Signe
RATSO

Signe Ratso is Deputy Director-General and a member of the Management Board of the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission.

She is responsible for Innovation, Prosperity and International Cooperation Directorates and she is Chief negotiator for association policy on Horizon Europe.

She has taken up the direct lead for international cooperation with Europe, Americas and thematic coherence as well as Asia, Africa, Middle East & External Relations.

She oversees some of the priority areas of the Commission in DG R&I such as the Human Frontier Science Program. During the period September 2024 – April 2025, she also stepped in the role of acting Director of Directorate A “ERA & Innovation”, which is responsible for European Semester, European Research Area, European Innovation Council, Open Science and Research Infrastructures, and Access to Finance among others.

Before joining DG R&I in 2018 she had worked in different senior management positions in DG TRADE since 2006.

Signe Ratso has always been involved in international affairs. Before joining the Commission she worked as Deputy Secretary General (from 1994 to 2005) at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of the Republic of Estonia.

She has two University degrees from Tartu University in Estonia.