Progress Magazine Annual Report 2011 - Eller College of ...

feature
a research agenda devoted to
managing changing technologies
“If there’s a theme to my
research, it’s cool new
technologies,” Len Jessup
said with a laugh. “That’s
really driven my research all
the way through.”
He traces it all back to being
an MBA student at California
State University, Chico. “I had
an assistantship there and
one of my assignments was
to set up the new
computer lab,” he said. It was
the university’s first computer
lab. He dove into the task of
pulling DEC Rainbow 100s
out of their boxes and trying
to set them up on a primitive
network. “It was all selftaught,”
he said.
Later, after beginning
his doctoral studies in
management at the UA, he
was advised to seek a minor.
Technology beckoned. “I went
over to see Jay Nunamaker,
and he a computer lab where
everything was set up on
a network that was way more
sophisticated than anything
I’d seen.” It was there that
Jessup met fellow student Joe
Valacich, who just joined Eller
as a professor of MIS [see
page 8]. “That’s where it all
began for me,” Jessup said.
Early in his career, Jessup
concentrated on groupware,
wireless collaboration,
electronic commerce, and
technology-supported
learning and decision making.
His current stream of research
is focused on corporate
innovation and on the
commercialization of
technological innovation.
He has published work on the
internet and open innovation,
new venture strategies,
social networks, social
entrepreneurship, and more.
“I started off with a micro
perspective, and am now
totally focused on the macro
side, on organizations and
the economy,” he said.
One current project with
doctoral fellow Monte Shafer
seeks to predict when radical
innovation is going to happen.
“What we did was go deep
into the patent databases and
assessed the value over time,”
Jessup explained. “Monte
developed an algorithm —
kind of like Google’s network
analysis or collegiate sports
power rankings — and applied
it to the landscape of patent
citations. The idea is to
identify the next disruptive,
radical innovation that’s
going to make a huge
difference in society.”
Jessup’s focus on innovationrelated
research took off
when he became director of
the Center for Entrepreneurial
Studies at WSU. After he
completed his time as
president of the WSU
Foundation, Jessup was given
his choice of appointments
within the business school.
Entrepreneurship was a
natural. “It’s like the Wayne
Gretzy quote,” he said. “’A
good hockey player plays
where the puck is. A great
hockey player plays where the
puck is going to be.’ I wanted
to be in an area that’s going
to be hot, where I could really
make a contribution.”
He intends to continue to
be research active. “I do it
because it’s fun, and
potentially useful to society.”
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