Shiri M. Breznitz, an economic geographer, specializes in innovation, technology commercialization, and regional economic development. She is an associate professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and a member of the Innovation Policy Lab at the University of Toronto. Dr. Breznitz completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge and her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Her research is at the critical intersection of theory and policy to fit the new realities of globalization. Dr. Breznitz’s work has informed policymaking at the local, national, and international levels. She has advised on the role of universities in the larger story of innovation, on the economic impact of biotechnology, and on the role of clusters in driving innovation. Breznitz has been the Economic Geography section editor for the Geography Compass Journal since 2016. In 2018, Dr. Breznitz co-led the University of Toronto’s first Alumni Impact survey.

Breznitz’s book, “The Fountain of Knowledge” with Stanford University Press (July 2014), analyzes universities’ relationships with government and industry, focusing on the biotechnology industry as a case study. She has also, co-edited the book “University Technology Transfer: The Globalization of Academic Innovation,” with Routledge Press (September 2015). Additional work by Dr. Breznitz has been published in top economic geography, management, and policy journals. Current projects includes work on the creative industries and crowdfunding, evaluating the economic role of students’ entrepreneurship, and a study on the spatial distribution of entrepreneurship.