Hi, I'm Joe. I'm an academic specialising in digital innovation and entrepreneurial identities, a qualified enterprise architect (mainly focused on owner-led SMEs, because I like to have a big impact), and an active member of Bristol's innovation and investment ecosystem. I implement lasting changes for organisations and individuals by making them able to continually grow and change.
I'm a thinker and a doer and I take a lot from the interplay between academic enquiry and practical experience, finding it makes me better at both and far less siloed in my thinking and practice. I'm never more motivated than solving a complex problem that has real impact and this has been the main thing guiding my career. From Lecturer (Enterprise and Innovation), Enterprise Director (founder-led SMEs, typically manufacturing), Senior Business Analyst (Aerospace), and business owner (professional services). I have always fixated on the most pressing issues for the organisations and individuals I am working with and been relentless in finding a solution, guided by empathy and understanding of the people involved — there really is no point designing a great solution if nobody likes it enough to implement it!
Over time I have developed a toolkit and perspective that conceptualises businesses and people as ever evolving, ever changing entities that need to be designed towards productive solutions. The toolkit I use leans heavily on enterprise architecture, blending strategy, operations, and digital infrastructure to map what an organisation currently is, identify the most impactful changes (the simpler, the better), and deliver effective interventions that make the organisation fitter for purpose. The overall perspective draws from design and systems thinking, complexity theory, and the relationship between entrepreneurial identity and entrepreneurial ecosystems to conceptualise innovation as led by enterprising individuals within a structure that appropriately incentivises positive change.
These hard-won perspectives, skills, and experience allow me to create a structure aligned with business needs and empower people to thrive within it — delivering high impact, sustainable outcomes.
Everything I do runs through one idea, drawn from my political economy training and iterative design practice: entrepreneurial identity (EI) and the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) form a feedback loop. The individual (agent) acts on the structure around them, the structure acts back, and both are changed by the interaction.
I use the same lens whether I'm redesigning a founder-led SME, designing an assessment, or screening a start-up.
Enterprise architecture maps the structure; human-centred design makes sure the people inside it can actually use it and want to. Complex organisations and complicated (less complex) ones need different interventions, and knowing which is which is half the job.
Building entrepreneurial identity is a core outcome: reflective practice using students' own experiential data, live industry briefs, and learning aimed at clear outcomes but open to exploration and discovery in how they're met.
Founding my own ventures, screening start-ups with Angel Investors Bristol, and working with SMEs in the South West's high-growth sectors, then turning those relationships into live briefs and opportunities for students.
Innovation leadership for founder-led SMEs to rationalise and scale. I map the as-is, design the to-be, and manage the change between them, with simple architectures for complicated businesses and human-centred design keeping it grounded in what users actually need. Recent work: a full digital transformation with an LLM interface for every user, two ERP implementations, and a digital quality management system for a cider maker.
Industry-integrated entrepreneurship and innovation teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Module leadership and design, live industry briefs, and assessment built around autoethnographic reflection. Supervision of apprenticeship projects in complex organisations (such as Bank of England, NHS Blood and Transplant, and the Department for Education). Research on entrepreneurial identity and innovation in highly regulated environments, and active in sharing teaching practice through UWE's AI in Business, Society & Education and Excellence in Education Research & Practice groups.
Active member of Angel Investors Bristol, screening around ten businesses a month and co-developing the group's AI investment framework. Connections across Science Creates and Y Combinator founders. Delivering Made Smarter, Help to Grow and AI skills bootcamps (which I won the funding for) to South West SMEs, across deep-tech, fintech, aerospace, and manufacturing.
Led a full digital transformation at Formadome UK: mapping the as-is, designing the to-be, and managing the change between them, with an LLM interface for every user. ERP and digital quality management implementations for SMEs across the South West.
Module leader for Business Strategy (L6) and Navigating Organisational Complexity (L7); module design for Business Innovation & Growth and Digital Transformation. Personal and placement tutor, Made Smarter intern mentor, and funded AI skills bootcamps for regional SMEs.
Supporting level 7 apprentices and assessing capstone projects in organisations such as Bank of England, NHS Blood and Transplant, and the Department for Education.
Built Avantix's organisational audit toolkit (operating models, culture, team effectiveness) and turned the findings into as-is, to-be and interim state designs for clients.
A B2C property data app built to generate novel data, with a mission to help alleviate homelessness. It didn't work out, and it taught me more about co-founding teams at the pre-money stage than anything else could have.
Digital property investment services for international clients: around 12 construction projects a year and a team of up to 15.
Nearly 100 construction projects across up to 8 simultaneous sites. Designed and implemented the digital project management process that let the business scale in volume and geography.
Alongside an MRes (Bristol), PGCert in Learning & Teaching in HE (FHEA), and BA in Ancient History (Manchester).
The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 27(2), 199–202. doi.org/10.1177/14657503231170074
Sage Research Methods Cases
Building on the AI investment framework co-developed with Angel Investors Bristol.
Expressions of interest welcome from prospective doctoral researchers.
Always up for a natter, get in touch!
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