James Conley

James Conley is an inventor who serves as a faculty member in the Kellogg Center for Research in Technology & Innovation.  He also serves as a Faculty Fellow at the Northwestern University Segal Design Institute.  He is a Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors

James Conley holds faculty appointments at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. Professor Conley helps to develop innovation capacity and the infrastructure for technology transfer to the general economy, to reach the public domain.

Conley’s post-doctoral students are examining how intellectual properties are changing the nature of competition for firms in both developed and developing economies. This research examines public
domain IP databases in a novel and rigorous manner and has implications for strategy, marketing, and technology professionals.

His academic research investigates the strategic use of intangible assets and intellectual properties to build and sustain competitive advantage. Research sponsors have included the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), US Department of the Treasury IRS, The Chicago Biomedical Consortium,  Microsoft, National Science Foundation, NASA, FAA, NIST, the Department of Defense, Motorola and others. His publications have been recognized with “Best Paper” commendations from the American Foundry Society, the Society of Automotive Engineers, The Rapid Prototyping Journal and others. Mainstream outlets for his scholarship include the Wall Street Journal, the Sloan Management Review and the California Management Review.

Beyond Northwestern, he serves as an expert and author for the UN based World Intellectual Property Organization and has served as an appointed member on the United States Department of Commerce Trademark Public Advisory Committee to the Patent and Trademark Office.  He also serves on the board of several companies and the US Intellectual Property Alliance and the Illinois Intellectual Property Alliance.

He is serving as a special issue editor of Technology and Innovation and serves on the editorial boards of the California Management Review and The Journal of the National Academy of Inventors.

Professor Conley holds a Ph.D. in Material Engineering, and an MBA in Management, both from Northwestern University, and a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from University of Virginia.