today.  He is the father of the widely implemented Stage-Gate Idea-to-Launch innovation system which has been adopted by almost 80% of North American companies seeking to drive successful growth through product innovation.  Stage-Gate is considered to be one of the most important discoveries in the field of innovation management. Cooper has spent more than 30 years studying the practices and pitfalls of 3,000+ new product projects in thousands of companies and has assembled the world’s most comprehensive research database on the topic. His dynamic seminars, consulting advice and keynote presentations have been widely applauded by corporate and business event audiences throughout North America, Europe and Asia making him one of the most sought-after speakers. A prolific author, he has published more than 90 academic articles and seven books on new products, including the best selling ‘Winning at New Products, 3rd Edition’ and ‘Portfolio Management for New Products, 2nd Edition’.  He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the Maurice Holland Award from the Industrial Research Institute (IRI) and the Hustad Award from the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA).    Dr. Cooper is a Professor of Industrial Marketing and Technology Management at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University in Ontario, Canada and Senior Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Business Markets at Penn State in Pennsylvania, United States.  Dr. Cooper can be reached at .

Dr. Scott J. Edgett
Dr. Scott J. Edgett is an internationally recognized expert in product innovation and pioneer of the ever-important practice of portfolio management for new products. He is also credited with the groundbreaking introduction of best practices for companies specializing in service development.  He is a sought-after consultant and high profile speaker and has delivered keynote addresses at numerous top innovation and management business events.  He has spent more than a dozen years researching and observing best practices in product innovation, has co-authored six books, and published more than 60 academic articles and papers. Dr. Edgett is Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, with Dr. Cooper, of Stage-Gate Inc. where he now leads the transformation of the world’s leading innovation research discoveries into practical and relevant products and services for companies trying to achieve profitable growth through product innovation.