Dan Breznitz is a University Professor of the University of Toronto where he is also the holder of the Munk Chair of Innovation Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy with a cross-appointment in the Department of Political Science. At the University, he is also the Co-Director of the Innovation Policy Lab and a Senior Fellow of Massey College.
He is a fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advance Research CIFAR, where he co-created and served as the Co-Director of the program on Innovation, Equity and the Future of Prosperity (IEP) a radical multidisciplinary program spanning the humanities, law, social science, and engineering, with a common aim to develop a new interdisciplinary sub-field.
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, and has served as an advisor on science, technology, and innovation policies to multinational corporations, governments, and international organizations. He served as his country as the Clifford Clarke Economist (the top external adviser) of the Federal Canadian Department (Ministry) of Finance during 2021-22, where he was responsible for new economic thinking on the restructuring of the Canadian economy, including the creation of new agencies.
He was the recipient of multiple scholarly and public policy awards including the GTRC 75th Anniversary Innovation Award for Public Service, Leadership, and Policy and a Sloan Industry Studies Fellow. Before joining the Munk School, Breznitz spent eight years in 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 chapters and edited volumes in multiple disciplines, opinion pieces in leading media outlets, and national and regional policy documents, Breznitz is an award-winning author. 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 British International Studies Association, and was featured in multiple media outlets including The Economist, the New York Times, and Forbes.
His latest book Innovation in Real Places: Strategies for Prosperity in an Unforgiving World was chosen by the Financial Times as one of the best books of 2021, and is the only book to have been awarded both major Canadian awards for Public Policy, the Balsillie prize for Public Policy given by the Writers’ Trust of Canada, and the Donner Prize for the Best Book on Public Policy.
