RESEARCH
Entrepreneurship, Space Economy, Design
Culture, & Innovation
ADDRESS
SUNY Polytechnic Institute
College of Business Management
100 Seymour Aveneue
Utica, NY 13502
CONTACT
e: edgellr@sunypoly.edu
p: +1 315 792 7260
Copyright © 2000 - 2022 by Robert A. Edgell
CONCEPT
Dr. Edgell along with his research collaborator
James Moustafellos then at Temple University
created and launched the InnovationChallenge
New York (ICNY) program in the Fall of 2014. ICNY
is a unique student competition that generates
and transforms novel ideas into actions and
greater quality of life in New York State, especially
the economic and social well-being of the greater
Mohawk Valley REDC region. This design culture
treatment initiative combines the best of business
modeling and innovation with design
methodologies developed and used by Architects,
designers, and urban planners. ICNY serves three
primary purposes: it provides students with
experiential (applied) learning experience
centered on collaborative design and
entrepreneurship; it gives communities active
engagement and concepts for improving the
quality of local life; and it is a source of valuable
data for behavioral research on entrepreneurial
capacity development. In response to a
community challenge identified by program
leaders, student teams interview local civic,
business and community leaders, research areas
of interest, identify problems and opportunities
and work to design meaningful solutions that are
socially responsible, environmentally and
economically sustainable, and humanly satisfying.
ENGAGEMENT
The percentage of students recommending future
participation usually ranges from 92% to 96%.
Here are a few comments from those students:
I have learned a new way of looking at problems. I
have also learned that many minds can have so
many different ideas yet still come together to find
one collaborative solution. Before when I looked at
my surroundings I would not think much about them,
just kind of accepting it for what it is, but now I look
at my surrounding and think 'how could this change
for the better?’
It was a great confidence booster, as it is rare we can
take an idea we think of in the morning and have a
working physical model and a presentation. I think it
reminded me that in groups so much can be
accomplished if everyone was driven towards a
common goal. I think also having the grad student in
our group helped as he was really good at planning
and asking important questions so it pushed me to
try and be more creative and think things through
more which I still think about close to a week later.
I am more interested in the processes and phases
that go on behind almost every major decision. I now
understand why these steps are necessary in order
for the general issue to be solved using specific
solutions.
ITERATIONS
Since inception, over 700 students, judges,
experts, tour site hosts, steering committee
members, supporting faculty, volunteers, and
other community leaders have engaged to
collectively create 72 concepts across seven (7)
iterations:
ICNY Entrepreneurship In Outer Space:
Developing Local Entrepreneurial Capacity for
Outer Space Ventures (Fall 2019)
ICNY Reimagining Greater Old Forge: Developing
sustainable economic vitality and the community
potential of Old Forge along with the Central
Adirondack Region (Fall 2018)
ICNY Clean Energy and Economic Vitality:
Developing the Innovative Potential of Clean
Energy, Smart Building Technologies, and Green
Construction (Spring 2017)
ICNY Technology, Art, and Social Impact:
Integrating Technology, Art, and Social Impact
(Spring 2016)
ICNY Mohawk Valley Oneonta: Re-envisioning
Oneonta (Fall 2015)
ICNY Cayan Library: The Future of Our Library
(Spring 2015)
ICNY Mohawk Valley: Harnessing the DIY Spirit
(Fall 2014)
PAPERS
SELECT WORKING PAPERS
Edgell, R. A. (2022). The dark and bright imaginaries of commercial
interplanetary space. College of Business Management Working
Papers. SUNY Polytechnic Institute. Utica, NY.
Edgell, R. A., & Olney, J. (2021). Grasping for the horizon: New views
on institutionalization “stalls”. College of Business Management
Working Papers. SUNY Polytechnic Institute. Utica, NY.
Edgell, R. A., Vogl, R., & Moustafellos, J. (2019). Institutional
antecedents for entrepreneurship and culture in outer space
markets. College of Business Management Working Papers. SUNY
Polytechnic Institute. Utica, NY.
Lee, D. & Edgell, R. A. (2019). Reimagining Entrepreneurship.
Research presentation for SUNY Faculty Development Conference at
SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz, NY.
Edgell, Robert A., & Kimmich, P. (2015). Speaking in tongues: Design
culture, discursive practices, and metaphors. Paper presented at the
Academy of Management 2015, Vancouver, Canada.
Edgell, Robert A. (2014). A sociotechnological theory of discursive
change and entrepreneurial capacity: Novelty and networks. Paper
presented at the Academy of Management 2014, Philadelphia, PA.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
(CLICK TO VIEW)
Edgell, R. A., & Olney, J. (2021). Institutionalizing Outer Space: A
sociotechnical explication of the Comsat-Intelsat actor-network.
Academy of Management Proceedings, 2021(1), 10228.
Edgell, R. A., & Olney, J. (2021). Interplanetary institutionalization: Should
humans become space faring? Academia Letters, Article 531.
Berardino, L., Edgell, R. A., Fronmueller, M., Olney, J., Peterson, D., & Zeina, E.
(2019). Design culture, immersion, and visuo-spatial learning: Re-
envisioning training. Business Education Innovation Journal, 11(2), 110-118.
Edgell, R. A.. Khasawneh, F., & Moustafellos, J. (2018). Reimagining
entrepreneurship: Design culture exposure as a positive mediator for
entrepreneurial capacity. Journal of Creativity and Business Innovation, 4,
60-77.
Edgell, R. A., & Moustafellos, J. (2017). Toward an architectural theory of
innovation: Explicating design, networks, and microprocesses. Journal
of Creativity and Business Innovation, 3, 5-34.
Edgell, Robert A. and Kimmich, P. (2015). A new view on innovation and
language: Design culture, discursive practices, and metaphors. Journal
of Creativity and Business Innovation, 1, 107-128.
Yucel, I. and Edgell, Robert A. (2015). Conceptualizing factors of adoption
for head mounted displays: Toward an integrated multi-perspective
framework. Journal of Virtual World Research, 8(2), 1-10.
Edgell, Robert A., Watson, D., Harasta, B., Pfyl, R., & Xu, Y. (2015). Explicating
media, governance, and capitalism: A critical comparative analysis of
historical cases. Corporate Board: Role, Duties and Composition, 11(1), 30-46.
Edgell, Robert A. & Vogl, R. (2013). A theory of innovation: Benefit, harm,
and legal regimes. Law, Innovation and Technology, 5(1), 21-53.
Edgell, Robert A. (2013). Developing nations and sustainable
entrepreneurial policy: Growing into novelty, growing out of poverty.
Journal of Applied Business Research, 2(1), 20-36.
Edgell, Robert A. & Vogl, R. (2011). A network view of human ingestion
and health: Instrumental artificial intelligence. In B. Johnston, & M.-A.
Williams (Eds.), Proceedings of the AAAI-11 (Association for the
Advancement of Artificial Intelligence) Workshops: AI and Smarter Living.
San Francisco, CA: AAAI Press.
SCHOLARLY ACHIEVEMENTS
ECONOMIC AND ENTREPRENEURIAL CAPACITY
INSTITUTIONAL THEORY AND CHANGE PROCESSES
DESIGN CULTURE AND COLLECTIVE IDEATION
Dr. Edgell’s scholarship agenda expands upon his deep commitment to
exploring the intersections among economics, human behavior, the
humanities, art, and design. He currently researches institutional change
processes, design culture, collective ideation techniques, and entrepreneurial
capacity development. He has collaborated with scholars from Temple
University, Stanford University, and other institutions. He has published
several scholarly research articles and presented multiple conference
papers. Several research projects have been featured on National Public
Radio’s Academic Minute. Recently he was a co-PI recipient, along with Dr.
Daryl Lee, of a prestigious $100,000 National Endowment for the Humanities
(NEH), Humanities Connections grant (9.5% acceptance rate) for Reimagining
Entrepreneurship: An Integrated Pathway for Creative and Ethical Venturing.
In addition, NYSTEC recently donated $25,000 for supporting his
entrepreneurial Initiatives and related research at the College of Business
Management. In 2017, the SUNY System awarded Dr. Edgell and Dr. Lee a
$40,000 Performance Improvement Funds (PIF) grant. He has earned the
Social Sciences Research Network (SSRN) top 10% of Authors designation
based on total new downloads.
Robert Edgell
DR. ROBERT A. EDGELL PH.D.
PROFESSOR OF TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
Dr. Edgell is currently a Professor of Technology Management, Co-Director of the Joint Center for Creativity, Design, and Venturing, and had volunteered for one
year to be the Interim Dean of the College of Business Management at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. During May 2019, he received the Chancellor's Award for
Excellence in Teaching. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Swiss Business School in Zurich and has delivered research papers and lectures at Stanford
University’s Law School, the University of California San Francisco’s School of Dentistry, the California College of the Arts, and the University of St. Gallen.
Previously, he was an Assistant Professor at American University’s Kogod School of Business where he was named Outstanding Faculty. Also, he has taught at
San Francisco State University’s College of Business.
Dr. Edgell has served in various leadership capacities as a department chair, interim dean, and on several committees. He was a former board member of the
Cyber Security Institute at Griffiss Institute and currently serves as a board member of Sculpture Space. He has presented his scholarship, reviewed papers,
and chaired sessions at the Academy of Management and the International Atlantic Economics Society among others.
Dr. Edgell received his PhD in international multicultural management (magna cum laude) from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. He holds an MBA
from Columbia University Business School in the City of New York and a five-year Bachelor of Architecture from Kent State University, College of Architecture
and Environmental Design. Through Columbia's Chazen Institute of International Business, he studied at Erasmus University, Rotterdam School of
Management in The Netherlands. He is a registered Architect and has studied at Harvard University, Graduate School of Design.
“Das einzig Beständige ist die Veränderung.”
- Heraklit von Ephesus, ca. 540 – 480 vC
ICNY
INNOVATION CHALLENGE NEW YORK