ADDRESS
SUNY Polytechnic
Institute
College of Business
100 Seymour
Aveneue
Utica, NY 13502
Copyright © 2000 - 2023 by Robert A. Edgell
Entrepreneurship, Space
Economy, Design Culture, &
Innovation
PAPERS
SELECT WORKING PAPERS
Edgell, R. A. (2023). Organizing for social
creativity: Comsat-Intelsat and the creative
challenge of early outer space. College of
Business 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 Working Papers. SUNY Polytechnic
Institute. Utica, NY.
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 TITLE TO VIEW)
Edgell, R. A., and Lee, D. (2023). Theorizing
creative challenges: Why are social creativity
and reimagined universities necessary for
tackling society’s problems? Journal of
Creativity, forthcoming.
Edgell, R. A., and Olney, J. P. (2023). The
sociotechnical imaginaries of contemporary
commercial space: Explicating Homo
Galacticus, Techno-Utopianism, and
Capitalistkind. AIAA SciTech Forum, 2023(1), 1-24.
Edgell, R. A., (2022). Grand challenges: The
theoretics of discursive engagement, socio-
temporal dilemmas, and impact. Academia
Letters, Article 5164.
Edgell, R. A., & Olney, J. P. (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. P. (2021). Interplanetary
institutionalization: Should humans become
space faring? Academia Letters, Article 531.
Berardino, L., Edgell, R. A., Fronmueller, M., Olney,
J. P., 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
CREATIVE CHALLENGES AND
ENTREPRENEURIAL CAPACITY
INSTITUTIONAL THEORY AND
TRANSFORMATIONS
DESIGN CULTURE AND SOCIAL CREATIVITY
Dr. Edgell’s scholarship agenda expands upon his
deep commitment to exploring the
interdisciplinary intersections among economics,
human behavior, the humanities, art, and design.
He currently researches institutional
transformations, design culture, social creativity,
and entrepreneurial capacity development. His
research further develops the sociotechnical
theories and practices by which collectives
assemble and mobilize to tackle society’s most
pressing and intractable creative challenges,
ranging from grand opportunities such as the
commercialization of interplanetary space to
wicked problems including intensifying climate
change. His work contributes theory development
and testing of the microprocesses and
institutional arrangements that enable social
creativity capacity as a collective means for
conceptualizing and redressing challenges.
He has collaborated with scholars from Stanford
University, Temple 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. 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 4% 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 and Co-Director of
the Joint Center for Creativity, Design, and
Venturing in the College of Business at SUNY
Polytechnic Institute. He has received
recognition for his scholarship and teaching;
he is a past recipient of the coveted
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, the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Academy of
Creativity, 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.
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 800 students, judges,
experts, tour site hosts, steering committee
members, supporting faculty, volunteers, and
other community leaders have engaged to
collectively create 84 concepts across eight (8)
iterations:
ICNY Housing, Shelter, and Technology:
Harnessing the innovative potential of
emergent technology and novel housing
forms (Fall 2022)
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)
“Das einzig
Beständige ist die
Veränderung.”
- Heraklit von Ephesus, ca. 540 – 480 vC
RESEARCH
ICNY
INNOVATION CHALLENGE
NEW YORK