<p>Maive RUTE Deputy Director-General, DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW) Since November 2020 Deputy Director-General at DG GROW, previously Deputy Director-General of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ms Rute joined the European Commission in 2005 to become Director for the SME policy, bringing in her previous management experience from the Estonian business and export financing and the Estonian central bank. Ms Rute also worked as Director for Biotechnologies, Food and Agriculture Research and as a Resource Director in DG Research and Innovation. Ms Rute graduated as an agricultural economist from the Estonian University of Life Sciences and holds an MBA from the Danube University Krems, Austria, and a Masters in international politics from CERIS, Belgium.</p>