Olga is part of the Economics of Innovation and Technology research group at UNU-MERIT. Her research interests lie in the field of circular economy transitions with focus on finance and entrepreneurship in emerging markets and developing economies.

She studied at WU Vienna (Vienna University of Economics and Business); University of London - SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies); and UCL (University College London) - The Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources. Olga obtained two Master's degrees - in economics as well as in environmental & development studies.

Currently, Olga works at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) where she manages the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP) which covers 15+ developing countries and has a grant value of ~USD 30 million. GCIP supports start-ups and SMEs with innovative solutions to climate change in the fields of energy, waste, materials, and others by providing business acceleration and investment facilitation services as well as by building capacity of the national innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem actors.

Prior to her employment at UNIDO, Olga worked in both private and public sector and gained extensive international experience in the areas of:

• sustainable finance and investment (Raiffeisen; Morgan Stanley; WHO European Office for Investment; strategic consulting for International Monetary Fund on its technical assistance and for European Commission on the European Globalization Adjustment Fund);
• environmental and natural resource economics (EuroGeoSurveys for European Commission on the PanAfGeo project; International Council on Mining and Metals on a project exploring the value of minerals and metals; University College London - Institute for Sustainable Resources on the "Innovation for Sustainable Development" project; working groups of European Commission related to the raw materials initiative, i.e. European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials, Raw Materials Supply Group, Ad-hoc Working Group on Critical Raw Materials, as well as to the environmental impact assessment, i.e. Expert Group on Circular Economy and Sustainable Production and Consumption; Mineral and Energy Economics Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences); and 
• public policy integrating economy and environment, with focus on circular economy and climate in Poland and EU (Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Climate and Environment; Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology, incl. participating in the above-mentioned working groups of European Commission and also serving as the national reference point for resource-efficient economy at European Environment Agency).

Selected publications by Olga Rataj