Iwona Borowik, PhD is an economist with 15 years of international policy experience at the World Bank, the European Commission and the private sector. Iwona has been working with governments across the regions of Europe and Central Asia, South East Asia, and Africa particularly on policy reforms targeting public research excellence, R&D commercialization, private sector competitiveness and entrepreneurship. She has been assisting countries in the design and supervision of innovation programs in higher education institutions toward building skills and research capacities relevant for the economy, formulation of national innovation strategies, and development of competitiveness agencies, among many others.