鈥淚nnovating also means: thinking carefully about scaling up responsibly鈥�
Research focus: how innovation is shaped in society and how wider diffusion can lead to solutions for major societal challenges
Wouter Boon is full professor of Innovation and Transition Studies at the 木瓜福利影视 Utrecht and affiliated to the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development. He studies emerging technologies and their contribution to societal transitions.
Wouter studies innovations that lead to a responsible and accessible health system, more specifically innovations in prevention, digital health (AI, eHealth), imaging and pharmaceuticals. He also looks at innovations for sustainable mobility (car sharing, electric cars) and energy (local energy initiatives). Theoretically, he contributes to improving our knowledge of how users of innovations get and are involved in innovation processes.
Wouter Boon spent most of his research time studying the demand side of innovation processes: what is the role of users in shaping and accepting new products and services? How do markets for new products emerge and how can these markets contribute to transitions? How can innovations scale up in a responsible way? And how can the government work towards demand-driven innovation policy?
In this context, he carried out research projects on patient participation in innovation processes (e.g. knowledge creation and for rare diseases), socio-technical embedding of emerging health technologies (such as on the future of genetic testing, regenerative medicine, and new treatment regimes for malaria), technology transfer in academic hospitals, regulation of pharmaceuticals and medical devices (such as reimbursement and pharmacovigilance), and public-private collaborations in R&D programmes focused on societal challenges.
In the field of education, Wouter is the director of the masters offered by the Copernicus Institute and works with programme leaders, teachers, support and students on education that contributes to societal challenges.
Wouter is also a board member of the international network of transition studies (STRN).
His public lecture (in Dutch) can be read here.
