Professor Fumi Kitagawa

Business School
Chair in Regional Economic Development

Contact details

Email: f.kitagawa.1@bham.ac.uk

Address: University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Professor Fumi Kitagawa holds Chair in Regional Economic Development at City Region Economic and Development Institute (City-REDI), Birmingham, Business School, University of Birmingham in the UK. She has conducted research related to regional innovation, entrepreneurship policies, and higher education policy and regional development, across a variety of local, regional, national and international contexts. She has expertise on the role of universities in innovation and entrepreneurial processes.

Qualifications

Fellow of Regional Studies Association (FeRSA)
Fellow of Higher Education Academy
MBA in Higher Education Management in 2012
PhD in Urban and Regional Studies in 2004

Biography

Fumi joined University of Birmingham as Chair in Regional Economic Development in April 2023. Based at City-REDI, Birmingham Business School.

She has conducted research related to regional innovation, entrepreneurship policies, regional development and higher education policy, particularly in the UK, Japan and Sweden.
Fumi worked in the higher education sector over the last 15 years internationally, as a researcher, and as a lecturer. She has worked at the Universities of Edinburgh, Manchester, and Bristol in the UK; and Lund University in Sweden; and spent some time at the European University Institute (EUI) in Italy, previously. She has worked as a policy researcher in the government higher education research institute in Japan.

Fumi was awarded PhD in Urban and Regional Studies (University of Birmingham), then MBA in Higher Education Management (Institute of Education, University of London). She is qualified as a Higher Education Academy Fellow (2014). She is a Fellow of Regional Studies Association (FeRSA).

Research

Fumi Kitagawa joined City-REDI in April 2023, as Chair in Regional Economic Development. She has conducted research related to regional innovation and entrepreneurship policies; higher education policy and regional development. Recent research projects include: future visioning of inclusive and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems; forms of PhD students’ entrepreneurship; evaluation of cluster policy and geography of R&D collaboration.

She has expertise on the role of universities in innovation and entrepreneurial processes, knowledge exchange and third mission, and governance of local and regional development in different national contexts (e.g. UK, Japan, Sweden). Fumi has published in peer-reviewed journals: e.g. Regional Studies, Studies in Higher Education, Technovation, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society.

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Huggins, R, Kitagawa, F, Prokop, D, Theodoraki, C & Thompson, P (eds) 2024, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Cities and Regions: Emergence, Evolution, Future. 1 edn, Oxford University Press. <https://global.oup.com/academic/product/entrepreneurial-ecosystems-in-cities-and-regions-9780192866264>

Article

Ramli, K, Prokop, D, Mawson, S, Kitagawa, F, Vorley, T, Gherhes, C, Campopiano, G & Spigel, B 2025, 'Business Model Innovation in the Context of Crisis: A Qualitative Longitudinal Analysis', Journal of Technology Transfer.

Kitagawa, F 2025, 'Smart Cities as “Mission-Oriented” Innovation and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Insights from 20 Years of Experiments in Japan', Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsaf019

Okamuro, H, Ikeuchi, K & Kitagawa, F 2025, 'The impact of cluster policy on academic knowledge creation and regional innovation: Geography of university-industry collaboration in Japan', Regional Studies, vol. 59, no. 1, 2467407. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2025.2467407

Fumasoli, T & Kitagawa, F 2025, 'Universities as strategic navigators: Place leadership in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area', Regional Studies, vol. 59, no. 1, 2567917. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2025.2567917

Kitagawa, F & Candi, M 2024, 'Designing Place: Reimagining a Peripheral Town’s Narrative through Experience Design', The Design Journal. https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2024.2433353

Muscio, A & Kitagawa, F 2024, 'Heterogeneity in PhD entrepreneurship: Strategic alignment of institutional, organizational and individual factors', Small Business Economics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-024-00916-0

Kitagawa, F 2024, 'Lessons from the Japanese ‘Regional Revitalisation’: Impacts of Regional Industrial Policies through Decentralisation ', Contemporary Social Science: Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 602-621. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2024.2433018

Chapter

Kitagawa, F, Billing, C & Collinson, S 2024, Innovation Intermediaries: Navigating Innovation-Policy Interactions into Innovation Practice. in S Abdul Rahman (ed.), Innovations in Innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Okamuro, H, Kitagawa, F & izushi, H 2024, Policy Impacts on Innovation and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Evolutionary and Multi-Scalar perspectives from Japan. in R Huggins, F Kitagawa, D Prokop, C Theodoraki & P Thompson (eds), Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Cities and Regions: Emergence, Evolution, Future. 1 edn, Oxford University Press. <https://global.oup.com/academic/product/entrepreneurial-ecosystems-in-cities-and-regions-9780192866264>

Kitagawa, F & Horta, H 2024, Universities’ strategies in a place building: Co-evolving logics and identities in a cross-border city region. in D Charles (ed.), Universities and Place . Routledge.

Commissioned report

Mulla, I, Dwight, D, Gasienica-Fronek, L, Forde , E, Kitagawa, F, Bramley, G, Ma, H, Jin, D, Blake-Carr, R, Lyons, M & Arriaga Garcia, GJ 2025, Exploring Emerging and Future Opportunities in the West Midlands Combined Authority Region. West Midlands Combined Authority. <https://www.wmca.org.uk/what-we-do/research-and-insights/west-midlands-futures/exploring-emerging-and-future-opportunities-in-the-west-midlands-combined-authority-region/>

Pugh, A (ed.), Stubbs, E (ed.), Riley, B, Hassan, S, Read, H, Bramley, G, Lyons, M, Green, A, Davies, J, Kollydas, K, Ma, H, Houston, D, Billing, C, Kitagawa, F, Ramcharan, M, Reuschke, D, Taylor, A, Kitagawa, F & Blake-Carr, R 2024, Birmingham Economic Review 2024: Summary. Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce.

Other report

Ioramashvili, C, Billing, C, Yuan, P-Y, Cepeda Zorrilla, MR, Collinson, S & Kitagawa, F 2025, Bridging the innovation gap: Innovation intermediaries as place-based policy measures.

Riley, B (ed.), Green, A (ed.), Kitagawa, F (ed.), Bramley, G (ed.), Billing, C, Kollydas, K, Lyons, M, Davies, J, Hassan, S, Ma, H, Taylor, A, Pugh, A, Read, H, Blake-Carr, R, Houston, D, Kitagawa, F, Ramcharan, M, Blake-Carr, R, Hoole, C, Rafique, A, Schwarz, J & Cepeda Zorrilla, MR 2024, The WMREDI Story: Successes, Challenges, Achievements and Impact.

View all publications in research portal