His research interests include open source business, ecosystems, mashups, patterns, and social network analysis. Between 2000 and 2007, he was a professor of Computer Science at Carleton University. From 1994 to 1999, he was a member of the Strategic Technology group at Mitel. Michael obtained his PhD (Dr.rer.nat.) from the University of Mannheim in 1993. He is the author of over 100 peer-reviewed publications in leading journals and conferences. He has chaired several recent conferences, including MCETECH (2009, 2015) and EuroPLoP (2009, 2010).