Profile

Andrew is a Lecturer in Innovation at Newcastle University Business School (NUBS). Andrew joined NUBS in April 2026, and is a member of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Subject Group. Andrew has held previous research and teaching positions at the Open University (DPP), the University of Edinburgh, the University of Manchester (MIOIR), the University of Sussex (SPRU), the University of Cambridge, and Oxford Brookes University (IRC).

Andrew holds a PhD in Planning Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a MA in Science & Technology Policy from the George Washington University, and a BA in Political Science from Gettysburg College. Andrew also has previous policy experience, working for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in the US, as well as a secondment with the UK Government Office of Science.

Andrew's diverse research interests include the intersections of innovation, place, and development, with an emphasis on comparative innovation systems, technology transfer and commercialization, innovation intermediaries, innovation in low resource settings, entrepreneurial capacity building and spin-outs, public science and innovation infrastructure, and the responsible governance of emerging technology.

• Articles

  • Watkins A, McCarthy A, Holland C, Shapira P. Public biofoundries as innovation intermediaries: the integration of translation, sustainability, and responsibility. Journal of Technology Transfer 2024, 49, 1259-1286.
  • Watkins A, Srinivas S, Wield D. Institutional implications for science and industrial capacity: policy lessons from the UK’s pandemic response. Science and Public Policy 2024, 51(5), 850-860.
  • Banda G, Mittra J, Tait J, Watkins A, Omidvar O. Understanding the emergence and evolution of new business models in the UK regenerative medicine sector. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management 2021, 33(3), 320-333.
  • Robbins P, Wield D, Wilson G, Watkins A, MacPhail P. Global (best together with (or against) local networks and practices? Liquid engineering and the USES programme. Journal of International Development 2020, 32(1), 11-28.
  • Papaioannou T, Watkins A, Kale D, Mugwagwa J. Politics of innovation and development: The role of industry associations in integrating political, bureaucratic, industrial and health systems in India and South Africa. Development Policy Review 2018, 36(S1), O531-O551.
  • Robbins P, Watkins A, Wield D, Wilson G. Development engineering meets development studies. Third World Quarterly 2017, 38(10), 2187-2207.
  • Papaioannou T, Watkins A, Mugwagwa J, Kale D. To Lobby or to Partner? Investigating the Shifting Political Strategies of Biopharmaceutical Industry Associations in Innovation Systems of South Africa and India. World Development 2016, 78, 66-79.
  • Watkins A, Papaioannou T, Mugwagwa J, Kale D. National innovation systems and the intermediary role of industry associations in building institutional capacities for innovation in developing countries: A critical review of the literature. Research Policy 2015, 44(8), 1407-1418.
  • Papaioannou T, Watkins A, Kale D, Mugwagwa J. Industry associations, health innovation systems and politics of development: the cases of India and South Africa. Business and Politics 2015, 17(2), 253-289.
  • Watkins A. The Venture Capital Perspective on Collaboration with Large Corporations/MNEs in London and the South East: Pursuing Extra-Regional Knowledge and the Shaping of Regional Venture Capital Networks?. Review of Policy Research 2010, 27(4), 491-507.

• Report

  • Tait J, Banda G, Watkins A. Proportionate and adaptive governance of innovative technologies (PAGIT): A framework to guide policy and regulatory decision making. Edinburgh: Innogen Institute, 2017.