Phil Budden

Phil Budden is a Senior Lecturer at MIT's Management School, in Sloan's TIES (Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management) Group, where he focuses on innovation ecosystems around the world, their key stakeholders, and especially, "corporate innovation."

Budden co-teaches in the successful Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP), an MIT global program for teams from around the globe interested in accelerating innovation-driven entrepreneurship; in his related class, known as the Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration for Leaders (REAL: 15.364); and on similar topics—especially ‘corporate innovation — in a variety of executive degree and ExecEd settings. 

Budden's approach combines academic, historical, and real-world perspectives on how different stakeholders—including entrepreneurs, universities, and 'risk capital' providers, alongside corporate enterprises and government policymakers—can all contribute to building successful innovation ecosystems. His background as a diplomat makes him well-suited to the 'global innovation' of REAP/REAL, the interplay among the stakeholders, and to the negotiations within the 'innovation ecosystems' (especially for Corporate and Government stakeholders).

Prior to MIT, Budden had served as a British diplomat (1993-2013), with his first decade focused on Britain's membership of the European Union (EU), involving its key economic, financial, and technology policies. After 9/11, his second decade as a British diplomat was spent in the US: first at the British Embassy in Washington (2002-2007), focused on transatlantic economic and business issues, including technology security, international science and innovation links, and trade policy; and later based in Boston (2007-2012) as Her Britannic Majesty's Consul General to New England.

Budden holds a BA and MA in history from Lincoln College, the University of Oxford; an MA in history and government from Cornell University; and a PhD in history and international political economy from the University of Oxford.