Professor Paul Nightingale is Director of Strategy and Operations at the Economic and Social Research Council – part of UK Research and Innovation. Paul is Professor of Strategy at the University of Sussex and was Deputy Director of the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU). He is one of the UK editors of Research Policy, the leading international innovation studies journal. Originally trained as a chemist, he worked in industry before undertaking a PhD in Science Policy at SPRU. His main areas of research are science policy and the strategic management of technology, and he has researched extensively on innovation and its management and financing. Paul spent most of his career as a contract researcher and spent 10 years with the Complex Product Systems Innovation Centre.