Jean-Jacques Degroof

A private investor with nearly three decades of experience, Jean-Jacques Degroof has served since 2005 as an Associate Researcher at CRECIS (Center for Research in Entrepreneurial Change and Innovative Strategies) at the Catholic University of Louvain. In addition to his other appointments, Degroof is an affiliate researcher of the Industrial Performance Center of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he previously devoted three years of active service.

Throughout his residency at this leading research institution, Degroof contributed to a major project titled Local Innovation Systems and Benchmarking Innovation. During the 2003-2004 academic year, Jean-Jacques Degroof held a postdoctoral appointment at the Center for Business and Government of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Dedicated to guiding the next generation of business leaders, Jean-Jacques Degroof has taught graduate-level courses on topics including human resource management, sociology of organizations, and management of innovation. Similarly committed to advancing his field through scholarship, Degroof has published work in academic journals such as the Science Technology Industry Review, the Journal of Technology Transfer, and the MIT Sloan School of Management Working Paper series. A lifelong proponent of service, he is a member of the editorial board of the Revue Entreprendre - Innove and serves as president of the Degroof - Van Massenhove Foundation’s board.

Jean-Jacques Degroof completed his graduate education at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, where he earned an MS in 1993 and a PhD in 2002. In pursuit of his PhD, Degroof wrote and defended a dissertation titled ”Spinning off Ventures from Academic Institutions Outside High Tech Entrepreneurial Areas.” He previously attended the Institute of Labor Studies at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and received a Master's degree in Labor Studies with honors. In 1980, he earned a license in management, graduating summa cum laude from the same university.