Matt Hopkins, PhD candidate at SOAS University of London, is also a senior researcher for the Academic-Industry Research Network, a 501(c)(3) non-profit research organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His PhD thesis is titled “Strategic Control and the Role of Executive Compensation in the Innovation or Financialization of Firms”.  His research interests include the innovation process, executive compensation, the finance of innovation, government-business collaboration, and the global dynamics of industrial development. He has participated in a number of research projects supported by the Institute for New Economic thinking. Matt holds a Master’s degree from the former Department of Regional Economic and Social Development at UMass Lowell, and was named the department’s graduate student of the year in 2010. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Economics and English from the University of Southern Maine.