Dr John Bell, Director of the Bioeconomy Directorate in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

John Bell is the Director of the Bioeconomy Directorate in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation.

He is responsible for the strategic direction of the European Commission’s policy on research and innovation under Societal Challenge 2 of Horizon 2020, covering Agriculture, Food, Marine, Biobased industries and the Bioeconomy strategy for EU Research and Innovation policy.

He is on the governing board of the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking, a new €3.7 billion Public-Private Partnership between the EU and the Bio-based Industries Consortium, operating under Horizon 2020.

Before this he was the Chief de Cabinet of the European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn.

He has been a European Commission official since 1993. During his career, to date, he has held a number of senior positions in different areas.

He was a member of the cabinet of Commissioner David Byrne with responsibility for enlargement, public health and global health security issues, including bioterrorism.

As Head of Strategy for the Commission’s Food, Health and Consumers Directorate General, he was responsible for rolling out Regulatory Impact Assessments, modernising stakeholder relations and foresight activities.

He was the Chief of Cabinet for the first Bulgarian European Commissioner, Meglena Kuneva, on Consumer Affairs and Consumer Markets including Global Safety Issues.