Faculty and staff

Dr. Jon Thomas joined the University of the Fraser Valley as the BC Regional Innovation Chair in Canada-India Partnership Development in 2017. He has over a decade of teaching experience in Canada and India, and was teaching in the Management of Technology MBA program at Simon Fraser University (Canada) prior to joining UFV. He was awarded the AICTE National Doctoral Fellowship (India) and the MITACS Elevate Strategic Post-doctoral Fellowship (Canada) for his research.

Dr. Thomas holds a B.Sc. in Statistics (AMU), an MBA (AMU), and a PhD in Technology Management and Strategy from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi). 

Science-based entrepreneurship; science commercialization; biotechnology; biomedical; healthcare; clean technology; clean energy; technology innovation; strategy; entrepreneurship; star scientists; regional and national innovation systems; clusters; R&D efficiency

Google Scholar Profile

Publications

1. Thomas, V. J., Maine, E. The impact of regional systems of innovation on the formation of university spin-offs by biomedical star scientists, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business (forthcoming).
2. Maine, E., Thomas, V. J. (2017). Raising financing through strategic timing. Nature Nanotechnology, 12(2): 93–98.
3. Maine, E., Thomas, V. J., Utterback, J. (2014). Radical innovation from the confluence of technologies: Innovation management strategies for the emerging nanobiotechnology industry. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 32(April-June 2014): 1–25.
4. Maine, E., Thomas, V. J., Bliemel, M., Murira, A., Utterback, J. (2014). The Emergence of the Nanobiotechnology Industry.  Nature Nanotechnology, 9(1): 2–5.
5. Thomas, V. J., Sharma, S., Jain, S. K. (2011), Using Patents and Publications to Assess R&D Efficiency in the States of the USA, World Patent Information, 33(1): 4–10.
6. Sharma,S., Thomas, V. J. (2008), Inter-country R&D Efficiency Analysis: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis, Scientometrics, 76(3): 483–501.

Conference Proceedings

1. Thomas, V. J., Bliemel, M., Shippam-Brett, C., Maine, E. The Role of Star Scientists in University Spin-off Emergence, R&D Management Conference 2016, July 3-6, 2016. Cambridge, UK.
2. Thomas, V. J., Jain, S. K., Sharma, S. (2009), Analyzing R&D Efficiency in Asia and the OECD: An Application of the Malmquist Productivity Index, IEEE Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy (ACSIP 2009), Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA.
3. Thomas, V. J., Jain, S. K., Sharma, S. (2008), R&D Efficiency in the USA: An Application of DEA, GLOGIFT 2008, June 14-16, 2008, Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Reports

1. Thomas, V.J. (2016) Review of Healthcare Best Practices in Supporting Technological Innovation. (Commissioned by Innovation Boulevard and the Office of the Assistant Deputy Minister of Health, Government of British Columbia).

Conference Presentations & Research Seminars

• The Role of Star Scientists in Science-based University Spin-off Emergence, 15^th Annual West Coast Research Symposium, Edmonton, Canada, Sept. 2017.
• The Role of Star Scientists in University Spin-off Emergence
  • 6^th Beedie Innovation Conference, Vancouver, Canada, Sept. 2016
  • 16^th International Schumpeter Society Conference, Montreal, Canada, July 2016 
• Biomedical Innovation: Commercialization Strategies for Scientist-Entrepreneurs”, Academy of Management Conference, Vancouver, Canada, Aug. 2015
• Patenting and Commercialization Strategy of a Star-Scientist: MIT’s Robert Langer
  • 1^st SFU Postdoctoral Research Day, Burnaby, Canada, May 2015
  • Centre for Drug Research and Development, Vancouver, Canada, May 2015
  • 5^th Beedie Innovation Conference, Vancouver, Canada, Jan. 2015
• Radical Innovation in the Emerging Nanobiotechnology Industry, Centre for Drug Research and Development, Vancouver, Canada, June 2014
• Global Bio-Nano Firms: Exploiting the Confluence of Technologies,  4^th Beedie Innovation Conference, Vancouver, Canada, March 2013
• Technological Innovation in the Indian Biotechnology Industry, 2nd IPR Researchers’ Confluence, I.I.T. Bombay, India, February 2011(Best Paper Award)
• A Study of Technological Innovations in Firms in India, 5th Globelics Academy, University of Tampere, Finland, June 2008