David Barberá is a Tenured Scientist at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). Prior to his academic career, he worked for seven years as an R&D project manager in a medical technology company, where he led multiple new product development projects. Part of the outcomes of this research activity resulted in two European patents in which he is listed as an inventor.

His academic research spans several areas of innovation, including medical innovation, innovation policy, and social innovation and social entrepreneurship. His work has been published in leading international journals in the fields of Innovation Studies and Organization Studies, such as Research Policy, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Academy of Management Journal, and Journal of Business Venturing.

He has been involved in research projects and contracts funded by local, national, and international institutions. He has also been a visiting researcher at institutions including UC Berkeley, Stanford University, Copenhagen Business School, VU University Amsterdam and Aalto Business School (Helsinki), where he has presented his research in a range of academic seminars.