Welcome to my personal website!

I am a currently an Assistant Professor at ESSEC Business School since September 2024. Before that I was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Business School and the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH).

My research builds on the idea that the generation and management of innovation is not a one-size-fits-all process. Accounting for heterogeneous backgrounds and individual characteristics is instrumental for improving the production, evaluation, and diffusion of knowledge within various types of organizations, such as scientific institutions, research organizations and firms. I am particularly interested in the process of idea evaluation, which serves as a critical bridge between the generation of new ideas and their diffusion.

I employ a variety of methodologies in my research, including field experiments, applied econometrics analysis, and economic modeling, to systematically investigate the underlying processes  and incentive structure that govern the production and diffusion of knowledge. My job market paper, for instance, leverages a field experiment ran in collaboration with NASA and Freelancer.com to explore how the interplay of individual characteristics of both the innovator and the evaluator shape innovation outcomes.

My studies span a range of different organizations, such as universities, big corporations, tech firms, scientific funding agencies, and national research institutions like NASA. My findings contribute to our understanding of how individual preferences, personal backgrounds, and demographic characteristics can influence the production, evaluation, and diffusion of knowledge. This work not only sheds light on how organizations can more effectively manage innovation processes and integrate new technologies but also highlights the role of individual characteristics in shaping these processes. Please see my research page for more information.

My academic journey began in France, where I completed a double degree between Centrale Paris and ESSEC Business School, followed by a master's degree in Maths (Probabilities and Statistics) at Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) and a master's degree in Economics at Université Paris Sud. After a couple of years of experience in the energy industry and in strategy consulting I went to pursue a Ph.D. in Economics of Innovation at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, before joining LISH as a postdoctoral research fellow. 

Email: charlesayoubi13[at]gmail[dot]com