Innovation Management · TU Eindhoven

I get farmers
to innovate together.

I'm Maral Mahdad, Senior Assistant Professor of Innovation Management at TU Eindhoven. My work centres on organizing for innovation and scaling sustainable innovation in the agrifood sector: how firms, farms, researchers and policymakers collaborate, and which business models and governance structures help sustainable solutions grow beyond the pilot stage.

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Portrait of Maral Mahdad
Best Master Teacher nominee 2026
The thread

Organizing for innovation and scaling

Many promising sustainable innovations stay small. I study how firms, farms, universities, policymakers and consumers organize for innovation, and which collaboration mechanisms, governance structures, business models and artifacts help sustainable innovations scale from pilot to system-level change.

Latest

Recent news, events and ideas.

All news & ideas →

Teaching

Courses on open innovation and sustainable business.

What sets Maral apart is her rare combination of expertise, approachability, and genuine care for people. Student nomination, TU/e Best Teacher Awards 2026
Managing & Organizing Open InnovationCourse coordinator · TU/e
Green Business Models & Sustainability Perspectives on Product InnovationLecturer · TU/e
Best Master Teacher nomineeTU/e · 2026, with a €3,000 Educational Innovation Grant
Best Teacher, New Talent categoryIndustrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences · 2024

Moments

Stages, classrooms and study trips.

Research

Organizing for innovation and scaling

Many promising sustainable innovations stay small. I study how firms, farms, universities, policymakers and consumers organize for innovation, and which collaboration mechanisms, governance structures, business models and artifacts help sustainable innovations scale from pilot to system-level change.

Research streams

Three connected lines of work.

Projects

Current and completed projects with partners across Europe.

Cases from practice

What happened when research met firms, farmers and policymakers.

How I work

How my research engages with industry, policy and society.

ResearchInnovation ecosystems, collaboration and business models for sustainable agrifood transitions.
ConveneMulti-actor workshops that bring farmers, food companies, startups and policymakers together.
TranslateTurning research into practical tools, from business model toolkits to ecosystem orchestration toolkits.
Teach & speakCourses on open innovation and sustainable business models, and keynotes for industry and policy audiences.
Publications

Writing

Published in Technovation, Business Strategy and the Environment, Journal of Business Research and more.

Google Scholar profile ↗

Big questions

Three questions my papers try to answer.

Why does open innovation fail, and how do you recover?A map of the routes companies take when they open up, and where they get stuck.Review of Managerial Science, 2025
What does a smart city need from its food system?How cities can include citizens, farmers and firms when they plan food innovation.Technology in Society, 2024
Can firms, farms and IoT build business together?Collaboration-based business models powered by connected technology in agrifood.British Food Journal, 2022

Selected publications

Journal articles, most recent first.

In the pipeline

Work under review and in preparation.

    Editorial

    • Corresponding guest editor, Technovation special issue: Technology as a Transformative Artifact: Reconfiguring the Architecture and Evolution of Innovation Ecosystems
    • Co-editor of a book on case studies of open innovation (in progress)
    News & ideas

    What's happening

    Upcoming events, recent news and short pieces that translate research into practice.

    Upcoming

    News & events

    Ideas

    Short reads based on my research.

    Research group

    The team

    I work with PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers on organizing for innovation, innovation ecosystems and sustainable agrifood value chains. Together we connect research with companies, farmers, universities and policymakers.

    PhD candidates

    Postdocs

    Alumni

    Join the team

    Interested in a PhD, postdoc or thesis project on innovation for sustainable food systems? I'm always glad to hear from motivated researchers.

    Get in touch →

    Interested in collaborating? Get in touch.

    Emailm.mahdad@tue.nl
    LinkedInmaral-mahdad
    Good reasons to reach outResearch collaboration · keynotes · PhD and postdoc positions · food companies joining our CUES transparency study
    © 2026 Maral Mahdad · Last updated 2 November 2026Eindhoven University of Technology