Bill Wicksteed was part of the first intake to the University of York in 1963 and has a degree in economics with statistics.

Career to date

He has a part time attachment to the consultancy SQW Ltd having helped guide the firm's development since 1984. Prior to that he worked first in the City, then for a firm of architects and planners and the Welsh Development Agency. Through this work he has gained varied experience in strategy formulation, plan preparation, project appraisal and the evaluation of policy programmes. He is a member of Loughborough University's widely cast court

Work focus

In recent years he has focused on three topics: research commercialisation (including university spin-outs); regional innovation policy (covering regions in the UK and overseas); and the development of places as nodes of excellence in the global knowledge economy. His experience of work outside the UK, covers countries in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia. He was a member of the Advisory Panel for Singapore's one north development for its first 10 years.

With IfM he has contributed to a review of manufacturing in Trinidad and Tobago and to the on-going research into the impacts of globalisation on the manufacturing value chain. For the Gatsby Charitable Foundation he has undertaken a review of the outcomes from their sustained support for the IfM – notably related to knowledge transfer and work with industry. He is also contributing to its collaborative work on Norway's maritime cluster.

Publications and conference papers

• Technology Clinic Initiative evaluation (with Erkko Autio) Tekes 1998 ISBN 951 53 1385 6
• Technology Transfer the US Experience CVCP 1999 ISBN 1 84036 025 9
• Report on the Promotion of Employment in Research and Innovation through Indirect Measures (with Alfonso Gambardella) European Commission 1999 ISBN 92-828-8001-X
• Cambridge Phenomenon Re-visited SQW 2000 ISBN 0 9510202 1 8
• Six Studies in Technology Transfer (with Walter Herriot) SQW 2000 ISBN 0 9510202 3 4
• Targeted Technology Programmes: a conceptual evaluation (with Erkko Autio and Sami Kanninnen) Tekes 2003 ISBN 952 457 114 5
• University Spin-outs: starting to fill the evidence gap (with Tim Minshall) SJIC 2005
• Chapter on "the Cambridge Phenomenon" in "Making Spaces for the Creative Economy" published by ISOCARP, October 2005 ISBN 90-755-24-37-4
• Chapter on "Universities and Knowledge Transfer" in "The Planning, Development and Operation of Science Parks" published by UKSPA, August 2006 ISBN 1 -871786 -14 -2.
• 1991 to 2007 Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge. A report to the trustees of the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.
• Knowledge and technology transfer. A review of projects supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. 2010.

Many papers contributed to recent conferences and seminars in Oxford, Cambridge, London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, Spain, China, Jordan, Korea, Australia etc. Typical topics include:

• University roles in economic development
• Cambridge high tech cluster
• Entrepreneurship and new firm starts
• Commercialisation of publicly funded research.