Professor Rod Coombs

Rod Coombs has a BSc in Physics and an MSc and PhD degrees in the economics of innovation and technical change. He worked for over 25 years on analysing the role of technical change in the economy and the management of R&D and innovation processes in large companies.

In 2002 he became a Pro-Vice-Chancellor of UMIST. In 2004 he was appointed as one of the Vice-Presidents of Manchester University, where he has special responsibility for several fields of work including;

• Commercialisation of the University’s intellectual property
• Development of strategic relationships with large companies
• Relationships with local and regional stakeholders in the Manchester city region and the North West of England.