Christian Richter Østergaard

Research profile

Christian R. Østergaard is a Professor of Innovation and Regional Industrial Dynamics at Aalborg University Business School in Denmark. He earned his M.Sc. in Industrial Economics in 2001 and Ph.D. in Innovation, Knowledge and Economic Dynamics in 2005, both from Aalborg University.

Currently, he serves as the head of the IKE (Innovation, Knowledge, and Economic Dynamics) research group, which can be found at ike.aau.dk. Additionally, he is a member of the DRUID Executive Committee, leading the DRUID Academy, as detailed on druid.dk.

His ongoing research focuses on various aspects of innovation and regional industrial dynamics, including the relationship between workplace diversity and innovation, university-industry interaction, interfirm collaboration on innovation, the evolution and resilience of industries and regional industrial clusters, green innovations, sustainability transitions, and knowledge and skills related to CCUS.

He has contributed to international peer-reviewed journals such as Research Policy, Regional Studies, Technovation, Journal of Technology Transfer, Industry and Innovation, and Industrial and Corporate Change. He has also authored numerous book chapters in edited volumes.

Moreover, he has actively participated in several externally funded European and Danish research projects, such as: 2022-2023: CO2 Vision "Analysing the supply and demand of CCUS related competences and labour" funded by Erhvervshus Nordjylland. 2017-2021: DIRECTLY "Data based REal-time CollaboraTive Logistics sYstem" project funded by Innovation Fund Denmark under the Grand Solutions instrument. 2017-2021. GONST "Where Does The Green Economy Grow? The Geography Of Nordic Sustainability Transitions " project funded by Nordic Cooperation. 2017-2022 ReDy (Center for forskning i regional dynamik og ulighed)  funded by the Obel Foundation. 2016-2021: RUNIN "The Role of Universities in Innovation and Regional Development" a MSCA Innovative Training Network, EU H2020 project. 2014-2015: Suppliers in Denmark, financed by The Danish Industry Foundation. 2010-2012: Global Operations Networks, financed by The Danish Council for Strategic Research. 2009-2012: AEGIS “Advancing Knowledge-Intensive Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Economic Growth and Social well-being in Europe",EU 7th Framework Programme. 2007-2009: FEAT 2015 a project on: The development perspectives for the Danish agriculture and food sector in a regional innovation system perspective financed by The Directorate for Food, Fisheries and Agri Business. 2007: Innovation and Diversity, financed by Danish Agency for Science Technology and Innovation. 2002-2004: EU 4th framework TSER project "TENIA" on The Emergence of New Industrial Activities. 2002-2004: KNORI (Knowledge intensive organizations and intrapreneurship). 2001-2004:Aalborg University's participatory research group on the Digital North Denmark policyprogram. 2001: EU 4th framework TSER project “KNOW for Innovation".

He has served as an expert reviewer for the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the U.S. (2009), the Research Council of Norway (2011;2013;2016;2020), the European Commission (2014), The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) (2014;2022), and the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT)(2015), Luxembourg National Research Fund (2017), Italian Ministry for University and Research (2021), and the Swiss National Science Foundation (2023).

Furthermore, he has held various academic positions, including being a former member of the PhD council at the Doctoral School of Social Sciences (elected) from 2011 to 2015 and 2017 to 2020. He also served as the head of the PhD program at the Department of Business and Management during the same periods and was a former member of the Academic Council at the Faculty of Social Sciences (elected) from 2008 to 2016 and in 2022. Additionally, he was a former member of the Department Council for the Department of Business and Management (elected) from 2012 to 2016.