Professor Sami Mahroum

Dr. Mahroum specializes in strategy, innovation eco-systems, and policy innovation, including analysis, measurement and problem-solving tools.

Professor Mahroum has over 25 years experience in technology policy and economic development acquired in half a dozen countries in Europe and North America. 

Dr. Mahroum is Professor of Management Practice in the area of Innovation and Policy. Prior to this, he was a Senior Lecturer and Academic Director of INSEAD Innovation and Policy Initiative. Over the course of his career, he has worked as a researcher and an academic, a policy analyst and an advisor on innovation policy in Austria, Canada, The Netherlands, The European Commission, the OECD, the UK and the UAE.  He served on two World Economic Forum’s councils, including the Regional Strategy Group for the MENA. Most recently, he authored and co-authored a number of papers on impact of e-commerce on employment, equality and SMEs in the Middle East and North Africa for the United Nations Development Programme.

Dr. Mahroum writings appeared in the Financial Times, Project Syndicate and Harvard Business Review. His book Black Sawn Startups: Understanding the Rise of Successful Technology Business in Unlikely Places published by Palgrave in 2016 has been downloaded over 17,000 times. 

Dr. Mahroum received his PhD training in Human Geography, Business and Social Sciences at University College London and the Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg. He did an MSc in Science and Technology dynamics at the University of Amsterdam and a degree in Political Science and Development at the University of Oslo, Norway.