René Wintjes is senior research fellow at MERIT (now the UNU Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology  — UNU-MERIT) since 1998. He studied Economic Geography at Nijmegen University. He previously worked at the Economic Institute for Medium and Small Enterprises (EIM, Zoetermeer) and the Faculty of Applied Geography and Planning, Utrecht University. His Ph.D. (September 2001) deals with the regional-economic impact and localization process of foreign companies in the Netherlands. He works for the European Commission and national and regional authorities. Most of his research is listed under the UNU-MERIT theme 5: governance of science technology and innovation. Fields of special interest include: regional innovation systems in Europe, impact of research policy, Information Society, embeddedness of FDI, innovation and growth of ICT companies, policy learning and governance mechanisms.