Andrew B. Hargadon
Professor of Technology Management
Research Expertise: The effective management of innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly in the development and commercialization of sustainable technologies
Professor Andrew Hargadon has written extensively on knowledge and technology brokering and the role of learning and knowledge management in innovation. He has published numerous articles and chapters in leading scholarly and applied publications.
Hargadon is at the forefront of teaching, research and practice in cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship, and is founding director of two key centers at UC Davis—the Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Energy Efficiency Center. These centers are dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship and innovation through educational programs bridging science, engineering and business. They provide a successful framework for university scientists and engineers to move their ideas out of the lab and into the world. Hargadon received the 2009 Olympus Emerging Educational Leader Award in recognition for his strong entrepreneurship curriculum and success with the two centers.
Hargadon received his doctoral degree from the Management Science and Engineering Department in Stanford University’s School of Engineering, where he was named Boeing Fellow and Sloan Foundation Future Professor of Manufacturing. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Stanford University’s Product Design Program in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Prior to his academic appointment, Hargadon worked as a product designer at Apple Computer and taught in the Product Design program at Stanford University.
A senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, Hargadon is the author of How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate (Harvard Business School Press, 2003).
Room 3316
Incubator Allows Local Business to Take Root
Davis Roots, co-founded by Professor Andrew Hargadon, is fertile soil for growing start-ups in Davis as an incubator for technology spun out from UC Davis.
Berkeley Lab: Distinguished Lecture Series
Andrew Hargadon - October 22, 2012
It’s Not About the Idea
Andrew Hargadon at TEDxSacramento
New, radical, disruptive ideas are the foundation of innovation—at least that’s the common assumption. But what if that’s wrong? If it’s not the new ideas, what distinguishes those individuals and companies that change the world from those that don’t? Looking at the most radical and disruptive idea in modern medicine—the advent of penicillin—Hargadon offers another perspective on what makes innovation work, and what we can do about it.
Innovation and Choice
Innovation is about making the possible desirable and the desirable possible. But which direction innovation takes depends in large part on how we express those desires.
I wrote earlier about the market for lemons, in which information asymmetry prevents the emergence of market alternatives to Genetically Modified Organism-based foods.
MicroMidas in the News
Feb 5, 2013 / Professor Andrew Hargadon Blog
“The SacBee today has a nice description of MicroMidas, UCD and Child Family Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship alum: Micromidas plans to turn cardboard into oil substitute.”
Where Innovation Comes From…
January 30, 2013 / Professor Andrew Hargadon Blog
“A recent Kauffman report offers new and valuable insights into where venture-driven growth comes from. Literally. Not from what attributes of social media founders or which San Francisco coffee shops, but rather which sectors of the economy and which regions of the country. The findings are surprising and important for entrepreneurs thinking of starting a business, and policymakers thinking of helping them.”
Nothing Like a Good Fight Over Ideas
January 30, 2012 / Professor Andrew Hargadon Blog
“I’m not a big fan of ideas. Sure, ideas are great — some of my best friends are ideas. But managers tend to let our national obsession about having new ideas distract them from the hard work of building good products and successful ventures around what are almost always old ideas. So it was fun to see the great design OXO have at a competitor who claimed to ‘own’ an idea that both had built products around.”
The Nightingale Ratio
January 28, 2013 / Professor Andrew Hargadon Blog
“Submitted for your consideration: the Nightingale Ratio as the number of people helping others do something to the number of people actually doing that thing. In this case, the number of people helping entrepreneurs start something relative to the number of entrepreneurs actually starting something.”
Sleeping Your Way to the Middle
December 6, 2012 / Professor Andrew Hargadon Blog
“I wrote yesterday on the race to the bottom — how corporations play states, and even cities, off one another in pursuit of the most lucrative benefits. At the same time, they complain about the burdensome taxes and regulations of California. But, as my colleague Martin Kenney so nicely notes in a recent column,[1] California seems to be holding its own in spite of playing hard to get.”
251 Management of Innovation
This course focuses on the management of technology-based innovation. Topics include the impact of new technologies on industries, dominant designs, incremental and transformative innovations, and the life-cycle of products. The course will examine the organization of highly innovative firms, and the relationship of core competencies to both innovation and rigidity. Cases and field studies are used to address the relationship of innovation to management practices such as leadership, competitive strategic planning and teamwork. Students perform an innovation audit of an area firm.
$1 Million Grant to Help Develop Sustainable Agricultural Businesses, Provide Innovative Technologies
UC Davis is one of six recipients nationwide, and the only one in California, to receive a $1 million award in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration’s 2012 i6 Challenge Grant competition.
The university has used the grant to establish the Sustainable AgTech Innovation Center.
Slow Down! How “Slow Work” Makes Us More Productive
Many of us lament the dramatic contrast between our vacations and the faster pace of our work lives, but are generally remiss to change because of feelings of career vulnerability or weakness that we fear it could project. However it is increasingly clear that our personal and professional lives stand to benefit from change that eases these mounting pressures and strains. It is time to embrace “slow work.”
World-renowned Business Innovators
At the UC Davis Graduate School of Management you will develop close and lasting relationships with our internationally renowned professors. You’ll learn from experts in their fields who are establishing new frontiers of knowledge and developing innovative solutions for today’s business challenges.
Andrew Hargadon
Professor of Technology Management / Charles J. Soderquist Chair in Entrepreneurship / Founder and Director, UC Davis Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship / Founding Director, UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center
Business Accelerator Davis Roots Opens with Two Start-ups
Historic Hunt-Boyer Mansion Home for Early Stage Ventures
Davis Roots, a new nonprofit business accelerator bridging the city of Davis and the University of California, Davis, officially opened at the historic Hunt-Boyer Mansion on April 30. The enterprise was built to support start-ups with the goal of keeping them in Davis once they succeed, and already has two new companies ready to move in.
Nonprofit Seeks to Grow Local Firms, Keep Them in Davis
A new small-business accelerator is taking root in Davis with the goal of growing local firms and keeping them in the city. This article reports on Davis Roots, the nonprofit business accelerator recently founded by Professor Andrew Hargadon and local entrepreneur Anthony Costello.
Business Accelerator to Nurture UC Davis Startups
Davis Roots, the UC Davis startup accelerator just opened this month, is already getting attention and partners. This article in the Sacramento Business Journal reports on the new organization, founded by Professor Andrew Hargadon and local entrepreneur Anthony Costello, and the companies newly on board.
Davis Roots Opens Doors, Presents First Two Companies
The bond between the Davis business community and UC Davis got a bit stronger this week. This article reports on Davis Roots, a nonprofit business accelerator, recently co-founded by Professor Andrew Hargadon and local entrepreneur Anthony Costello to nurture startups and keep them in Davis.
Davis Roots seeks to develop the entrepreneurial side of Davis
The basic idea behind Davis Roots is to help good ideas grow into companies—ones that would be located in or near Davis. Andrew Hargadon (pictured) co-founded Davis Roots with Anthony Costello, and on this edition of Davisville, Hargadon explains how the new nonprofit “accelerator” will work.
Professor Andrew Hargadon, Director, Child Family Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
“Our MBAs get first-hand glimpses into some of the cutting-edge research happening...”
Professor Andrew Hargadon researches and teaches on innovation and entrepreneurship. He describes how he draws from theory and experience to help students figure out how to be successful. “Our MBAs get first-hand glimpses into some of the cutting-edge research happening, and the challenge of trying to figure out the best way to move those ideas out of the laboratory and into the market.”
Sustainability and Innovation at UC Davis
March 13, 2012 / Professor Andrew Hargadon Blog
In this blog post, Professor Andrew Hargadon discusses how the interdisciplinary culture carried on since UC Davis was founded as a land grant institution—with its mission to diffuse practical agriculture, science and engineering knowledge—makes it the ideal place to solve today’s sustainability challenges.
Innovation Networks: Connect Your Way to a Better Idea
In Executive Education at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, we’ve noticed a heightened interest in custom programs on the topic of “innovation.” I use quotations for a reason: the deeper I delve into what our clients seek to resolve, the more I find that they are grappling with issues around risk taking, collaboration, or faster decision making–not the stereotypical Eureka!/light bulb image conjured by the term.
Innovation Networks: Connect Your Way to a Better Idea
Wendy Beecham discusses the topic of “innovation” with advice from expert, Professor Andrew Hargadon
In Executive Education at the UC Davis GSM, we’ve noticed a heightened interest in custom programs on the topic of “innovation.” I use quotations for a reason: the deeper I delve into what our clients seek to resolve, the more I find that they are grappling with issues around risk taking, collaboration, or faster decision making–not the stereotypical Eureka!/light bulb image conjured by the term.
How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate
Harvard Business Review Press, 2003
Did you know that the incandescent lightbulb first emerged some thirty years before Thomas Edison famously ‘turned night into day’? Or that Henry Ford’s revolutionary assembly line came from an unlikely blend of observations from Singer sewing machines, meatpacking, and Campbell’s Soup?
From the Ground Up: New Nonprofit Davis Roots to Nurture Start-ups
Professor Andrew Hargadon recently partnered with local entrepreneur Anthony Costello to found Davis Roots, a nonprofit business accelerator with the goal of helping start-ups get up and running and keep them in Davis. This article examines how Davis Roots fits in with the local business economy, and how having a place for young businesses on the U.C. Davis campus can help build a community that sticks around.
The Innovator’s Challenge: Moving From Idea Networks to Action Networks
Professor Andrew Hargadon shares his thoughts on idea networks and innovation on the Dot Earth blog as they relate to an earlier post about the company Ecovative, which uses fungi to create custom packaging and a bio-degradable solution to foam.
A Young Green Innovator Turning Fungi into Jobs Muses on the Path to Breakthroughs
Professor Andrew Hargadon discusses Ecovative Design, a company which uses fungi to create custom packaging and a bio-degradable solution to foam, on the Dot Earth blog. He compares their work to that of MicroMidas, a West Sacramento-based company that produces biodegradable plastics out of organic wastewater streams.
UC-Davis Launches New Center of Innovation & Entrepreneurship
This article reports on the new interdisciplinary institute devoted to education, research and outreach in innovation and entrepreneurship at UC Davis, with the help of a $5 million commitment from alumni Mike and Renee Child. The institute will strengthen the coordination of entrepreneurship and innovation activities across UC Davis’ colleges, schools, centers and organized research units, becoming the university’s unifying structure for these pursuits.
UC Davis to Start Up Entrepreneur Institute
This article reports on the launch of a new institute devoted to education, research and outreach in innovation and entrepreneurship at UC Davis. The Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship was made possible through a $5 million commitment from alumni Mike and Renee Child, both 1976 UC Davis graduates.
UC Davis gets $5M gift for Entrepreneurship Institute
UC Davis has landed a $5 million commitment with which to create a new institute for innovation and entrepreneurship. The commitment from UC Davis alums Mike Child and Renee Child will transform the UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship into a larger institute that can do much more, and which will have stable funding for years to come. “UC Davis is home to an amazing array of expertise across disciplines,” Hargadon said in the release. “This institute will help our faculty and students translate their knowledge and skills into ventures that improve society and add value to the economy.”
Professor Andrew Hargadon’s 7 Key Principles for Low-Carbon Business Innovation
New Report for Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Low-carbon energy is a key pathway toward sustained economic growth. To help pave this road, Professor Andrew Hargadon, director of The Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, has authored a study for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, in partnership with Hewlett-Packard, that highlights the most effective ways that companies are bringing low-carbon technologies to market and significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Andrew B. Hargadon Awards
Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The UC Davis Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship serves as the nexus for entrepreneurship education and research—and as a springboard for entrepreneurial initiatives on the UC Davis campus.
To accomplish this, the institute brings science, engineering and business students and faculty together with experienced entrepreneurs, investors and corporate leaders in an highly collaborative environment that blends effective theory with hands-on participation and solution-driven innovation.
Under the direction of Professor Andrew Hargadon, the institute provides researchers, MBA students and others with the necessary skills, resources and network support to turn their ideas into action. Whether for profit or for social benefit—or both—the institute’s programs enable students to envision a better world and make it a reality.
Entrepreneurs Fuel the Innovation Ecosystem
“Entrepreneurs build networks that didn’t exist before,” says Prof. Andrew Hargadon, director of the UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship, in an interview with the editor of North Carolina State University’s Center for Innovation Management Studies Technology Management Report (p. 6-9). Hargadon has been researching the innovation process since 1996 when CIMS helped to fund his dissertation on technology brokering.
Obama Ducks and Covers on Climate
Professor Andrew Hargadon’s views on innovation of new energy technologies are quoted in New York Times’ Andrew Revkin’s Dot Earth blog post about President Obama’s State-of-the-Union call for a new “Sputnik moment” to drive the country’s energy innovation imperative.
50 Best International Business Blogs You Aren’t Reading Yet
Prof. Andrew Hargadon’s blog rated among the “50 Best International Business Blogs You Aren’t Reading Yet”. In his blog he writes about entrepreneurship, technology innovation, management, and sustainability
Getting Started in Entrepreneurship
For academic scientists with an idea they think might have commercial potential, figuring out whether and how to move it from the university lab to the marketplace is a formidable challenge. Andrew Hargadon, the Charles J. Soderquist Chair in Entrepreneurship at the University of California, Davis, and director of the university’s Center for Entrepreneurship, offers insight into the process in a series of entries on his blog.
The Entrepreneurial Leap
November 16, 2010 / Professor Andrew Hargadon Blog
“This series of posts (finally) puts to words the approach, the ideas, and the tools developed and tested in the programs of the UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship.
Our work focuses on the first of three critical moments in the life of a new venture—the entrepreneurial leap. This is the moment (that can take months, or more if not careful) when the original entrepreneurs make the decision whether to start a new venture or not, and take the first steps that, often unknowingly, send them down paths they may take years, if ever, to recover from.”
A new route from idea to reality
Professor Hargadon is quoted in Financial Times article about innovation at Apple and the mobile product and services market. What Apple does, he says, “is identify a vision, then assemble the right team to pull that off.” Rather than reorganizing existing assets to try to come up with a new vision, Prof Hargadon says technology companies must have the vision and then assemble the assets needed from outside and inside in order to make it real.
Technology Policy and Global Warming: Why New Innovation Models Are Needed
Research Policy, 2010
In this article, Professor Andrew Hargadon argues that the selection of policy analogues (old bottles) into which we fit our (still hotly contested) climate change policy objectives (new wine) asks a particularly and immediately appropriate set of questions.
Roots of Energy Efficiency
Professor Nicole Woolsey Biggart, who holds the Chevron Chair in Energy Efficiency, participated in a roundtable discussion on “California’s Smart Energy Investments: Enabling the Next Generation of Energy Efficiency.” View a video of the event, which was moderated by Professor Andrew Hargadon.
Rethinking Innovation in Clean Tech
In an effort to boost employment, promote cleaner, more sustainable sources of energy, and give the U.S. a global competitive advantage, governors across the nation are looking to implement policies that spur clean tech innovation.
In February, Professor Andrew Hargadon, director of the UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship, participated in “Spurring Business Start-ups and Innovation in Clean Technology,” a National Governors’ Association Center for Best Practices Webcast co-sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation.
Cash or Connections, Part II
Ben Horowitz of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz posted on Ron Conway and his network (Ron Conway Explained), asserting that the value of social capital (connections) often exceeds the financial capital (cash) that is needed to help startups get off the ground. Professor Andrew Hargadon co-writes this article.
7 Ways to Make Students More Entrepreneurial
GSM Professor Andrew Hargadon and director of the UC Davis Center for Entrpreneurship shares “7 Ways to Make Students More Entrepreneurial” in this Chronicle of Higher Education commentary.
Energy Efficiency Innovations for the 21st Century
Established in 2006, with a challenge grant from the California Clean Energy Fund and Professor Andrew Hargadon as founding director, the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center (EEC) is the first university-based organization to focus on the transfer of energy saving technology into the marketplace.
UC Davis’s Energy Efficiency Center Makes Conservation Sexy
Professor Andrew Hargadon, the founding director of the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center (EEC), was featured in the May issue of Fast Company. The article recognized Hargadon’s leadership at the forefront of the energy efficiency wave by fostering networks linking entrepreneurs, scientists, venture capitalists and business students.
Andrew Hargadon Honored with Olympus Emerging Educational Leader Award
Professor Andrew Hargadon, faculty director of the UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship, was honored in March with the 2009 Olympus Emerging Educational Leader Award for inspiring innovative thinking in students and for his potential to make even greater contributions to the field in the future.
Hargadon, a former design engineer for IDEO Product Development and Apple Computer, was recognized for his leadership of the center, which has had notable success in moving technologies from university labs to the marketplace.
Inspiring Green Innovation at NIWeek 2008
Andrew Hargadon, Associate Professor and faculty director of the UC Davis Center for Entrepreneurship, delivered the closing keynote address at National Instrument’s NIWeek 2008 in Austin, Tex., in August. The three-day event is the world’s leading graphical system design conference and exhibition. It brings together more than more than 3,000 engineers, scientists, educators and developers for interactive technical sessions, exhibitions and workshops on the latest technologies for control design, measurement, automation, manufacturing and testing.
Lowering Barriers for Energy Efficiency Technology
Associate Professor Andrew Hargadon and Alan Meier, a senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory—both of whom are associate directors of the UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center—were awarded a $10,000 grant from the Industry-University Cooperative Research Program and received matching funds from the California Clean Energy Fund to host the Energy Efficiency Technology Impact Summit at UC Davis on February 13.
Inspiring Networks of Innovation
Faculty Research Fall 2007/Winter 2008
Demand for Soft Skills to Grow
Gov. Schwarzenegger Joins California Clean Energy Fund and UC Davis to Launch Premier Energy Efficiency Center
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited UC Davis to celebrate a $1 million grant from the California Clean Energy Fund to establish the new UC Davis Energy Efficiency Center, the world’s leading university center of excellence in energy efficiency headed by GSM Associate Professor Andrew Hargadon with GSM alumnus Ben Finkelor as program director.
When Collections of Creatives Become Creative Collectives: A Field Study of Problem Solving at Work
Organization Science, 2006
This paper by Professor Andrew Hargadon and Associate Professor Beth Bechky introduces a model of collective creativity that explains how the locus of creative problem solving shifts, at times, from the individual to the interactions of a collective.
New Book Tells How Companies Innovate
“Rip. Mix. Burn.” Innovations in business borrow existing ideas from different worlds, mix them in news ways, and create supportive communities to nurture them to fruition, says Associate Professor Andrew Hargadon, in his book, How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate, published by the Harvard Business School Press.