Tõnis is an incoming Marie Curie Fellow funded by a European Union grant, which pays for his 2-year stay with us. Technically, he is now a QUT employee. Otherwise, his home institution is the University of Tartu in Estonia, where he is professor as well as creator and former director of their entrepreneurship centre. Some may recall Tõnis from the ACERE conference in Fremantle a couple of years ago, where he received a best paper award.
Tõnis has a rich and varied background as PhD in engineering, patent expert, inventor, entrepreneur, and eventually a social scientist focussing on entrepreneurship. He also has broad interests across entrepreneurship research, teaching, and practice. He won his fellowship based on an application revolving around an ambitious project on The Entrepreneurial Process. I know this is an interest many of you – and I – share. As regards types of firm his primary interest is in the high-tech area.