Board of Directors
Dirk Czarnitzki
Dirk Czarnitzki is Professor of Industrial Organization and Strategy at K.U.Leuven (Belgium). His research interests are mainly in the field of the economics of innovation with a focus on applied microeconometrics. The lines of research address topics such as the evaluation of public innovation policies, corporate governance and innovation, knowledge and technology transfer, as well as the economics of science. Dirk's work has been published in journals such as the Journal of Business and Economics Statistics, the Journal of Applied Econometrics, Management Science, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Economics Letters, the Review of Industrial Organization, Research Policy, the Journal of Productivity Analysis, Economics of Transition, the Journal of Regional Science, the Journal of Technology Transfer, and several others.
Justus Haucap
Justus Haucap is founding director of the Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE) and Partner of Düsseldorf Competition Economics. He has been a member of the German Monopolies Commission, which advises the German Government on issues related to competition policy and market regulation from 2006 until 2014. From 2008 until 2012 he served as the commission’s chairman. Justus heads the Competition Working Group of the Verein für Socialpolitik, he is deputy chairman of the Scientific Working Group for Regulatory Issues (WAR) of the Federal Network Agency, a member of the Kronberger Kreis (the scientific advisory board of the Stiftung Marktwirtschaft), the board of trustees of the Fazit-Stiftung, the Scientific Council of the Brussels think tank Bruegel and numerous other advisory boards. Justus’ research focuses on the economics of network industries, in particular energy and telecommunications markets, as well as on digitization (e.g. Sharing Economy). His particular interest lies in the interfaces between law and economics and the economic effects of different institutional arrangements and rules.
He has contributed his expertise in all areas of competition economics, including merger proceedings (e.g. Edeka/Tengelmann, VTG/CIT, EnBW/MVV), abuse of market power and private antitrust enforcement. He has also advised numerous private and public institutions such as the European Parliament, the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF), the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), the Federal Network Agency, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Sixt, RWE, EON, Siemens, UBER, the Federation of German Industries (BDI) and many others.
Since 2013 he has been included annually in the list of the most influential economists in Germany by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. GCR’s Who’s Who named him as "a standout figure in the German market."
Georg Licht
Georg Licht was Head of the Department of Economics of Innovation and Industrial Dynamics at the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW – Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung), in Mannheim, Germany. He held this position since June 1994, before he was a senior researcher at ZEW and at the University of Augsburg (till 1985). Since 2001 has the power of attorney on behalf of the ZEW. He was visiting researcher at the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He gained his doctoral degree at the University of Augsburg and holds a degree in economics from the University of Heidelberg. Research interests comprise the economics of innovation and technical change; labour economics; and High-Tech Start-ups.
Gaétan de Rassenfosse
Gaétan de Rassenfosse is Associate Professor of Science & Technology Policy at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL). Prior to that, he was a research fellow then a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne from 2010 to 2014. He obtained a PhD in Economics from the Université libre de Bruxelles in 2010. Gaétan’s research interests are in the area of the economics and management of innovation with a special focus on intellectual property policy and the measurement of intellectual capital. His work has appeared in journals such as Research Policy and Oxford Bulleting of Economics and Statistics.
Twitter: @gderasse
Personal Website
Reinhilde Veugelers
Reinhilde Veugelers is professor of Managerial Economics, Strategy and Innovation at the K.U.Leuven (Belgium). She was a visiting scholar at Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, at Sloan School of Management (MIT), Stern Business School (NYU), ECARES/Université Libre de Bruxelles, Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne), Universitat Pompeu Fabra & Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Universiteit Maastricht.
With her research concentrated in the fields of industrial organisation, international economics and strategy and innovation, she has authored numerous publications on multinationals, R&D cooperation and alliances, industry-science links and market integration in leading international journals. She obtained research grants from the Belgian Science Policy Office, the European Commission (DG Research and DG ECFIN) and the Flemish Government (VRWB-IWT). From 2004-2008, she was on academic leave, as advisor at the European Commission (BEPA). She is currently a Senior Fellow at Bruegel, a CEPR Research Fellow and a member of Commissioner Potocnik’s Knowledge for Growth expert group.
Managing Director
Dr. Susanne Thorwarth is Managing Director of Düsseldorf Competition Economics, a consulting boutique on all aspects of competition and regulatory policy. From 2011 to 2013 she worked as a Senior Economist for the German Monopolies Commission. There, she dealt extensively with topics related to market power, international interdependencies and the measurement of market power in the energy sector. Previously, she worked for four years at the Centre for Research and Development Monitoring (ECOOM) of KU Leuven in Belgium, where she was responsible for data collection, processing and evaluation of Flemish innovation statistics.
She has extensive experience in advising clients in various areas of competition economics, in particular cartel damage (a. o. GIS, confectionaries, card payment, trucks) as well as merger cases (e.g. Edeka/Tengelmann, VTG/CIT, EnBW/MVV). Susanne is specialized in the field of data analysis and applied econometrics, with a focus on the quantification of damages in private litigation cases.
Susanne studied economics at the Universities of Heidelberg and Mannheim and subsequently received her Doctor of Applied Economics from KU Leuven in Belgium. Her research results have been published in internationally renowned journals, including Economics Letters and Research Policy.