A Business School academic has been made a Fellow of the British Academy, a leading institution for humanities and social sciences.

Professor Erkko Autio, Chair in Technology Venturing and Entrepreneurship at Imperial College Business School, is recognised for his pioneering research in the areas of national and regional entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems, international entrepreneurship and high-tech start-ups.

Professor Autio was among 76 distinguished scholars to be awarded Fellowships by the British Academy , joining a community of over 1400 of the leading minds that make up the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences.

Professor Autio joined Imperial College Business School in 2006. His achievements include being the co-investigator of Imperial’s Digital City Exchange project, and co-founder of the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute, the Global Entrepreneurship Index and the EU Regional Entrepreneurship Index. He is also a founding team member of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor GEM initiative -- the world's largest ongoing research consortium in social sciences that has been running since 1997.

"Entrepreneurship is a key research theme at the Business School and Erkko has made a significant contribution to our research output in this area." Professor Francisco Veloso Dean of Imperial College Business School

Responding to the news about his new Fellowship, Professor Autio said: “I’m delighted to receive this recognition by the British Academy for my work. I hope this Fellowship will highlight the important research we’re doing around the challenges and opportunities facing entrepreneurs in this digital era, particularly given the current uncertain political and economic climate.”

He is the fourth current academic from the Business School to have been made a Fellow of the British Academy. The other Business School academics who are Fellows of the Academy are Professors Franklin Allen, Carol Propper and Mike Wright.

Professor Francisco Veloso, Dean of Imperial College Business School said: “I’m pleased to congratulate Erkko on his new Fellowship. Entrepreneurship is a key research theme at the Business School and Erkko has made a significant contribution to our research output in this area, most notably his work on national and international entrepreneurial ecosystems. This Fellowship is an acknowledgement of Erkko’s dedication to academia and teaching and is a proud moment for the Business School.”

Professor Autio joins current Fellows in the British Academy that include the classicist Dame Mary Beard, the historian Sir Simon Schama and philosopher Baroness Onora O’Neill. Past Fellows have included Dame Frances Yates, Sir Winston Churchill, Baroness Mary Warnock, C.S Lewis, Seamus Heaney and Beatrice Webb.