James is a Professor of Technology and Innovation Management (Healthcare) at Imperial College Business School and a member of the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Innovation. Previous appointments include SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex) and the Policy Studies Institute. He was educated at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

His research focuses on the structural and organisational challenges to the development and introduction of innovations in complex sectors of the economy, notably healthcare. James is particularly interested in the relationship between innovation in technologies, services and infrastructure. He has led many research projects since the mid-1980s and he was Principal investigator of the Health and Care Infrastructure Research and Innovation Centre (HaCIRIC), a £12m program funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

James advises and consults for government, healthcare organizations and companies from the health technology sector, from start-ups to large global corporates. He has been a member of expert panels on healthcare innovation for a number of government and public sector inquiries. He is currently an associate director of research for Imperial College Health Partners and a member of the management team for the NIHR Policy Innovation and Evaluation Research Unit. He also sits on several advisory boards, including AGE-WELL (a major Canadian research programme on technology for an ageing society), Deloitte Healthcare Innovation Observatory, and the International Academy for Design and Health. He is also a Carl Bennet Visiting Professor at Halmstad University (Centre for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Learning), Sweden, and an Honorary Professor at University College London (Bartlett Real Estate Institute).

James has published widely in leading journals including Organization Science, Research Policy, Health Affairs, Social Science & Medicine, California Management Review, and the Bulletin of the WHO. His latest book is Managing Innovation in Healthcare, published in January 2017.