Dominique Foray
Dominique is a founding member of GMAP. He is a full Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and holds the Chair of Economics and Management of Innovation (CEMI). He is a member of the National Research Council (Switzerland), the Advisory Board of the Swiss Economic Institute (KOF), the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council, and a foreign member of the Center of Capitalism and Society (Columbia University, New York). He is also a new member of the Expert Commission for Research and Innovation of Germany. From 2008 to 2011, he served as chairman of the expert group “Knowledge for Growth”, a group of prominent economists created to advise Commissioner J. Potocnik (European Commission, DG research). It was during his service as member of this Group that he developed the concept of smart specialisation (together with P.A. David and B. Hall) that is now a key policy mechanism of the EU (cohesion policy). His research interests include all topics and issues related to the economics and management of technology, knowledge and innovation at both the micro and macro levels. This broad field covers the economics of science and technology with a particular focus on high tech sectors, the management of large-scale technological projects, international comparisons of institutions, and systems of innovation within the context of the new economy. Intellectual property and competition policies, information technology and the new economy, capital market and entrepreneurship, national systems of innovation are fields of high relevance in his research. He is currently developing evidence-based policy research to try to understand the hidden factors and reasons for the outstanding position in terms of research and innovation of the Swiss. He is also involved in works about research evaluation and assessment (as part of his job in the Division IV of the FNS). He is recognized as one of the leading academic experts in the economics of innovation and knowledge and economic policy implications of the new knowledge-based economy and has written numerous academic papers and has edited several books and special issues in these fields. In addition, Dominique received the distinction of outstanding research in 1995 (CNRS award) and won the Futuris award in 2011.