New Director-General for JRC
Mr. Herbert J. Allgeier has been appointed Director-General of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), from 15 February 1998. He brings considerable experience in diverse Community policy areas, as well as in industry, to lead the JRC at a crucial stage in its development. After graduating in Mechanical Engineering from the Technical University of Munich, he spent the early years of his career in industry before joining Euratom. In 1976, he joined the Commission's Directorate-General for Science, Research and Development in Brussels as Assistant to the Director-General. He then managed the reorganization of the JRC in the early 1980s as Assistant to its then Director-General, before joining the Cabinet of Karl-Heinz Narjes, Commissioner responsible for research, from 1985 to 1987. Appointed a Director in 1987, he managed programmes aimed at stimulating collaboration in research and the mobility of scientists, and then in the energy research field. In 1994, he became Director of the Institute of Prospective Technological Studies, overseeing its move to Seville and refocusing in a strategic technological intelligence role in support of EU policies. Most recently, he was Director of Advanced Communications Technologies and Services, with additional responsibility for the Aeronautics Task Force and the Space Coordination Group, reporting directly to Commissioners Edith Cresson, Martin Bangemann and Neil Kinnock.