Edward Roberts

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Edward Roberts

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Dear MIT Sloan Community Members,

We write with great sadness to share that Edward Roberts, longtime faculty member of the MIT Sloan School, passed away yesterday.  Our thoughts are with his wife, Nancy, and his children, Valerie and her husband, Mark Friedman, Mitchell and his wife, Jill, and Andrea and her husband, Marc Foster.  We are also thinking about Ed and Nancy’s nine grandchildren, as well as Ed’s extended family and many friends. 

In the sixth grade, Ed wrote a paper about his intention to attend MIT and become a civil engineer and build bridges. In high school, he shifted focus – though he still planned to attend MIT, he hoped to be an electrical engineer and get involved with a mysterious new technology, the computer. Ed received his SB and SM in Electrical Engineering, his SM in Management, and his PhD in Economics from MIT. He was a member of MIT Sloan’s faculty for over sixty years serving as the David Sarnoff Professor of Management of Technology and a Professor of Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management. 

A long-time expert on entrepreneurial endeavors, Ed wrote the two “bookends” on high-tech business creation and growth. His latest, Celebrating Entrepreneurs: How MIT Nurtured Pioneering Entrepreneurs Who Built Great Companies (Amazon, 2020), describes the history of MIT’s transformation into an entrepreneurial juggernaut, led by Ed over a 50+ years period. Ed’s much earlier Entrepreneurs in High-Technology: Lessons from MIT and Beyond (Oxford University Press, 1991), was the first book on entrepreneurship based entirely on extensive research studies of hundreds of entrepreneurs and their firms. Over the course of his tenure at MIT, Ed became known as the father of entrepreneurship here, ultimately founding and chairing MIT’s entrepreneurship center, now known as the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. He also chaired the MIT Management of Technology (MOT) Program. Most recently, he co-created the MIT Sloan Entrepreneurship & Innovation Certificate program. As important as his research and academic leadership at MIT, Ed supported thousands of MIT and Sloan student entrepreneurs. 

Ed was not only a prolific member of MIT’s faculty but also an entrepreneur himself. He served as a co-founder, board member, and angel investor in many high-tech startups. Among many others, he co-founded Medical Information Technology, Inc., a leading producer of healthcare information systems, Sohu.  com, Inc., China’s first Internet firm, and Zero Stage Capital Equity Funds, a group of venture capital funds investing in early-stage technology-based firms.

Ed will always be remembered at MIT Sloan as a campus pillar. He could be found walking the halls, visiting faculty, staff, students, and alumni at the school, and sharing with them parts of the history of MIT Sloan. He remained connected to generations of MIT entrepreneurs, offering advice and guidance as companies were launched. Those of us who knew Ed count ourselves lucky to have had his counsel and will miss him dearly. 

Ed’s funeral will take place this Thursday, February 29 at 11 a.m. at Temple Emanuel, 385 Ward Street, Newton. Formal shiva will take place on Thursday from 7-9 p.m. and on Friday from 1-4 p.m. at 63 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, MA. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston in his memory.

With both sadness and deep appreciation for all that Ed brought to our MIT Sloan community,

Georgia and Michael

Georgia Perakis | John C Head III Dean (Interim)

Michael A. Cusumano | Deputy Dean

____________________________

MIT Sloan regrets the passing of Professor Emeritus Edward B. Roberts and offers condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues. Roberts passed away on February 27, 2024.

He was the David Sarnoff Professor of Management of Technology
 and Founder/Chair of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center (now renamed as the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship). A long-time expert on entrepreneurial endeavors, Edward Roberts has literally written the two “bookends” on high-tech business creation and growth. His latest, Celebrating Entrepreneurs: How MIT Nurtured Pioneering Entrepreneurs Who Built Great Companies (Amazon, 2020), describes the history of MIT’s transformation into an entrepreneurial juggernaut, led by Roberts over a 50+ years period. The book then delves in depth into 4 industries founded by MIT faculty and alums: life sciences and biotechnology; the Internet; from CAD-CAM to robotics; and “modern finance”, including venture capital. He presents the entrepreneurs who created these industries (and several more, e.g. electronics and software) and in their own words they describe the struggles and strategies that led to great successes.

Roberts’ much earlier Entrepreneurs in High-Technology: Lessons from MIT and Beyond (Oxford University Press, 1991), was the first book on entrepreneurship based entirely on extensive research studies of hundreds of entrepreneurs and their firms. It won the Association of American Publishers Award for Outstanding Book in Business and Management.

Ed’s own entrepreneurship is as prolific in academia as in industry. Roberts was a founding member of the MIT System Dynamics Group, was Founder and is still Chair of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, and was a founder and for over 30 years chaired MIT Sloan's Management of Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group. He co-founded and for nearly 20 years chaired the mid-career MIT Management of Technology (MOT) Program, MIT’s first graduate program with degrees offered jointly by two Schools. Most recently he co-created and directd the MIT Sloan Entrepreneurship & Innovation (E&I) MBA Track, which annually enrolls about 35 percent of the entering MBA students. During the past almost 60 years, Roberts has become internationally known for his research, teaching and active involvement in many aspects of technology management, including technology strategy, corporate venturing, product innovation management, and especially technology-based entrepreneurship.

When not occupied with his MIT responsibilities, Roberts was actively involved as a co-founder, board member and angel investor in many high-tech start-ups. Roberts co-founded and was CEO of Pugh-Roberts Associates, an international management consulting firm, now a division of PA Consulting Group. He co-founded and was a director of Medical Information Technology, Inc., a leading producer of healthcare information systems. He also co-founded and served for 20 years as a director of Sohu.com, Inc., China’s first Internet firm. In addition, Roberts co-founded and for 16 years served as a General Partner of the Zero Stage Capital Equity Funds, a group of venture capital funds investing in early-stage technology-based firms. He was a co-founder and/or director of numerous emerging technology companies including Advanced Magnetics (now AMAG Pharmaceuticals), Daktari Diagnostics, Interactive SuperComputing (sold to Microsoft), Inverness Medical (now a part of Johnson & Johnson), Pegasystems, PR Restaurants, and Visible Measures. He invested in more than 125 technology-based startups, including most recently HubSpot and Okta. Roberts authored over 160 articles and twelve books, including Innovation: Driving Product, Process and Market Change” (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2002). Roberts held four degrees from MIT, including an SB and SM in EE, an SM in management, and a PhD in economics.

Publications

"Introduction."

Roberts, Edward. In Entrepreneurs in High Technology: Lessons from MIT and Beyond (Chinese Edition), Tsinhua, China: Tsinghua University Press, 2022.

"Introduction."

Roberts, Edward. In Celebrating Entrepreneurs: How MIT Nurtured Pioneering Entrepreneurs Who Built Great Companies (Chinese Edition), Tsinhua, China: Tsinghua University Press, 2022.

"MIT’s Global Outreach in Entrepreneurship."

Roberts, Edward. Deshpande Foundation Newsletter, February 2022.

"Entrepreneurial Pioneering from MIT: A Historical Case Study of the Internet."

Roberts, Edward B. Tsinghua Business Review, May 2020.

"How MIT Helped Cultivate Generations of Entrepreneurs."

Roberts, Edward B. and Daniel Forbes. Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange, April 24, 2020.

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