Claus Schultze is Policy Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries in charge of Blue Economy Innovation and Investment. Between 2010 and 2016 he was a Policy Analyst at the Competence Centre for Smart and Sustainable Development at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Regional Policy. Before joining the European Commission in 2010, he was Head of the European Regions Research and Innovation Network (2008-2010), Head of Communications at the INTERREG Central Europe Programme (2002-2008), Director of Stuttgart Region European Office (2001-2002) and Policy Officer at Eurocities (1998-2001). He studied Political Science, History, International Relations and European Politics and Administration at the Universities of Tuebingen, Germany and Oxford, UK and at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium.