KITE is located in the Newcastle University Business School with links across the University. It comprises of members from within the School, associates from across the University, together with visiting staff from a range of national and international organisations.

We have academic expertise in the areas of:

• innovation
• entrepreneurship
• information systems
• collaboration/partnership

KITE also provides a focus for the University’s relationships with the worlds of policy and practice in these areas. Members make significant contributions to academic debates and influence thinking in business, government and third sector bodies at local, national and international scales.

We work across the three institutional societal challenges: Ageing, Sustainability and Social Renewal.

We're currently engaging closely with Newcastle Helix. We're looking at the key challenges of innovation, entrepreneurship and collaboration around themes of transport, energy and the digital economy.

KITE is led by Professor Rob Wilson.

Find out about our project funders and partners.

10th anniversary

We've recently celebrated our 10th anniversary.

In 2006, under the leadership of David Charles, Newcastle University established KITE. It brought together Newcastle University Business School’s emerging academic research groups in innovation and entrepreneurship.

Since then KITE has gone on to:

• generate over £6 million of research income
• engage in over 100 research projects
• establish long-term relationships in the worlds of policy and practice
• help develop three Master’s programmes – seeing over 300 students graduate from the collective programmes

Over the past decade KITE’s membership has included many alumni including over 20 PhD students – a number of whom have gone on to have successful careers in academia across the world.

Many of the Centre’s previous members remain visiting academics of the School and KITE, notably:

• Ian McLoughlin (Monash University, Australia)
• Simon Down (Anglia Ruskin University)
• Chris Ivory (Anglia Ruskin University)
• Sue Baines (Manchester Metropolitan University)
• David Charles (Northumbria University)
• Feng Li (City, University of London)
• James Cornford (University of East Anglia)
• Dimo Dimov (University of Bath)
• James Hayton (University of Warwick)

For further information read our 10th Anniversary publication (PDF: 623KB).