Elina Griniece has more than twelve years of experience in conducting studies and providing intelligence and advice in the area of research and innovation policy. During her career she has implemented a wide range of policy studies, evaluations and impact assessments, and contributed to pan-European R&I policy monitoring platforms. Elina has experience with the assessment of national research systems and evaluation of various innovation support instruments, including such complex interventions as EIT Knowledge and Innovation Communities. Her research interests include new policy approaches for tackling systemic societal challenges and novel impact assessment methods for R&I policies. Regarding conceptual developments, she has elaborated an open innovation system’s model and, under the H2020 project RI-PATHS, helped to develop a socio-economic impact framework for investment in research infrastructures. She has ongoing collaboration with individual research infrastructures to enrich and operationalise the developed methodology.
Elina is keen to understand how new knowledge and innovation can foster transformative change in the economy and society, and what that change implies in terms of culture and human values. She is an active advocate of transdisciplinary approaches not only in research, but also in life. As a consultant, her experience is that active listening and openness to other perspectives is vital to constructing new and truly meaningful solutions. As a person, she likes puzzles and solving complex problems by finding coherent patterns. This sort of ‘system thinking’ is in her DNA. Elina studied the nexus between society, science and technology (Maastricht University) and development studies (LSE). She has also undertaken dedicated PhD-level courses in responsible research and innovation (Dutch Research School of Philosophy) and innovation policy for transformative change (SPRU). Elina is a native Latvian speaker and is fluent in English and has a good grasp of Russian, French, and German.