Professor Joan Ernst van Aken studied applied physics at Delft University of Technology and worked for many years in industry as consultant and as manager of consultants, moving from Operations Research, via Operations Management to the field of Organization and Management. His doctoral thesis On the Control of Complex Industrial Organizations was based on this work. In 1990 he joined Eindhoven University of Technology as a full professor of Organization Science. His research interests include the development of design-oriented research strategies and innovation management, in particular innovation networks. He is president of NOBEM, the Dutch Management Academy.

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