Alasdair Reid has been working on European research and innovation policy since the mid-1990s and is old enough to remember the first European (and regional) innovation strategies and wise enough to know that things have moved on since then. From a Brussels vantage point, he keeps his finger on the pulse of policy trends and theories about how innovation changes the way we spend our working and leisure time, and improves the health and well-being of humans, animals and the planet.
He does his best to make sure public policy fosters the transition of business, research and education, energy, mobility and other systems towards more sustainable practices that hopefully help restore (or at least limit the destruction of) the Earth’s natural ecosystems on which we and future generations depend. As an old song goes, he’s been everywhere – at least in Europe and a bit further afield – and has worked for and with all sorts of interesting and often challenging (in the good sense of the term) people at the European Commission, the OECD, the World Bank, UNECE, and national and regional governments and agencies. Alasdair believes a good strategy or policy paper is, at best, half the battle; the real challenge is in implementing it.
Originally from Scotland, he has been based in Belgium since the late eighties. He speaks French fluently and can follow a conversation in Spanish, and read and order drinks in a variety of languages, notably Estonian thanks to time spent in the Baltic State..
