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Curriculum vitae

doc. Ing. Vladimír Baláž, PhD., DrSc.

First name(s) / Surname(s) Vladimír Baláž

Nationality Slovak
Year of birth 1961
Work experience

Vladimír Baláž has been employed in the Institute for Forecasting since 1989.
Occupation or position held Vladimír Baláž was a researcher (1989), senior researcher (1996) and research professor (2007) with the Institute for Forecasting of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Since 2012 Vladimír Baláž has been a member of the Learned Society of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

Main activities and responsibilities

The Institute acts both as a research body and government think-thank for design of economic and social policies. It prepared number of studies commissioned by the European Commission, Slovak Prime Minister Office, Ministries of Economy and Finance.

Vladimír Baláž has three major areas of research interest:

1 Innovation and R&D policies. Major topics include: national systems of innovation (NIS) and role of knowledge transfers particular sectors of NIS.
2 Migration and Regional Development. Major topics include: brain drain and brain gain, tacit knowledge transfers, impact of labour migration on regional development, regional disparities and cohesion policies.
3 Behavioural Economics and Finance. Major topics include: risk tolerance and pre-selection of migrants, complex decision making in migration and finance.

Education and training

Dates 1991-1993 PhD in Macroeconomics
Name and type of organisation providing education and training Institute for Forecasting of the Slovak Academy of Science, Slovak Republic
Dates 1985-1989, Master Degree, Economics, statistics, accounting management
Name and type of organisation providing education and training Economics University, the Faculty of Economics of Services and Tourism, Slovakia

Research awards

Vladimir Baláž obtained several research awards and fellowships with Universities in the UK (Exeter, London Metropolitan – ESRC, EPSRC, Leverhulme, British Academy), Germany (Universität zu Köln - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) and Japan (Sapporo Gakuin University - Japanese Society for Promotion of Science).

Work for Government Office of the Slovak Republic: Since 2014 Vladimír has been team leader for the large-scale evaluation projects on impacts by the European Structural and Investment Funds on achieving the Europe 2020 targets. The work was commissioned by the Slovak Government Office, and the KPMG Slovakia.
In 2016-2020 Vladimír was appointed an economic advisor for the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic (Mr. Robert Fico, Mr. Peter Pellegrini).



Other jobs

1. Exeter University, Dept. of Geography (UK). Period: 1997-2003. Post held: Research fellow with the ESRC, British Academy and the Leverhulme Foundation. Projects ‘Mobility in Central Europe. Trans-border Co-operation and Regional Development’, ‘Mobility by the Highly Skilled’ and ‘The Unintended and Indirect Effects of Performance Measurement and Regulation on UK Productivity: A Multidisciplinary Overview’. The projects dealt with topics of international and domestic migration, and brain drain and brain gain. Research findings were published in top World journals for migration and regional development (International, Migration, International Migration Review, Regional Studies, Environment and Planning, European Urban and Regional Studies, etc.).

2. University of Surrey, Faculty of Business, Economics and Law (UK). Period: 2011-2012. Post held: Research fellow with the Leverhulme Foundation. Project title: Mobility, Risk and Uncertainty. The project investigates the willingness of individuals to take risks from the perspective of behavioural economics. It examines the importance of known risk versus ambiguity and uncertainty as well as the mediating effects of accumulated knowledge in shaping attitudes to the risks associated with mobility.

Expertise works for the European Commission:

Vladimir Baláž prepared number of studies commissioned by the Slovak Prime Minister Office, Ministries of Economy and Finance and European Commission. Most important studies include:

2015-2020: Country expert in the project Research and Innovation Observatory (Joint Research Centre, Brussels). The initiative of the European Commission to monitors and analyses research and innovation developments at Country and EU levels to support better policy making in Europe.
2016: Country expert in the Policy Support Facility for Slovakia – the Start-up initiative. The European Commission designed the PSF to help EU Member States reform their research and innovation policies.
2015-2018: Participant contact for Slovakia in the H2020 project: YMOBILITY - Youth mobility: maximizing opportunities for individuals, labour markets and regions in Europe.
2015: Country expert in the Stairway to Excellence project. (Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Seville). The project analysed synergies between European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), Horizon 2020 (H2020) and other EU funding programmes in the EU Countries.
2007-2014: Country expert in the project ERAWATCH. The ERAWATCH was the European Commission's information platform on European, national and regional research systems and policies. The project mapped R&D policies in 61 countries of the World. It supported the implementation of the Innovation Union flagship initiative under the Europe 2020 strategy.
2013: Principal evaluator of the Smart Specialisation Strategy for the Slovak Republic 2014-2020; appointed by the European Commission, DG-Research and Innovation.
2010-2013: Country expert in the project METRIS - Monitoring European trends in Social Sciences and Humanities. The METRIS was a service launched by the European Commission, DG-Research and Innovation, in order to provide an overview of these fields in 27 EU Member Countries.
2010-2013: Country expert in the project Regional Innovation Monitor (RIM). Based on the work of a network of experts, the RIM provided detailed information on regional innovation policies for 20 EU Member States.
2011-2012: Country expert in the project Social Impact of Emigration and Rural-Urban Migration in Central and Eastern Europe. The project was developed in the framework of the EU 2020 Strategy.
2004-2010: Country expert in the project ‘ProInno - Trendchart on Innovation’. The initiative of Directorate General Enterprise and Industry aimed to become the focal point for innovation policy analysis and policy cooperation in Europe. The ProInno initiative covered over 50 countries of the World and was merged with the ERAWATCH in 2011.
2005-2008: Expert for methodology in the project ‘EUROCOOP: Regional Innovation Policy Impact Assessment and Benchmarking Process: Cooperation for Sustainable Regional Innovation’. The project aimed at developing benchmarking strategies for region innovation policies.
2006-2008: Country expert in the project ‘Strategic Evaluation on Innovation and the Knowledge Based Economy in Relation to the Structural and Cohesion Funds, for the Programming Period 2007-2013’;
2007-2008: Country expert in the project ‘Private sector R&D in the new member states’, ETEPS Framework Service Contract.

Bratislava, December 2021