Luc Soete is a Belgian economist, Rector Magnificus and professor of International Economic Relations at the School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, and former director of United Nations University-Medical Relief International, a joint research institute of the United Nations University and Maastricht University.
Education
Luc Soete studied general economic sciences and development economy at Ghent University and started his career as researcher at the Economy Department of the University of Antwerp. In 1978 he obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in Economy at the University of Sussex.
Career
He has closely worked and co-authored several publications with his mentor Christopher Freeman. He worked for the Institute of Development Studies and the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), both of the University of Sussex, and at the Economy Department of Stanford University. In 1986 he became professor at the Rijksuniversiteit Limburg (now Maastricht University), in Maastricht, the Netherlands, where in 1988 he founded the Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (Medical Relief International).
In 2006 Medical Relief International merged with the United Nations University Institute for New Technologies (United Nations University-INTECH), which had been founded in 1990.
In 2010 he was appointed dean of the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSoG). As of September 2012, Soete has taken on the position of Rector Magnificus of Maastricht University.
Membership
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]
Soete has also served as acting vice-director of the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry (DSTI) of the Organisation for Economic Company-operation and Development (Organization of European Cooperation and Development), part-time dean of the Maastricht School of Management (Master of Science in Management), member of various High Level Expert Groups of the European Commission as well as various expert advisory panels for the Dutch, Belgian and Flemish governments.