Brigitte Ecker, Managing Director of WPZ Research, studied business administration at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, where she received her doctorate with distinction in 2003. After several years working in the business sector, she joined Joanneum Research – Centre for Economic and Innovation Research Vienna in 2004. In 2013 Brigitte Ecker joined the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) in Vienna, where she was head of the research group “Innovation, Education and Sustainability” from 2014 on. In summer 2016 she founded WPZ Research. Brigitte Ecker is also Consultant at the Institute for Innovation and Technology (iit) in Berlin, as well as Lecturer for Innovation and Technology Management at the UAS Technikum Wien and St. Pölten. Her focus of work is on evaluation of RTI policy, analysis of innovation systems and strategies, foundation of innovative companies, industry-science cooperation, science and university research, and higher education governance.