René is professor of innovation and sustainable development at ICIS and professorial fellow of UNU-MERIT. He is interested in the link between micro change and macro change. He is well-known for his work on strategic niche management, sociotechnical regime shifts and transition management. He also has a background in (environmental) economics and innovation studies, but is a self-taught expert on the sociology of knowledge, public policy and political economy.
As a multidisciplinary researcher, he has published in innovation journals, ecological economics journals, policy journals, transport and energy journals, and sustainable development journals. He is advisory editor of Research Policy, editor of Sustainability Science and editor of Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions. Currently René works on resource efficiency, the circular economy, energy-efficiency of households, eco-innovation measurement, urban labs and socio-economic transformations in the following projects: POLFREE, SINCERE, green.eu, Energy efficiency of households in cities, URB@Exp, smarter labs, TRANSIT and a project for EEA about transformations.
