Current Appointment
· Director of the Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge;
· Margaret Thatcher Professor of Enterprise Studies at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge; and
· Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge.
Current Research
His research interests, on which he has had published extensively, are concerned with industrial and technology policy; the measurement of innovation; growth, innovation and financial and acquisition characteristics of small and medium sized enterprises; analysis of the relationship between corporate takeovers, corporate governance, executive pay and business performance; training and business performance; measurement and evaluation of industrial and business support policy; the relationship between law and economics in the analysis of corporate organisation and performance. In the past 10 years he has published over 200 books, articles and chapters in books on these topics. His most recent work on innovation (carried out with Andy Cosh and Richard Lester) has been concerned with benchmarking university industry innovation activities in the UK and the US.
Professional Activities
Director of the National Competitiveness Network of the Cambridge-MIT Institute (2000 – 2003).
Member of the Council for Science and Technology (2004 - )
Professor Hughes has held visiting Professorships in the USA, France and Australia. Professor Hughes has been invited to provide policy advice and consultancy by amongst others HM Treasury, HM Inland Revenue, the Department of Trade and Industry, DfES, the Bank of England, Eurostat, the International Labour Organisation, the National Consumer Council, and the UN World Institute for Development Economic Research.
Specific examples include: Evaluation of the impact of training on firm performance (DfES), Evaluation of the SMART scheme (DTI), Analysis of innovation activities in small firms (EU), Evaluation of the EIS and VCT Schemes (HM Inland Revenue), Analysis of Universities Spin-out Policy (Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs), Evaluation of the Small Business Initiative (British Bankers Association), Analysis of Effect of Mutuality on Building Society Structure (Norwich and Peterborough Building Society and the Building Society Association), Analysis of Legal Reform relating to Directors Duties, (Institute of Directors and Law Commission), Background analysis for the Cruickshank report on Small Business Finance (HM Treasury). In 2004 he was appointed by the Prime Minister to membership of the Council for Science and Technology, the UK's senior advisory body in this area.