Sujai Shivakumar

Senior Advisor

Sujai Shivakumar is an expert in American technology and innovation policy, with nearly two decades of experience in directing studies, convening high-level dialogue, and preparing reports at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He has extensive experience in the assessment of public-private technology partnerships, analyses of policies supporting advanced manufacturing and the technical workforce, and comparative reviews of international innovation policies and their impact on the U.S. innovation system.

Dr. Shivakumar directed the Academies’ study of National Innovation Programs for Flexible Electronics and its flagship study of The Supply Chain for Middle-Skill Jobs, He also directed the Academies’ Innovation Policy Forum, a focal point for a national and international dialogue on innovation policy. In addition, he directed the assessment of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program and was the lead researcher on the Academies’ review of the U.S. Manufacturing Extension Partnership. He is a recipient of the National Academies Distinguished Individual Service Award. 

Dr. Shivakumar holds a doctorate in economics from George Mason University and was an Earhart Foundation scholar at the Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University-Bloomington. He is the author of The Constitution of Development (Macmillan, 2005) and co-author with Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom of The Samaritan’s Dilemma, The Political Economy of Development Aid (Oxford UP, 2005). He has served as an advisor to the United Nations Development Programme, Sida, ActionAid, and the Gates Foundation, among other organizations on crafting rules and networks to foster development.