Enterprise Group, CSME

Stephen Roper joined WBS in the Enterprise Teaching Group and Centre for SMEs in January 2008. Prior to joining WBS, Stephen was Professor of Business Innovation at Aston Business School and before that he was Assistant Director of the Northern Ireland Economic Research Centre, Belfast.

Alongside his post here at WBS, Stephen is a Director of InnovationLab (Ireland) Ltd an academic spin-out company which focuses on innovation policy and related issues. Stephen is also a member of the ESRC Strategic Priorities Board and the UK Committee of the Regional Science Association. He is a consulting editor of the International Journal of Small Business.

Stephens major research interests are in enterprise growth and development, diversity and business performance, innovation, regional development, and industrial policy evaluation. Previous projects have been supported by the Economic and Social Research Council, the EU, the British Academy, and the Royal Irish Academy as well as a number of government departments in the UK, Ireland, US and Israel.

Stephen has consulted on aspects of innovation and enterprise policy for a wide range of organizations including the OECD, the DTI, the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, the UK governments Small Business Service, East Midlands Development Agency, Advantage West Midlands, the Scottish Executive, Invest Northern Ireland, Forfas (Dublin), Enterprise Ireland, Northern Bank, InterTradeIreland, the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment (Belfast), and the Department of Education and Learning (Belfast).

At WBS Stephen teaches a second year module  International Perspectives on Enterprise and a third year module  Innovation and high-tech enterprise. He also leads MBA modules in Innovation and Creativity and Innovation and Alternative Energy Technologies.

Enterprise growth and development, diversity and business performance, innovation, regional development, and industrial policy evaluation.