Innovation Policy Matters
Over 30 years I have passionately worked to improve practice and theory of research, technology and innovation policies. In 2018 I founded Innovation Policy Matters to help stakeholders in research and innovation (R&I) ecosystems, to assess current and redesign future policy actions in support of those ecosystems.
Why policy mixes need regular appraisal
Research, innovation and industrial policies are continually reshaped and transformed, following imminent societal and economic challenges, experimentation with new policy approaches and changes in overall policy objectives. This asks for regular appraisal of whether the mix of R&I policy programmes still matches key challenges and goals in society.
I bring to the table
- a critical analytic view grounded in empirical evidence
- a combination of both theory and practice of R&I policymaking
- the ability to use international comparison stemming from on the ground experience in many countries
Hundreds of assignments across Europe
During my career at Innovation Policy Matters, the Technopolis Group and the TNO Centre for Technology and Policy Studies, I have conducted hundreds of assignments in the field of research and innovation policy, in almost every European country. A considerable part of my work was commissioned by international organisations such as the European Commission, the organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the EU Court of Auditors, UNIDO, the European Parliament (and its Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA), Eureka, and TAFTIE).
Both the public and the private sector perspective
Several international leadership roles in R&I consultancy companies have taught me to see innovation challenges from both the public and private sector perspective.
Academic foundations
My Phd was on the first generations of European Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation and the choices it made between supporting state-of-the-art technologies and national industry champions on the one hand and the diffusion and uptake of innovations on the other. My Master thesis in Political Science looked at the shift in industrial policies in the 1970s-1980s from a defensive perspective (protecting maturing industries) to an offensive perspective (boosting emerging sectors with R&I). With current geopolitical tensions and global shifts in competitiveness, this topic is again very relevant in Europe.