Edward B. Roberts

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For other persons named Edward Roberts, see Edward Roberts (disambiguation).

Edward B. Roberts is an American technology writer and academic figure, and a high-tech entrepreneur and investor. His Entrepreneurs in High-Technology: Lessons from MIT and Beyond (Oxford University Press, 1991) won the Association of American Publishers Award for Outstanding Book in Business and Management.

Roberts is Founder and Chair of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, and for over 30 years chaired the MIT Sloan School of Management's Management of Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group. He co-founded and co-chaired for nearly 20 years the mid-career MIT Management of Technology (MOT) Program. Over the past forty years Dr. Roberts has become internationally known for his research, teaching and active involvement in many aspects of technology management, including technology strategy, corporate venturing, product innovation management, and technology-based entrepreneurship. He served as co-director of the MIT International Center for Research on the Management of Technology.

Roberts is a co-founder, board member and angel investor in many high-tech start-ups. He co-founded and was CEO of Pugh-Roberts Associates, an international management consulting firm specializing in system dynamics, strategic planning and technology management, now a division of PA Consulting Group. He co-founded and is a director of Medical Information Technology, Inc., a leading producer of healthcare information systems, and also co-founded and is a director of Sohu.com, Inc., a leading Chinese internet firm.

In addition Roberts co-founded and was for 20 years a General Partner of the Zero Stage Capital and First Stage Capital Equity Funds, a group of venture capital funds investing in early-stage technology-based firms. He has been a co-founder and/or director of numerous emerging technology companies, including at present Advanced Magnetics, Pegasystems, PR Restaurants, Interactive Super Computers, and Visible Measures, Inc..

He has authored 160 articles and eleven books, the most recent being Innovation: Driving Product, Process and Market Change (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2002). Roberts holds an S.B. and S.M. in electrical engineering from MIT, a Master's degree in Management (M.B.A.) from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a Ph.D. in economics from MIT.