Rafael Escalona Reynoso has been Senior Research Associate and Data Scientist for Portulans Institute since 2020. Before joining the Portulans Team he was the Lead Researcher at The Global Innovation Index (GII) from 2013 to 2020. He is a leader leveraging a unique combination of data and policy analysis and public relations skills plus an ability to influence long-term strategy by demonstrating thought leadership on project management.
From his position as CEO he works closely with the GII Research Team at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and with the GII Advisory Board, Corporate Partners, and its newly-minted Academic Network. His previous professional experience was as a member of the Trade and Foreign Investment Advisory Board at the office of the President of Mexico and as Economic, Science and Technology Policy Advisor to the Senate of Mexico (LVIII Legislature). As part of the congressional advisory group he led research on the economic effects of international biosafety regulations on Mexico’s basic research, industry, and trade and directed comparative analyses on international food and drug safety policies and regulations. These efforts assisted with the enactment of Mexico’s biosafety of genetically modified organisms law (DOF 18-03-2005) and of the regulatory framework for Mexico’s Federal Commission for Sanitary Risks (DOF-13-04-2004).
His research experience at Cornell University includes comparative studies between Mexico and Spain’s National Systems of Innovation and regulatory aspects of modern biotechnology and the biosafety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and on the reach and scope of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the information technologies era. He holds a PhD in Regional Planning with concentrations on Science and Technology Studies and Risk Analysis, Communication, and Policy and a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Science, Technology, and Infrastructure Policy from Cornell University. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Universidad Panamericana in Mexico.
