Wim Naudé is Visiting Professor in the research area Technology, Innovation, Marketing and Entrepreneurship at RWTH Aachen University, and Research Affiliate at the ISDC – International Security and Development Center in Berlin. He is also Fellow of the African Studies Center, Leiden University. Previous positions include Professor in Business and Entrepreneurship at Maastricht University; Academic Visitor at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford; Professorial Fellow at UNU-MERIT; Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER; and Research Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Oxford.

His research is concerned with how entrepreneurship and technological innovation impact on development and growth. Current work deals with the governance of artificial intelligence; industrialisation and smart manufacturing; technology and inequality; digital entrepreneurship and trade; and the decline in entrepreneurship in the West. Current he co-directs the Research Unit for the Diffusion of Quality AI, a project based at Paderborn University, and funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.

He joined IZA as a Research Fellow in January 2013.