Government ownership of firms seems to be making a remarkable comeback around the world, particularly in the nexus of sustainability transitions and strategic autonomy.

This resurgence of government ownership as part of industrial policy is intuitively compelling, but raises many questions that call for further research:

• How well equipped are state-owned firms to advance strategic autonomy and/or sustainability transitions policy?

• How can the multi-faceted contribution of government ownership be operationalized and measured?

• At what level of government, and under what kind of governance, can government ownership best contribute to green policy and strategic autonomy? 

• Can we imagine multi-lateral government ownership for global green industrial policy?

• How can we conceptualize processes of re-municipalization/re-nationalization?

• How do government-owned enterprises involved in green industrial policy handle digitalization?

• What adverse side-effects of increased government ownership can be distinguished in markets, rule of law systems and geopolitical interactions, and how can these be mitigated?

To address these, and related, questions, Utrecht University’s strategic research theme Institutions for Open Societies organizes a multi-day, international research workshop on Government Ownership for Sustainability and Strategic Autonomy that is open for academics and policymakers.