Dirk Schaefer is Head of Commercial (Innovation & Growth) at the University of Warwick Science Park and a recognised innovation ecosystem practitioner with over 25 years of experience in business incubation, entrepreneurship, technology commercialisation, and regional economic development.
He leads the Science Park’s Innovation & Growth Services portfolio, supporting start-ups, scale-ups, corporates, investors, and research partners through a range of programmes designed to accelerate innovation and business growth. His work spans incubation, investment readiness, innovation support, international collaboration, and applied AI.
Dirk is the architect of the Ignite Applied AI Lab, an initiative developed to address the gap between AI awareness and practical implementation by combining AI education, adoption support, and solution development within a single innovation pathway.