Professor Holger Ernst

Academic Career and Positions

Holger Ernst is full professor of business administration, esp. technology and innovation management at the WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, Vallendar, Germany. He studied business administration at the University of Kiel, Germany and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. He received a degree in business administration (1992), his Ph.D. (1996) and the Habilitation (2001) from the University of Kiel, Germany.

Prof. Ernst is a regular visiting professor and a member of the Center for Research in Technology and Innovation (CRTI) at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA. He was appointed honorary professor and principal fellow within the Faculty of Business and Economics at the Melbourne Business School, The University of Melbourne, Australia. Prof. Ernst served as the chairman of the technology, innovation and entrepreneurship division of the association of professors of business administration (Verband der Hochschullehrer für Betriebswirtschaftslehre) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland between 2009 and 2011 and as vice chairman between 2007 and 2009.

Prof. Ernst served as the speaker of the innovation and entrepreneurship Group at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, Germany, between 2007 and 2013.

Teaching and Related Awards

Prof. Ernst has 24 years of experience in executive education. He has taught in multiple executive MBA programs, e.g. the Kellogg-WHU Executive MBA Program (since KW01), the Melbourne Business School Senior Executive MBA Program (since start in 2004), the Melbourne Business School Executive MBA Program and in various WHU and Kellogg Executive Customized Programs for companies such as 3M, Dt. Börse, Esai Pharmaceuticals, Merck, L’Oreal, Süd-Chemie, Sony, Nissan, DuPont, SITA and Sony-Ericsson and universities such as Carnegie Mellon University, CEIBS, Drexel University, Milliken University, Sun Yat Sen University, Tsinghua University and Xiamen University. Prof. Ernst received Best Teacher Awards in the WHU Full-Time MBA Program in 2006, in the Bucerius-WHU Master of Law and Business Program in 2008 and in the WHU Part-Time MBA Program in 2012.

Managerial Experience and Industry Exposure

Prof. Ernst is co-founder of the firm Patentsight, located in Bonn, Germany, that specializes in the development and selling of software products and consulting services in the field of business intelligence based on patent data. Patentsight’s unique products are based on Prof. Ernst’s long-term and groundbreaking research on patent analytics, patent valuation and patent management. Patentsight is a market leader in its field and serves well-known clients worldwide. Patentsight was acquired by RELX (Lexis Nexis) in 2018.

Prof. Ernst has developed and runs the InnovationSuccess Panel (IsP®), a comprehensive audit tool that benchmarks a firm’s innovation management against innovation and market leaders across multiple industries. Prof. Ernst advises and speaks to corporations worldwide. Clients so far include, e.g., Allianz, Asahi Kasei, BASF, Biocon, Bosch and Siemens Hausgeräte, Constantia Hück, Cognis, Daikin, DPDHL, Dt. Telekom, Elster Group, General Electric, Gerresheimer, Henkel, Johnson & Johnson, Kion, LTS, NAB Bank Australia, Novo Nordisk, Otto Bock, Randstad, Ricoh, Sabic, SAP, Sebapharma GmbH & Co., Siemens, Simon, Kucher & Partner, SITA, SMA-Solar, Stabilus, Styrolution, Sumitomo Chemical, Swiss Re, Takeda, Trox GmbH, TÜV-Nord, Zühlke AG and others.

Prof. Ernst has served on the advisory board of start-up firms and provides support to start-ups as a business angel.