René Goduscheit - Professor

With many years of experience as assistant professor, associate professor and professor at the University of Southern Denmark, a PhD in network-based innovation, and a background as a management consultant for Rambøll and KPMG, René Goduscheit is now transferring his professional skills to BTECH. As head of section at AIROD, he will - among other things - contribute to ensuring continued fruitful research collaborations in Denmark and abroad.

Why did you choose to work at the Department of Business Development and Technology?
My research is characterised by a considerable interest in companies and their take on and challenges related to business development and innovation. BTECH is known for engaging in a close dialogue and collaboration with companies as well as policy-makers whose decisions have impact on the framework of businesses, and this was a key parameter for me when I decided to work at BTECH. In addition, I’m quite familiar with BTECH and already know a number of my colleagues from conferences, academic communities, and research projects. I know that I’ll be working in a competent and dedicated research environment. Finally, I’ve been an external co-examiner at BTECH for many years. This has given me an insight into the degree programmes within business as well as engineering. For this reason, I’m also aware that BTECH is home to some talented students, and that also appeals to me. 

What is your area of expertise and what will you be doing here?
At BTECH, I’ll be Research Group Director at AIROD. Here, I’ll contribute to conducting and targeting our research activities. We must continue to deliver research of a high academic level, and we must get involved with research projects that can provide the basis for generating new and publishable results. I’ll be focusing on the internal collaboration between AIROD and other researchers at BTECH and the rest of Aarhus University, and definitely also with other partners in Denmark and abroad. At the same time, we need to ensure that our research activities are relevant to companies and other parts of the surrounding society. I’ll also continue my research into innovation and business development. More specially, I’ll focus on research into digital transformation and service innovation. I’ve received funding for continuing this research from the Danish Industry Foundation. 

I’m a member of the Industrial Researcher Committee at the Innovation Fund Denmark. Here I contribute to assessing applications for industrial PhDs and postdocs. I’m a member of an academic group within the Bibliometric Research Indicator (BFI), which ranks journals according to their quality. And for six years, I’ve been member of the board at CINet, which is an international community within innovation research responsible for an annual conference held at different Europe venues. 

What is your educational background?
I hold a MSc in Political Science from Aarhus University and graduated in 2004. In 2009, I completed my PhD in the field of network-based innovation from the Center for Industrial Production at Aalborg University.   

What have you done before?
After my Master's degree, I worked as a management consultant at Rambøll Management in Aarhus and at KPMG in London. After my PhD, I joined the Centre for Integrative Innovation Management at the University of Southern Denmark, first as an assistant professor (2009-2012), then as an associate professor (2012-2017) and finally as a professor with special responsibilities (MSO) (2017-2018).

Please tell us a bit about yourself, your family and your leisure activities.
I live in Sejs close to Silkeborg, and here there are plenty of opportunities for walking, biking and running in the beautiful countryside. I have a wife and three children - two girls at four and 12 and a nine-year old boy. I spend as much time with my family as possible.