Le­onardo San­ti­ago

Leonardo Santiago is an Associate Professor at CBS’s Department of Operations Management, where he researches how firms make strategic decisions related to innovation, technology, and the green transition—including R&D portfolio management and the shift to sustainable energy sources. 

His work on R&D flexibility and the economic value of flexibility has been published in leading journals such as IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management and Management Science. He also contributes to the green research agenda through studies on decarbonization strategies and fuel adoption in the shipping sector, addressing barriers, actor profiles, and regulatory uncertainty surrounding green transitions. 

Leonardo combines theoretical rigor with practice-oriented challenges in the fields of energy, transportation, and maritime innovation. In previous projects, he has supported companies and policymakers with decision-making tools, analyses of biofuel markets, assessments of technological implementation, and risk allocation in the scale-up of COVID‑19 vaccine production. 

His research directly supports several UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly innovation (SDG 9), climate action (SDG 13), and sustainable industry (SDG 12), by providing concrete recommendations on technology choices, investment strategies, and organizational resilience. He teaches and supervises in interdisciplinary settings and also serves as a department editor for IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.