Koen Frenken

Biography

Koen Frenken is Full Professor in Innovation Studies at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, from 2014 onwards. He currently chairs the section of Innovation Studies at the Copernicus Institute, and is a program team member of Utrecht University's strategic theme 'Institutions for Open Societies'. Before 2014, Koen held positions in Economics of Innovation at Eindhoven University of Technology (2009-2013) and in Economic Geography at Utrecht University (2001-2009). He served as a committee member at the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER) on the topics of robotisation and of platform work. Koen also collaborated with the Rathenau Institute on the topic of sharing economy (2017) and with Netherlands Bureau for Spatial Planning on the topic of the European Research Area (2007). His theoretical interests include evolutionary economics, institutional sociology and complexity theory. He works on sustainability transitions, economic geography, platform economy and innovation policy. In 2001, he received a joint PhD from the University of Grenoble (applied economics) and the University of Amsterdam (social sciences).