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Charles Cooper, the first director of UNU Institute for New Technologies (UNU-INTECH), died on January 16 after a long illness. He was instrumental in the creation of the Maastricht-based institute and served as its director from 1990 to 2000.
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In 1985, the Dutch Government asked Professor Cooper to prepare a feasibility study on the creation of a UNU institute to study the social and economic aspects of new technologies. Presented to UNU in 1987, his report would form the basis for the new Institute.
At the time he was a professorial fellow at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, and had established an international reputation in technology and development in a long career that began at the OECD in the 1960s.
Under Cooper's leadership, UNU-INTECH rapidly developed into the second largest UNU research centre. Its PhD programme, created in 1995 in close cooperation with the Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology, has grown to a current enrolment of 30 students.
Cooper successfully managed the institute's rapid growth phase in the 1990s by moving it into its present premises in 1998. His influence on the institute continues to be felt with the naming of his former PhD student, Luc Soete, as director of UNU-INTECH on January 1.
Professor Cooper is survived by his wife, Anne, and two daughters.
© 2004 United Nations University