About the author

Catherine Renault

Dr. Catherine Renault is Principal and Owner, Innovation Policyworks, LLC, Brunswick, ME, an innovation strategy and evaluation firm focused on the development, measurement and practice of effective state and regional innovation-based policies and programs. Innovation Policyworks helps policymakers and executives responsible for innovation and entrepreneurship programs be sure they are delivering the most effective and cost-effective assistance to companies in their region. Her services include evaluation, policy research, strategy development and program management. Dr. Renault is a Certified Innovation Engineering Black Belt.&nbsp; <br> Dr. Renault has twenty-seven years of experience in state technology-based economic development and evaluation. She was the Director of the Maine Office of Innovation and Science Advisor to Governor John Baldacci.&nbsp;&nbsp;Her previous state role was as Managing Director of Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology where she was responsible for entrepreneurship and access to capital policy as well as statewide technology transfer initiatives. In between, she led the innovation consulting practice at RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC. She also spent ten years in the private sector including with AT&amp;T and Data General. <br> Dr. Renault is the author of several articles in peer-reviewed journals on technology transfer and academic entrepreneurship, a chapter in “Maine’s Future Economy,” and “Metrics for Entrepreneurial Support Programs,” published by iNBIA.&nbsp; <br> Dr. Renault is originally from Boston and received her undergraduate degree from Harvard, her MBA from the University of Virginia and her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. <br> Dr. Renault is immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors for the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development, a member of the Board of the Maine Aquaculture Innovation Center, and past Chair of the Board of Managers for Sea Change Group, LLC. She also has had a research appointment at the University of Maine with the Foster Center for Student Innovation.