About the Founder

Peet van Biljon

Peet van Biljon is the founder and CEO of BMNP Strategies LLC. He advises clients on innovation management and technology strategy, R&D and business transformation, as well as on public policies to promote innovation. He can help corporate and public-sector clients meet a full range of innovation challenges; such as innovation organization, culture and creativity, portfolio management, R&D management, and product strategy. He also has an extensive background in operations, quality management and process excellence. He serves clients in all sectors but has particularly deep expertise in advanced industries (aerospace, defense and automotive), professional services, and the industrial and high-tech sectors.

Peet formerly was formerly a consultant and engagement manager at McKinsey & Company, working out of its Johannesburg, Toronto, and Washington DC offices. He managed McKinsey’s global innovation practice for five years, where he served clients across a broad range of industries including automotive, industrial, consumer goods, financial services, aerospace, high-tech, oil and gas, and travel. He is recognized as an expert on a full range of innovation topics, including innovation strategy, portfolio/pipeline management, generating and launching new innovations, and organizing. He has served on IEEE committees that set ethical guidelines for artificial intelligence (AI) and other intelligent systems.

He is a noted thought leader on innovation. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, where he has been teaching a graduate course, Innovation and Public Policy, since 2017. His recent textbook, Innovation for Value and Mission: An Introduction to Innovation Management and Policy (2022), covers innovation in both the public and private sectors, as well as public policy for innovation. He often writes articles and blogs on innovation and technology management. Articles on innovation and R&D management that he coauthored were published in MIT Sloan Management Review, Research-Technology Management, and on mckinsey.com. 

Immediately prior to McKinsey, Peet helped launch a start-up in marketing analytics. Prior to that he led several executive programs on innovation, strategy and operations at the Corporate Executive Board (CEB, now Gartner), and served as a global operations executive at a mid-size enterprise software company (now part of IBM). Earlier Peet led technology and large development projects in defense electronics and aerospace (including at Honeywell Aerospace).

Peet holds a B.Eng (Electronic Engineering) degree from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, and B.Com (Accounting and Economics) and M.Com (Economics) degrees from the University of South Africa. He is licensed as a Professional Engineer in the province of Ontario, Canada, and a long-standing member of IEEE.

Peet has authored or co-authored several research articles and white papers on innovation including:

Risk, Uncertainty and the Entrepreneur,” Risk & Compliance, October 2021.

“Closer than you think – quantum computing in finance,Financier Worldwide, May 2021.

“Innovations: What Makes Public Sector Innovation Different,Contract Management, March 2021.

“The Eight Essentials of Innovation Performance”, McKinsey.com, December 2013

“Organizing R&D for the future”, MIT Sloan Management Review, March 2012

“R&D strategies in emerging economies”, Research-Technology Management, July 2011

Books on innovation, finance, and business ethics

Peet’s latest book on innovation management in the private and public sectors, as well as innovation policy, Innovation for Value and Mission – An Introduction to Innovation Management and Policy (Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter Press) was released late in 2022.

His previous book co-authored with Alexandra Lajoux, Making Money: The History and Future of Society’s Most Important Technology (Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter), was released in 2020. Topics covered include money, economics, fintech and blockchain.

Earlier, he published a practical book on ethical business leadership, “Profit with a Higher Purpose – a Christian Guide to Business Leadership” (2017), which he co-authored with James Sprouse.

Book chapter on CSR

Peet co-authored a chapter for a scholarly textbook on corporate social responsibility (CSR) with William William J. Mea and Ronald R. Sims : “Corporate Purpose, Authentic Stakeholder Engagement, and a Balanced Business Scorecard for Corporate Social Responsibility: A Framework to Enhance Business Education,” in Management Education for Corporate Social Performance (Charlotte NC: Information Age Publishing; 2018).

© 2024 BMNP Strategies LLC