Rune Dahl Fitjar – Pro-rector for Innovation and Society

Rune Dahl Fitjar

PRO-RECTOR FOR INNOVATION AND SOCIETY
at University of Stavanger

About Me

An introduction to Rune Dahl Fitjar

My current role

I am the Pro-rector for Innovation and Society at the University of Stavanger. I am also Professor of Innovation Studies at the University of Stavanger Business School, a position that I have held since 1 September 2013. I am affiliated with the Centre for Innovation Research. My research deals with different aspects of regions, in recent years mostly related to regional innovation.

Past experience

I trained as a political scientist in Bergen and at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), gaining my PhD in Government from LSE in 2007. My thesis was on the drivers of regionalism in Western Europe. From 2007 to 2013, I worked as a researcher at the International Research Institute of Stavanger (now Norce). During the 2011/2012 academic year, I was a visiting scholar at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

International engagement

I was the chair of the Geography of Innovation Conference 2020 in Stavanger. I also chaired the Regional Innovation Policies Conference 2014 in Stavanger and currently chair the scientific committee for the Regional Innovation Policies conference series. From 2019 to 2023, I am a member of the Research Council of Norway’s portfolio board for industry and services. From 2020 to 2022, I am a member of the Norwegian reference group for Horizon Europe for Excellent Science.

Award winning research

In 2014, I was awarded the Lyse Research Prize, which recognizes excellence in research at the University of Stavanger. In 2012, I won the Stavanger Forum Prize for Communication of Research for actively presenting my findings both to an academic and a public audience. In 2019, I was awarded Region Stavanger’s Ambassador Prize for attracting academic conferences to the region.