Dr Carlos López-Gómez

Dr Carlos López-Gómez is the Head of Policy, IfM Engage, University of Cambridge. The policy team operates as a not-for-profit innovation consultancy that works with governments to develop effective industrial innovation policies.

Carlos has extensive research and advisory experience in the fields of industrial and innovation policy. He has advised several national and regional governments as well as international organisations including UNIDO, OECD, ADB, UNCTAD and the World Economic Forum. He has published in academic journals, international organization reports, and specialised magazines.

Carlos started his career with quality control and automation engineering roles at Toyota and General Electric, and has work experience in Japan, Austria, Mexico and the UK. In 2015, he was seconded at Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and was a visiting researcher at the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo. Carlos holds a PhD in industrial and innovation policy from the University of Cambridge.

He is a member of Downing College and Churchill College.

Selected publications

Opinion and media coverage

• ‘Digitalizing Industry in Southeast Asia Needs a Tailored Approach to Ensure All Firms Advance’ (Asian Development Bank, March 2026). In this article, we discuss why digital transformation strategies in Southeast Asia need to reflect the diverse capabilities and needs of firms across the region.
• ‘Manufacturing remains a core driver of economic growth’ (The Economist, July 2025). In this letter, we argue that manufacturing continues to play a central role in productivity, innovation and economic development.
• ‘Technology can create a safer global workforce’ (The Engineer, February 2025). In this opinion piece, we discuss how technology and policy can work together to improve safety for workers globally.
• ‘Reversing the decline – how to revitalise UK industries’ (The Manufacturer, February 2025). In this article, we discuss the need to strengthen UK industrial capabilities and support long-term industrial competitiveness.
• ‘Southeast Asia and Three “Invisible” Preconditions in the New Era of Industrial Policies’ (FULCRUM: Analysis on Southeast Asia, August 2024). In this article, we examine the less visible conditions needed for effective industrial policy in Southeast Asia.
• ‘Five reasons why Mexico needs an industrial innovation strategy now’ (Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy, Policy Brief, July 2024). In this policy brief, we set out five reasons why Mexico needs an industrial innovation strategy to strengthen its long-term economic competitiveness.

Technical reports and policy publications

• ‘Why have the G7 countries had slow growth rates since 1990?’ (Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy, Policy Brief, July 2026; with Lord David Sainsbury and Michele Palladino).
• ‘The changing value and structure of the UK manufacturing sector’ (report for the Department for Business and Trade, March 2026).
• ‘What makes the UK industrial innovation system different?’ (report for the UK National Technology Adviser, September 2025).
• ‘The New Era of Industrial Strategies: Tackling Grand Challenges through Public-Private Collaboration’ (World Economic Forum White Paper, January 2025).
• ‘MSMEs’ access to global value chains and trade finance’ (Global Solutions Initiative Policy Brief; delivered to the G20, September 2021).
• ‘Manufacturing Made Smarter Innovation Hubs’ (Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy Technical Report, April 2021).
• ‘Adding the resilience dimension to industrial policy: lessons from COVID-19’ (background paper for UNIDO’s Industrial Development Report 2022, 2021).

Journal articles

• ‘A new framework for industrial policy: the case of semiconductors in Japan and the United States’ (The Journal of Technology Transfer, 2026; with Yukihiro Sato, Viktória Döme, Mateus Labrunie and Eoin O’Sullivan).
• ‘COVID-19’s impacts on global value chains, as seen in the apparel industry’ (Development Policy Review, 39(6), 953–970, 2021; with Jennifer Castañeda-Navarrete and Jostein Hauge).
• ‘Integración tecnológica y financiera de Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas: hacia una nueva política de industrialización en México’ [Technological and Financial Integration of SMEs: Towards a New Industrial Policy for Mexico] (Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, 30(2), 522–556, 2014; with Andrés Blancas Neria).
• ‘What is new in the new industrial policy? A manufacturing systems perspective’ (Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 29(2), 432–462, 2013; with Eoin O’Sullivan, Antonio Andreoni and Mike Gregory).

Books and book chapters

• ‘Accelerating Industrial Digitalization to Achieve Indonesia’s Vision 2045’ (in Achieving the Golden Indonesia Vision 2045: Pathways and Challenges, Asian Development Bank, 2026).
• ‘Innovate Indonesia: Unlocking Growth through Technological Transformation’ (Asian Development Bank, 2020).
• ‘International approaches to manufacturing research: emerging innovation priorities, programmes & institutions’ (in The Next Production Revolution, OECD Publishing, 2017; with Eoin O’Sullivan).