Taco van Someren studied Business Economics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and then went on to work as a manager in the consumer goods industry. He subsequently received his PhD degree from the Tinbergen Institute/University of Amsterdam, graduating summa cum laude. As a partner in KPMG, he started up new divisions both in the Netherlands and abroad, specializing in the field of sustainability and innovation. He later started his own consultancy firm, Ynnovate.

Van Someren is the academic founder of the professional field of non-technological innovations, and has international experience in the renewal of business models. He has been appointed Seconded Innovation Expert at the European Commission, and since 2006, has been special professor and special advisor of ‘Strategic Innovation and Sustainability’ at the Beijing Normal University. In 2008 he was appointed professor of Strategic Innovation & Sustainability at Nyenrode.