Stephen Little is Professor Extraordinaire in the Department of Industrial Engineering, and a member of the SARChI Innovation Studies Research Group, Tshwane University of Technology. He is also an external doctoral supervisor in the Centre for Islamic Finance, University of Bolton, UK
After graduating from the Birmingham School of Architecture he studied applied psychology at Aston University. In 1983, following a decade of practice as an architect in urban renewal in Manchester and Glasgow, he was awarded a PhD on the organisational impact of computer aided design at the Royal College of Art, London.
Subsequently he held full-time appointments in Information Systems at Griffith University Queensland, the University of Wollongong NSW, and Manchester Metropolitan University UK and in Knowledge Management at the Open University, UK. Visiting appointments include the Urban Research Program, Australian National University Canberra, the Australian Graduate School of Management, NSW and Erasmus University, Netherlands together with appointments as an external examiner at London Metropolitan, Birmingham, Manchester Metropolitan and Manchester universities.
Prior to his retirement from the Open University Business School in 2013 he had headed the Centre for Innovation, Knowledge and Enterprise and been co-director of the cross-faculty Centre for Innovation, Knowledge and Development. He was also responsible for the development and delivery of teaching modules in knowledge management, entrepreneurship and strategic management in life sciences and healthcare.
He was Chairman of the Asia Pacific Technology Network from 2008 to 2016, a Council Member of Design Research Society and a board member of Asia Pacific Researchers in Organization Studies. As a Fellow of the Regional Studies Association and a Life Member of the International Sociological Association, his current research interests include the global migration of skilled labour, the contribution of large science projects to innovation in the wider economy and the role of place-branding and heritage in regional development.