Cristina Mihai has been working for the Research Council of Norway for more than 10 years. In her
current position, she is responsible for the Council’s project portfolio within social science in energy
research. She is also working with the cooperation between Norway and Romania in the field of
research (EEA and Norway Grants) together with UEFISCDI.
She holds a MSc in Political Economy from BI Norwegian School of Management and one of her areas
of interest is the “revival of public sector”. Cristina truly believes in Mazzucato’s view of the
entrepreneurial State as innovator taking risks in many areas of the public sphere. She will try to
argue thorugh her presentation that innovation and science can move forward only if the State
prepares the ground trough massive investment. Examples from government strategies, action plans
and other public documents from Norway show how the country builds strong institutions that
attract research and development from both public and private sector.