Dan Breznitz, is a Professor and Munk Chair of Innovation Studies, in the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. He is also the Co-Director of the Innovation Policy Lab. In addition, he is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research where he co-founded and co-directs the program on Innovation, Equity and the Future of Prosperity.
Professor Breznitz is known worldwide as an expert on rapid-innovation-based industries and their globalization, as well as for his pioneering research on the distributional impact of innovation policies. He has been a member of several boards, as well as serving as an advisor on science, technology, and innovation policies to multinational corporations, governments, and international organizations. His work in the policy world led, in 2011, to him being awarded the GTRC 75th Anniversary Innovation Award for Public Service, Leadership, and Policy. In 2008 Breznitz was selected as a Sloan Industry Studies Fellow. Before joining the Munk School, Breznitz spent eight years at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) as a professor in the Scheller College of Business, the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Public Policy. In an earlier life, he founded and served as a CEO of a small software company. In addition to publishing numerous academic articles in multiple disciplines, opinion pieces in leading media outlets, and national and regional policy documents, he has been an award-winning author of three books. His first book, Innovation and the State: Political Choice and Strategies for Growth in Israel, Taiwan, and Ireland, won the 2008 Don K. Price for best book on science and technology. His second book (co-authored with Michael Murphree) The Run of the Red Queen: Government, Innovation, Globalization, and Economic Growth in China, was chosen as the 2012 Susan Strange Best Book in International Studies by the BISA and was featured in multiple media outlets including The Economist, the New York Times and Forbes. Breznitz’s third book, Third Globalization: Can Wealthy Nations Stay Rich? (co-edited with John Zysman), looked at the challenges and opportunities faced by Western economies in the aftermath of the financial crisis and the rapid changes in the global production system.
