Dr Alexander Moerchel
PhD Alumnus, Research Collaborator

à Innovation and IP Management

à Technology Management

Background

Alexander is an intellectual property management researcher and aerospace industry professional with more than 15 years of international industrial experience. He completed his PhD at the Institute for Manufacturing in May 2025 under the supervision of Professor Frank Tietze. His doctoral research, supported by Lufthansa Technik AG, was titled Intellectual Property Management in Innovation Ecosystems – Developing Visual Methods for Mapping Dynamics, Uncertainties, and Risks. During his postgraduate research, Alexander developed and tested visual methods and processes for analysing dynamic processes, opportunities and risks related to intellectual property in collaborative and open innovation contexts. The results were published in Technovation and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

Alexander holds a Bachelor of Science (magna cum laude) and a Master of Science (with distinction) in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (2004 and 2006, respectively), and an MPhil in Technology Policy from the University of Cambridge (2007). He subsequently began his professional career at Rolls-Royce in Derby, UK, as a graduate trainee, development engineer and aircraft performance technologist, working on various large civil engine programmes. In 2011 he joined Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg as a product sales manager for aircraft component services. He then worked as a sales manager at Spairliners before returning to Lufthansa Technik from 2015 to 2025 as a procurement manager, leading negotiations of purchasing, intellectual property licensing and cooperation agreements with aerospace OEMs.

Since July 2025, Alexander has been an engine services procurement manager at Deutsche Lufthansa AG in Frankfurt, leading international project teams in tendering and negotiating engine repair services contracts.

His research interests focus on IP management in collaborative and open innovation, dynamic processes in innovation ecosystems, IP licensing in industrial settings, licensing contract negotiations, management of IP risks and uncertainties.

Alexander is a member of Hughes Hall.

Academic Work

• Moerchel, A., Tietze, F., Aristodemou, L., & Vimalnath, P. (2024). A Novel Method for Visually Mapping Intellectual Property Risks and Uncertainties in Evolving Innovation Ecosystems: A Design Science Research Approach for the COVID-19 Pandemic. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 71, 2462–2474. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2022.3184254
• Moerchel, A., Tietze, F., & Urmetzer, F. (2023). Visualising dynamics in innovation ecosystems: A new method and demonstration in the commercial aircraft MRO ecosystem. Technovation, 128, 102856. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2023.102856
• Moerchel, A., Tietze, F., Aristodemou, L., & Vimalnath, P. (2021). Identifying Crisis-Critical Intellectual Property Challenges during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2021(1), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2021.241

Academic Thesis & Dissertation

• Moerchel, A. (2025). Intellectual Property Management in Innovation Ecosystems – Developing Visual Methods for Mapping Dynamics, Uncertainties, and Risks. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge.
• Moerchel, A. (2007). The Silent Aircraft Initiative – An Assessment of the Direct Operating Costs of SAX 40. MPhil, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
• Moerchel, A. (2006). Investigation of the dynamic effects of flap deflection on the aerodynamic characteristics of an airplane wing using CFD. MSc, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Conference Presentations

• IPDMC 29th, Hamburg, July 2022: “A Standardised Mapping Method for Visualising Competitive Dynamics in Evolving Innovation Ecosystems: A Case Study from the Aerospace Industry.”
• Academy of Management 81st Annual Meeting (online), 2021: “Identifying Crisis-Critical Intellectual Property Challenges during the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
• EURAM 2021 (online): “A Mapping Method for Visualising IP Challenges in Evolving Innovation Ecosystems: A validation example from the COVID-19 pandemic.”