Leadership

Trond Arne Undheim is the inaugural Executive Director of the C. Dean Metropoulos Institute for Technology and Entrepreneurship under the Arthur M. Blank School for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Babson College, where he leads efforts to integrate technology, AI, and entrepreneurship into Babson’s globally recognized curriculum. A seasoned expert in innovation ecosystems, emerging technologies, and AI-driven entrepreneurship, Undheim brings decades of experience bridging academia, industry, and policy.

Before joining Babson, Undheim was a Research Scholar at Stanford University, focusing on global systemic risk, innovation, and policy. He previously served as the inaugural Director of the MIT Startup Exchange, where he connected over 1,500 MIT-affiliated startups with 250 global corporations, fostering high-impact collaborations that helped scale emerging ventures.

Undheim has held leadership roles in venture capital, corporate innovation, and technology consulting, advising on AI, data ethics, the future of work, and disruptive technologies. He has worked extensively with early-stage startups, helping to launch and scale ventures through strategic partnerships and ecosystem development.

A widely published author and thought leader, Undheim has written several books, including Eco Tech (2023), Augmented Lean (2022), Health Tech (2021), Future Tech (2021), and Pandemic Aftermath (2020). His insights on technology and entrepreneurship have been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Fortune, IndustryWeek, MIT News, NPR, and The Boston Globe.

Undheim holds a PhD in AI, cognition, and the future of work from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and was a visiting research associate at UC Berkeley. His work at Babson will focus on advancing the mission to shape the future of AI-driven entrepreneurship, fostering strategic industry partnerships, and empowering the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders.