Professor Philippe Aghion to be the first Chairholder
INSEAD, the business school for the world, today announced that Kurt Björklund MBA’96J, INSEAD alumnus and longstanding supporter of the school through his foundation the Equinoxe Trust, has contributed a €3 million endowed gift to create a new Chair to support academic research in economics, innovation, and growth.
The world-renowned economist, INSEAD Chaired Professor of Economics Philippe Aghion, will serve as the first Chairholder.
The Kurt Björklund Chair in Innovation and Growth will support Professor Aghion and his team’s frontier research in the economics of innovation, productivity, firm dynamics, entrepreneurship, and growth. It will also strengthen the research excellence at the Economics of Innovation Lab, currently led by Professor Aghion.
Ilian Mihov, Dean of INSEAD, said, “My sincere thanks to Kurt Björklund for his extraordinary gift and continued support to the school. As the world faces unprecedented challenges in achieving equitable growth, we are looking forward to supporting Professor Aghion and his team’s research and teaching on growth economics. This gift will further drive INSEAD’s ambition to develop business as a force for good.”
Kurt Björklund, Managing Partner at Permira, has been an active supporter of INSEAD. In 2017, he made a significant gift of €1 million to create the Kurt Björklund Research Fund in support of research on Entrepreneurship and Society.
Mr. Björklund said, “I am inspired by Professor Aghion’s cutting-edge research on growth mechanisms and innovation. By creating this Chair, I wanted to further support this critical area and ensure that INSEAD continues to be a catalyst for knowledge creation.”
Professor Aghion said, “I am honoured to serve as the first Chairholder of the Kurt Björklund Chair in Innovation and Growth. As business takes centre-stage in contributing solutions to the challenges of tomorrow, Mr. Björklund’s significant gift will support us to expand our research, and to build actionable solutions to drive green innovation and growth.”
Kurt Björklund became Managing Partner of Permira, a global private equity firm, in 2021, after having been a Co-Managing Partner since 2008. He serves on the Permira Holdings Limited Board, the Executive Committee, the Firm Operations Committee, the Portfolio Review Committee, the Permira Growth Opportunities Investment Committee and the buyout funds Investment Committee. He is also a member of the INSEAD Campaign Board.
