Henny Romijn is an Associate Professor and Chair of Technology & Sustainable Development in the research and teaching group Technology, Innovation and Society at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). A development economist by training, her main specialization is technological innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainable development in the Global South, especially in the domain of renewable energy. Her main geograhical focus areas are Eastern Africa, the Horn of Africa, and Indonesia.  She lived and worked for several years in East Africa and India before joining academia.

Henny’s research interests include the role of technological innovations in combating poverty and fostering sustainable development in developing countries, and the trade-offs that are often produced between social, environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability outcomes. She applies a socio-technical systems perspective, using insights from sustainability transitions research, international technology transfer & local technological capacity-building approaches, sustainable business model literature, and development governance. She likes to combine these with techno-economic feasibility studies and sustainability assessments in interdisciplinary mixed-methods research. She prioritizes research that can yield tangible positive impacts on fhe ground for disadvantaged people. Henny takes a special interest in determinants of ‘success’ & ‘failure’ of energy projects.

Henny Romijn obtained her PhD in Economics from Tilburg University. Her PhD focused on drivers and processes of technological capability building in economic development, particularly with reference to the role of small-scale engineering firms. She has served as the project leader of three international collaboration programmes. The first of these focused on identifying and remedying sustainability problems associated with utilization of liquid biofuels in East Africa and India (funded by the Netherlands Science Organization - NWO). The second project aimed at entrepreneurship development among disadvantaged people in Uganda (also funded by NWO). The third one was an international technology transfer project (funded by EU's EuropeAid and in partnership with CARE) to assist two Somali universities in setting up the first BSc education programmes in their country in the field of eletrical engineering and renewable energy services: https://www.tue.nl/en/our-university/about-the-university/technology-for-global-development/research/projects/the-bridges-project-somalia/ 

Before joining TU/e, Henny worked for different well-known development institutions, including Queen Elizabeth House (University of Oxford), the Institute of Social Studies (The Hague), the Development Research Institute of Tilburg University, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and the International Labour Organisation. She worked on several enterprise support programs in East Africa and South Asia.  

Henny has published in leading journals such as Environmental Science and Policy, Energy Policy, Research Policy, Energy and Sustainable Development, the Journal of Responsible Innovation, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Biomass & Bioenergy, World Development, Sustainability, the Journal of Development Studies, Oxford Development Studies, and the Development Policy Review. She has also authored and contributed to several books.