Natasha Kapil

Europe and Central Asia region of the World Bank Group (WBG)

Senior Private Sector Specialist in the Finance; Competitiveness; and Innovation Global Practice

Natasha  brings nearly two decades of global experience in firm competitiveness,  research modernization, innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem analytics  and programming. Natasha has supported national and regional governments,  national agencies, and entrepreneurship ecosystem enablers, including in East  Asia, Latin America, South Asia, and Africa.

Based in Brussels, she serves as  Competitiveness and Innovation Lead for the EU, focusing on Bulgaria,  Croatia, Poland, and Romania. Currently, she leads the operationalization of  the World Bank flagship “Europe 4.0: Addressing the Digital Dilemma”, the  design of a flagship pilot program with DG REGIO on digitization and  managerial practices upgrading for the EU recovery; implementation of DG  REFORM initiative supporting "Romania's Startup Ecosystem  Strategy".

She is deeply passionate about addressing climate change and  leveraging her background to design mechanisms that stimulate private sector  ingenuity to accelerate the green transition. Ms. Kapil will present an  overview of the Public Expenditure Reviews on Science, Technology, and  Innovation (PER STI).

The PER methodology was developed by the World Bank,  with support from the European Commission’s DG Employment. The modular PER  tool was designed with the view to support EU countries at each step of the  programming process, with special focus on issues of program design,  implementation and governance.

The presentation will provide insights into  the 4-phased instrument, including the policy and instrument mapping,  functional analysis, efficiency, and effectiveness analysis. It will also  include key highlights from recent and ongoing analytics in Bulgaria,  Croatia, Poland, and Romania.

An understanding of some of these broad trends  can provide insights to all member states keen on strengthening the  efficiency and effectiveness of innovation programming with the view to  support a speedy recovery and bridge the global innovation divide.