Koenraad Debackere is a professor of economics and management of technology and innovation at KU Leuven in Belgium. He has been managing director of KU Leuven and currently is the chair of the KU Leuven Association, executive director of KU Leuven research and development, and a member of the board of governors of RWTH Aachen in Germany.

He was and is a member or chair of various international scientific advisory boards in the areas of innovation and technology development and policy (the LERU enterprise and innovation group, and ENGIE), intellectual property management and policy (4iP Council), and product innovation management (the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management and Innovation and Product Development Management Conference). In addition, he has held directorships in several investment and technology companies and currently is chair of KBC Group and a board member of Umicore.

He studied engineering, economics, and business at the University of Ghent and MIT and has held visiting professorships at several international universities.