Professor Allan O'Connor

Cert Mech Eng, GradDip Aircon, GradDip Mgt, MA Ent Innov, PhD Entr

Allan is an active researcher and teaches in and contributes leadership for the undergraduate Bachelor of Business (Innovation and Entrepreneurship) program.  Allan is a research member of the Centre for Enterprise Dynamics in Global Economies (C-EDGE) and has has been publicly recognised as Australia's leading researcher in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation by The Australian newspaper for three years running in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

Allan's academic qualifications in entrepreneurship include a Master degree in Enterprise Innovation and a PhD in the field of entrepreneurship education and public policy for economic development. In 2008 through to the end of 2016, Allan led the development and growth of the Master of Applied Innovation and Entrepreneurship and its nested degree programs at the University of Adelaide. Recognising Allan's experience and knowledge in entrepreneurship, Cengage Learning Australia, a leading academic text publisher, invited Allan to co-author Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process and Practice in 2011, the most comprehensive and widely sourced Asia Pacific text on entrepreneurship. Allan contributed to the 3rd, 4th and 5th editions.

Allan's research involves inquiry at the intersections between entrepreneurship, innovation and socioeconomic development. Allan has worked closely with South Australian entrepreneurial ecosystem stakeholders to contribute research on South Australian entrepreneurship and innovation by leading the establishment of the Australian Cluster Observatory in 2014, being instrumental in establishing South Australia's annual Entrepreneur Week program, publishing an edited volume on Integrating Innovation in South Australia in 2015, and pioneering research on entrepreneurial ecosystems during 2015/2016. Stemming from this work Allan is considered an expert on entrepreneurial ecosystems recognised on the international stage and being invited to deliver presentations and keynote addresses overseas (such as Japan, Spain and Indonesia) and in Australia.  Allan has recently completed leading editorial teams for a Special Issue on Entrepreneurial Ecosystems for the Small Business Economics Journal, an edition for Springer International Publishing for their International Studies in Entrepreneurship series on Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Place-based Transformations and Transitions and a Special Issue on the Dynamics of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems for the Entrepreneurship and Regional Development Journal.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy Swinburne University of Technology

• Master in Enterprise Innovation Swinburne University of Technology

• Graduate Diploma in Airconditioning Swinburne University of Technology

• Graduate Diploma in Management Swinburne University of Technology

Work history

Allan purchased his first venture, a private drumming tuition business, at 18 years of age to support his career development in mechanical engineering with John Lysaght (Australia) Ltd. Allan later used this venture to support a career as a professional musician, teaching and performing, while participating in a Jazz studies program at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia. Returning to engineering a few years later, Allan worked in Business Development functions primarily in the mechanical services sector for a number of small and medium enterprises. Allan also gained significant experience achieving record sales levels excelling in Regional Sales Management through product development and innovation, opening new markets, and expanding business opportunities for both established and new businesses and venturing into his own product and consulting businesses.

Since 2001, Allan has combined this industry experience with his academic credentials to research and lecture in entrepreneurship, strategic opportunities, innovation, and managing strategic enterprise growth.