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Mer­cedes Del­gado

Associate Professor

Subjects
Innovation Entrepreneurship Supply chain Competitiveness Digitalisation Industry

Primary research areas

In­dustry clusters and their in­nov­a­tion sys­tems
De­fin­ing and map­ping in­dustry clusters and how they mat­ter for in­nov­a­tion, entrepreneur­ship, in­clu­sion, and re­si­li­ence.
The Sup­ply Chain Eco­nomy
As­sess­ing the size and in­nov­at­ive­ness of the sup­pli­ers of man­u­fac­tured in­puts and ser­vice in­puts. The im­pact of STEM-in­tens­ive B2B ser­vices on in­nov­a­tion, entrepreneur­ship, and good jobs.
In­clus­ive In­nov­a­tion, Growth, and Com­pet­it­ive­ness
The or­gan­iz­a­tion­al and loc­a­tion­al drivers of the in­vent­or gender gap. New met­rics and meth­ods to as­sess the role of or­gan­iz­a­tions, their people, and loc­a­tions in en­ga­ging sci­entif­ic and tech­nic­al tal­ent in in­nov­a­tion and entrepreneur­ship.

In­nov­a­tion sys­tems and the per­form­ance of people, or­gan­iz­a­tions, and loc­a­tions

Mercedes Delgado is Associate Professor of Strategy and Innovation at Copenhagen Business School. Her research examines the role of industry clusters in job creation, innovation, entrepreneurship, inclusivity, and resilience. She has developed novel methods for defining and mapping industry clusters and the supply chain economy across locations. Her work helps firms, practitioners, and policymakers design innovation strategies.  

Her recent work explores the organizational and locational drivers of the inventor gender gap. She develops new methods to assess the role of organizations, their people, and locations in engaging scientific and technical talent in innovation and entrepreneurship.    

Her multi-disciplinary work has been published in top economic, policy, strategy, and science journals, and featured in the news. She has received several prestigious grants, including a recent National Science Foundation grant. Delgado has engaged with multiple stakeholders in innovation ecosystems: government, hundreds of startups, corporations, and accelerators. 

Publications

See all publications

2025

How Some Universities Translate Inclusive Innovation Into Regional Growth

Mer­ce­des Del­ga­do, Associate Professor

Fiona E. Murray
Go to publication

26 September 2024

Sådan udnyttes overset potentiale i B2B-softwarestartups

Mer­ce­des Del­ga­do, Associate Professor

Go to publication

2023

Faculty as Catalysts for Training New Inventors

Differential Outcomes for Male and Female PhD Students

Mer­ce­des Del­ga­do, Associate Professor

Fiona E. Murray
Go to publication

Recent research projects

Map­ping The Sup­ply Chain Eco­nomy and Di­git­al In­nov­a­tion in the UK

Pro­ject sponsored by Di­git­al Cata­pult to quanti­fy the sup­ply chain eco­nomy in the United King­dom. The fo­cus is to identi­fy soft­ware-cent­ric B2B ser­vices (like AI, cy­ber­se­cur­ity, and cloud ser­vices). This pro­ject will also provide a “play­book” to quanti­fy the im­pact of star­tups provid­ing di­git­al in­puts.

Otto Mønsted Vis­it­ing Pro­fess­or­ships - Emilio J. Castilla at MIT Sloan

The mer­it­or­acy para­dox

Outside activities

Fun­dación Ra­fael del Pino and MIT Sloan , 2016 -

Co-dir­ect­or of the an­nu­al Fron­ti­ers of In­nov­a­tion and Entrepreneur­ship (FIE) Work­shop

European Co­mis­sion , 2025 -

In­nov­a­tion and Com­pet­it­ive­ness Ex­pert

Acex­Health Ac­cel­er­at­or , 2021 - 2024

Ment­or of Life Sci­ence Star­tups