Matt Hopkins is as a senior researcher for the Academic-Industry Research Network, (AIRnet) a 501(c)(3) non-profit research organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 2012, he has worked at AIRnet, collaborating with colleagues on a range of issues related to corporate governance, innovation, and industrial performance. In December 2023 he completed his PhD in Economics at SOAS University of London. His thesis was “Strategic Control and the Role of Executive Compensation in the Innovation or Financialization of Firms”. His current research into the electric vehicle industry is being funded by the Institute for New Economic Thinking. His papers and publications can be found on the websites of the Institute for New Economic thinking, the Harvard Business Review, the Oxford University Press, and media outlets such as the Atlantic or Huffington Post. 

Matt’s research interests include the innovation process, the finance of innovation, executive compensation, government-business collaboration, and the national and global dynamics of industrial development. He holds a Master’s degree from the former Department of Regional Economic and Social Development at UMass Lowell, where he was named the department’s graduate student of the year in 2010. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Economics and English from the University of Southern Maine.