Professor, Polytechnique de Montréal

Catherine Beaudry, Rhodes Scholar, has a D.Phil. in economics from the University of Oxford where she also obtained an M.Phil. in economics. From her first degree in electrical engineering specialised in satellite technology, she has kept a strong interest on technology, science and innovation. She is a professor at the Mathematics and Industrial Engineering Department of Polytechnique Montreal where she also holds a Tier I Canada Research Chair on the Creation, development and commercialisation of innovation (Chair-Innovation) and leads the Partnership for the Organisation of Innovation and New Technologies (4POINT0).  In addition, she is an adjunct professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), a member of the Centre for interuniversity research on science and technology (CIRST), a fellow at the Centre for interuniversity research and analysis of organization (CIRANO) and one of the founders of the Global Young Academy (GYA).

Her expertise in the science, technology and innovation system has led her to contribute to the development and improvement of public policies. For example, she is a member of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Governing Council and Program Committee, the External Advisory Committee on Regulatory Competitiveness (Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat), and the Global Excellence Initiative Canvassing Committee (established by His Excellency the Governor General of Canada, David Johnston, and now under the auspices of University Canada).

The Chair-Innovation focuses on the impact of research and collaboration on the development of innovations and their commercialization, as well as on the interaction between local and international networks.

The 4POINT0 team aims to identify best practices and industrial processes, to design new and adapted public policies and mechanisms to support innovation to ensure: 1) the best conditions for the emergence of innovation ecosystems; 2) effective functioning of innovation ecosystems, especially collaborative innovation practices; 3) the successful evolution of innovation ecosystems to benefit from new disruptive technologies through new configurations, spaces and networks of innovation; and 4) the sustainability of innovation ecosystems maximizing benefits and impacts while minimizing the barriers and risks of collaboration. To do this, 4POINT0 will co-develop new innovation indicators from big data analytics.