network of research and training centres/programmes
UN University is studying a proposal to create a major global research centre focusing on innovation and development by merging Maastricht-based UNU Institute for New Technologies (UNU-INTECH) with Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
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Luc Soete |
Under a one-year transitional arrangement, newly appointed INTECH director, Professor Luc Soete will continue to head MERIT (a Maastricht University research institute) while details are finalised for the new organization, including financial arrangements for its long term independence and governing structure and continued full integration in the UNU network.
The eventual merger, which is subject to approval by the governing councils of UNU and Maastricht University, will achieve a critical mass of over 100 researchers from developed and developing countries. By its sheer size and capacity to generate knowledge on pressing contemporary problems, the new centre will significantly boost UNU’s contribution to the work of the United Nations.
UNU-INTECH and MERIT have had a long history of cooperation, through their joint PhD programme in economics and policy studies of technical change. Thirty students, most of them from developing countries, currently participate in the programme.
By consolidating the research programmes of the two institutes, the new research centre can provide cutting edge knowledge in five broad areas:
- Micro-based evidence research
- Macroeconomics of technology, growth and development
- Industrial dynamics
- International business strategies
- Governance of science, technology and innovation.
Addressing the first joint staff meeting of the two institutes in January, Professor Soete argued that the “division of labour” between the two institutes created in the late 1980s seems increasingly outdated and irrelevant. At that time, MERIT was expected to focus on the Netherlands, Europe and the developed world while INTECH would address broader development issues and the developing world in particular.
Increasingly, the impacts of technological change are felt across borders thus challenging the traditional focus on national research, he said. Beyond that, the landmark political changes in Central and Eastern Europe have given rise to the rapid development of a new category of countries – the countries in transition – many of which entered the European Union in May 2004.
In this context, the two institutes offer some natural “geographical” synergies that can be readily exploited, namely INTECH’s UNU global research and policy network and MERIT’s local, national and European research and policy network. "All the pieces appear in place to reap these synergies," he added.
Professor Soete outlined three broad strategic aims for the merged UNU institute:
- Achieve world class research “excellence” not just within the economics discipline but also across other social sciences of direct relevance to the study of innovation and development, including knowledge transfer.
- Focus on the policy aspects and relevance of the research, not just limited to national and local policy makers in advanced and developing countries but also more globally in relation to UN and other international organizations.
- Provide training and capacity building programmes at both the academic (PhD) and policy level.
He said that although the merger could result in significant economies, the main motivation is intellectual, driven by the opportunity to create a centre of research excellence which has the potential to become of world significance.
© 2005 United Nations University