Judit Rózsa is Director of Coordination, Resources and Aid Programme in the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission. Since joining the European Commission in 2007 she led various units in DG Employment and Social Policy and in DG Regional and Urban Policy in charge of planning and implementation of Structural Funds, European semester and policy development in the area of urban and territorial development.
Building In-House Capacity: Momentum, Scale, Measuring and Embedding
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how important public sector capacities and capabilities are in terms of reacting to crises and re-configuring existing policies and implementation practices. Climate emergency and other similarly wicked challenges show that public sector needs to develop dynamic capabilities to shape societal responses and markets. Yet, public organisations are notoriously risk averse and focused on stability. Prof. Rainer Kattel argues that public organisations must find a sweet spot in balancing capabilities for agility and for stability.
In this panel discussion we will look at practical examples of building in-house capacity in the cases of Germany, Finland and Cyprus as well as taking a European perspective.
About the Venue
Judit Rózsa
Director A - Coordination, Resources and Aid Programme / DG REFORM, European Commission
Irene Piki
Director of Tax Policy and EU Affairs / Ministry of Finance, Republic of Cyprus
In September 2019, Irene Piki took over as Head of the Strategy, Coordination and Communication Directorate at the Ministry of Finance in the Republic of Cyprus. In March 2021 she was promoted to the position of Financial Director and in October 2022 she became Director of the Directorate of Economic Policy and European Affairs. Irene was previously a member of the Board of Directors of Invest Cyprus (CIPA), the Research and Innovation Foundation, the Cyprus Organization for Standardization and the Cyprus Economy and Competitiveness Council. She has represented Cyprus in various EU Committees relating to economic and political cohesion issues.
Petra von Wick
Head of Division, Holdings Management / Ministry of Finance, Germany
Petra von Wick studied law at the Ruhr-University Bochum and the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Bonn. In 1991 she joined the Federal Ministry of Finance. Focus of her work was inter alia the legal and professional supervisory of Treuhandanstalt, privatisation of state owned enterprises and holding management of Bundesdruckerei GmbH after reprivatisation. As head of directorate she was responsible for the legal and professional supervisory of Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben, federal building and housing welfare. Since last year she is responsible for fundamental issues of the holding management of state owned enterprises, the public corporate governance kodex as well as the public sector inhouse consultancy PD – Berater der öffentlichen Hand GmbH. She is a board member in several SOEs.
Rainer Kattel
Deputy Director & Professor of Innovation and Public Governance / UCL IIPP
Rainer Kattel is Deputy Director and Professor of Innovation and Public Governance at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). Before joining UCL IIPP, Rainer led Ragnar Nurkse School of Innovation and Governance for 10 years, building it into one of the leading innovation and governance schools in the region.
Rainer has also served on various public policy commissions, including the Estonian Research Council and European Science Foundation. He has worked as an expert for the OECD, UNDP and the European Commission. Currently, he leads the Estonian Government’s Gender Equality Council, and is a member of E-Estonia Council advising the Prime Minister of Estonia. In 2013, he received Estonia’s National Science Award for his work on innovation policy.
Rainer has published extensively on innovation policy, its governance and specific management issues. His recent books include:
- How to Make an Entrepreneurial State: Why Innovation Needs Bureaucracy (with Wolfgang Drechsler and Erkki Karo; Yale, 2022)
- Innovation Bureaucracy (with Wolfgang Drechsler and Erkki Karo; Yale, 2020)