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'Impact Is an Entrepreneurial Process: Why communication is discovery, not just dissemination' with Rod McNaughton
In this episode of the Research Impact for Public Good webinar series, we welcomed Professor Rod McNaughton, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Academic Director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Auckland Business School. Rod’s work examines how entrepreneurship, innovation systems and university capabilities enable ideas to move into public value. He writes regularly for media, policy and professional audiences on science and innovation policy, research translation, and the changing role of universities. In 2026, he received the Universities New Zealand Critic and Conscience of Society Award for his sustained contribution to public debate on entrepreneurship, innovation and research commercialisation.Rod's presentation challenged the conventional view of research impact as a linear process of discovery, communication, uptake and benefit. Drawing on entrepreneurial thinking, he argued that impact develops through search, learning, testing and adaptation rather than following a predetermined pathway. Using examples from his own public engagement and research, he described communication as a “sensing system” that can reveal new stakeholders, challenge assumptions, expose competing diagnoses and reshape both research questions and impact pathways. He explored how researchers can engage responsibly while maintaining their commitments to evidence, context and scholarly independence, and outlined practical approaches for deciding when to speak, listen, partner, adapt or pause. Reflecting on the growing influence of AI and digital information channels, Rod also highlighted the importance of building an evidence ecosystem around research so that findings remain discoverable, accessible and connected to their context and limitations. The session argued that public-good impact depends less on communicating completed research than on engaging in the conversations where problems, decisions and meanings are formed.
