Education
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
M.A., University of California, Berkeley
B.A., State University of New York

Professor Denis Simon’s scholarship focuses on international and comparative business strategy, technological innovation, and global management of technology, with special reference to China and the Pacific Rim. He has established deep government, business and academic relationships in China and is well-known for both his scholarly and entrepreneurial accomplishments.

Prior to joining the Penn State School of International Affairs, Professor Simon served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at SUNY’s Levin Graduate Institute of International Relations and Commerce in Manhattan. Previously, he was dean of the Lally School of Management and Technology of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a member of the faculties of the Fletcher School at Tufts University and the Sloan School of Management at M.I.T.

A successful businessman who has provided leadership and development direction to national and international entities, Professor Simon is a past president of the Monitor Group (China) Ltd. in Beijing and the founder and former president of China Consulting Association in Boston. He also has served as managing director of the Business Strategy and Innovation Center for Scient International in Singapore, and as director of the China Strategy Group and general manager for Anderson Consulting in Beijing.

A frequent advisor to global corporations and the U.S. government, Professor Simon is a member of the China Project Team at the Council on Competitiveness; the Advisory Committee on United States Science and Technology Cooperation with China of the National Science Foundation; and the Board of Directors of the United States-Israel Science and Technology Foundation. He also has worked closely on several projects with the National Academy of Sciences and on the National Innovation Initiative for the Council on Competitiveness.

The government of the People’s Republic of China recognized Professor’s Simon extensive contributions to U.S.-China science and technology relations by selecting him in 2006 to receive the China National Friendship Award, the highest award granted by the Chinese government to a foreign expert. He also received the 2006 Liaoning Province Friendship Award and the 2005 Xinghai Friendship Award for his contributions to the development of science and technology in Dalian. In addition, he holds honorary professorships at several prestigious Chinese universities.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Association for Asian Studies, and the National Committee for US-China Relations, as well as an associate member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing.

His teaching interests include international business strategy and operations, global management of technology, international technology transfer, comparative S&T policy, East Asian government-business relations, and contemporary Chinese political economy.

Contact Information
Office: Katz 245
E-mail: dfs12@psu.edu
Phone: (814) 867-2789

Selected Publications
“China’s Emerging Science and Technology Talent Pool: A Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment,” with C. Cao in Education for Innovation: Implications for India, China and America, R. DeHaan and K. M. Narayan, eds., Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers (2008): 83-110.

“Success in State Directed Innovation? Perspectives on China’s Plan for the Development of Science and Technology,” with C. Cao and R. Suttmeier, in New Asian Dynamics in Science, Technology and Innovation, G. Parayil and A. D’Costa, eds., London: Palgrave Macmillan (2008): 247-264.

“China’s Innovation Challenge and the Re-Making of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,” with R.P. Suttmeier and Cong Cao, Innovations: Technology/Governance/Globalization, December 2006.

“China’s 15 Year Science and Technology Plan” with Cong Cao and R.P. Suttmeier, Physics Today, December 2006.

“China’s Super Science Center: Knowledge, Innovation and the Remaking of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,” with R.P. Suttmeier and Cong Cao, Science, April 2006.

“China’s New Microelectronics Strategy,” China Business Review, November/December 2001.

“China’s Supply Chain Challenge,” with D. Ashton, in Strategic Supply Chain Alignment, J. Gattorna, ed., Burlington, VT: Gower, 1998.

“Transferring Technology to China: Key Success Factors,” Outlook, Fall 1997.

“Charting Taiwan’s Technological Future,” China Quarterly, December 1996.

Techno-Security in an Age of Globalization: Perspectives from the Pacific Rim, ed. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1996.

The Emerging Technological Trajectory of the Pacific Rim, ed. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1995

Corporate Strategies Towards the Pacific Rim, ed. New York: Routledge, 1995.

Science and Technology in Post-Mao China, with M. Goldman, co-ed., Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989.