Xiao Ma

Role

Xiao Ma is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Management at Nottingham Business School and Director of the Centre for Business and Industry Transformation – CBIT.  

He leads CBIT as an institutional intrapreneurship engine, integrating three arms — industry-engaged education, venture building, and applied research — to translate university knowledge into enterprise growth and industrial transformation.

Under his direction, CBIT operates at international scale, anchored by sovereign government-to-university partnerships across the UK, Thailand, China and South-East Asia, and is building toward a Global AI Transformation Foundry as the next phase of its mission.

Career overview

1 - CBIT leadership (Innovation primary). As Director of CBIT, Xiao leads a large-scale centre that integrates industry-engaged education, venture building, and applied research under one banner — the operating model Nottingham Trent University is consolidating around for industry-engaged research and enterprise. CBIT's venture-building arm convenes an entrepreneur community of over 1,600 and engages a programme of more than 30 corporate partners; its research arm leads cross-council UKRI exemplar projects; and CBIT received the Technology Innovation Champion Award in 2024. Earlier, at the University of Warwick, Xiao co-founded the MSc Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which reached UK #1 in the Eduniversal Best Master's rankings.

2 - International scale (the internationalisation pillar). Xiao has scaled that model internationally, originated and brokered the Dual-Level Memorandum of Understanding between the UK and Thailand's Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (2026), extending the architecture into South-East Asia through an operational sister-centre with Chiang Mai University's Science and Technology Park.  His forward target is a Global AI Transformation Foundry.

3 - Career track-record (governance + commercialisation, supporting). Across a twenty-year career spanning industry and academia, Xiao has steered more than £55m of funded research and innovation — building and empowering the teams that delivered it — alongside deep industry-partnership and commercialisation experience. He serves on the Investment Committee of a global investment firm and holds an independent board appointment at a multi-billion-level multinational. Technologies he developed earlier in his career have been commercialised through licensing and spin-out, including a personal-data platform featured in the UK House of Lords Select Committee report on Artificial Intelligence. He concurrently teaches on Executive Education programmes at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School.

External activity

Xiao is active in external engagement with government, industry, and academic partners internationally.

• Sovereign government-to-university partnerships. Originated and leads the partnership behind the Dual-Level Memorandum of Understanding between the UK and Thailand's Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI, 2026), delivered with Chiang Mai University; and earlier the China–UK Digital Economy Laboratory with the Chinese Ministry of Education (2014), which established a sustained flagship-university network across China (Peking, Tsinghua, Fudan, Shanghai Jiao Tong).
• Entrepreneurship Expert, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford — Programme Lead, Oxford Venture Builder; teaches on Executive Education programmes.
• Governance — independent board member of a multi-billion-level multinational; Investment Committee member of a global investment firm; non-executive roles across several organisations.
• Expert evidence and standards — contributor to the European Commission's GDPR round-table, the IET Standards committee for IoT, and the DCMS Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (data mobility).
• International keynotes — a regular keynote speaker on innovation, the digital economy, entrepreneurship, and business transformation.

Sponsors and collaborators

Who Xiao works with — the funders, institutions, companies, and governments behind his research and innovation. Career portfolio steered: over £55m in funded research and innovation, over £5m of it since founding CBIT.

Research & innovation funders

• UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
• BBSRC
• EPSRC
• Innovate UK
• High Value Manufacturing Catapult
• EU Horizon
• ERDF
• The British Council
• Thailand's Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI)
• Thailand Science, Research and Innovation (TSRI)
• China's Ministry of Education

University & research-institute collaborators

University of Oxford · UCL · Peking University · Tsinghua University · Fudan University · Shanghai Jiao Tong University · University of Warwick · Durham University · University of Nottingham · University of Sheffield · CEIBS · University of Exeter · Loughborough University · University of Kent · University of Greenwich · Royal Holloway, University of London · LUMS · University of Surrey · Brunel University · University of Galway · UCLA · Babson College · University of Lausanne · Chiang Mai University.

Industry & commercialisation collaborators

Kerry Group · Touchstone Capital · Engine Enterprise Consulting · China Travel Service · Elite Capital · BarberBoss · Dataswyft

Government & public-sector partners

• UK — Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and the Centre for Data Ethics & Innovation (CDEI)
• European Commission — GDPR round-table consultation
• Singapore — A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research): national capability mapping (CCM)
• China — Ministry of Finance (sustainability-disclosure consultation); Ministry of Science & Technology / NSFC; Ministry of Education
• Multilateral — the World Bank and the Commonwealth Secretariat (CCM)
• Policy advice provided to the governments of the US, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, and Japan

Venture Builder — CBIT's Venture Builder works with 80+ industry partners and sponsors; explore the programme and cohort at cbitx.com.