This study examines whether academic founder CEOs increase R&D investment in growth-oriented SMEs and under what conditions this effect is more likely to emerge. Integrating upper echelons theory with social identity theory, we argue that academic founders carry a science-based identity into the firm and are therefore more inclined to support long-horizon, knowledge-intensive investment. We further propose that founder-CEO social status strengthens this relationship by reinforcing legitimacy and enhancing resource access. In contrast, founder CEO ownership weakens it by heightening financial exposure and activating a competing owner-entrepreneur logic. Using a hand-collected panel of 1,154 firms and 6,608 firm-year observations from China’s Growth Enterprise Market between 2009 and 2022, we find that academic founder CEOs are associated with significantly higher R&D intensity. The positive association becomes stronger at higher levels of founder social status and weaker at higher levels of founder ownership. By showing how founder identity shapes internal resource allocation, the study contributes to research on academic entrepreneurship, managerial microfoundations, and technology transfer at the science-business interface. JEL Classification O32, M13, L26, G34, J24