Sirin Elci

Sirin, the president of INOMER in Paris, has an experience of over 20 years in helping organisations develop new ways to solve problems, tackle challenges, and discover new possibilities to improve people’s lives through human-centred approaches.

She has broad experience and expertise both in economic and business growth. Her economic growth experience covers the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies, strategies, projects and programmes in the fields of innovation, R&D, technology transfer, private sector and SME development, innovative entrepreneurship, training and skills development. During her career, she has provided consultancy and training services, and led and conducted complex and strategic projects for international organisations (European Commission, World Bank, OECD, Asian Development Bank, UNDP, UNESCO, etc.), and national and regional authorities (national and regional governments, public agencies, R&D institutes, science parks, technology transfer offices, universities, development agencies, etc.) in the EU, and in developing and transition countries.

At the level of private sector growth, her specific areas of expertise include innovation strategy design, the management of the innovation process, the development of a culture of innovation, and the measurement of the innovation performance. During her career, she has provided innovation consulting and capacity building services to numerous large and mid-size companies, and high-growth startups, including global players such as Intel, Siemens and Udemy. Her experience spans across a broad range of sectors, from services and high-tech to manufacturing and government.

Having provided consulting services in more than 30 countries, Sirin brings broad experience from different cultures and organisations to the clients. She, at the same time, has accumulated valuable knowledge and expertise by helping those who are involved in the development of innovation ecosystems in their regions and countries. This provides her with the unique advantage of offering a holistic view of sustained growth and positive impact through innovation.

Also an inspirational coach, Sirin challenges leaders and their teams to achieve their highest potential and drive exceptional results. As a serial entrepreneur who has started several successful businesses over the last 15 years, she is a passionate mentor, too, guiding entrepreneurs all over the world to build innovation-driven businesses. As a strong believer in the power of innovation in transforming lives and the world for the better, she designed and led numerous social innovation projects for empowering people to innovate — this includes from all age groups and backgrounds. In 2010, she has been chosen for the US Presidential Entrepreneurship Summit among a field of highly qualified nominees from around the world as a leader and pioneer in her field.

Sirin has taken part in a number of associations such as the International Society for Professional Innovation Management, the Network of the Association for Technology Implementation in Europe and the European Evaluation Society. She has also published books, organised a large number of conferences, workshops and international study tours around the theme of innovation-based growth; has given speeches at conferences, workshops and various TV and radio programmes as well as lectures at universities. Sirin is fluent in English and is working to improve her French.