Born in 1947, B. J. G. van der Kooij earned an MBA at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Holland in 1975, and an MSEE with a focus on microelectronics at Delft University of Technology, Holland in 1977. He began his professional career in upper management at Holec NV, a manufacturer of electrical power systems. From 1982 to 1986, he was a member of the Dutch Parliament, where he used his expertise in the fields of economics, industrial and science policies, technological innovation, and aviation policy. He later became a part-time professor at Eindhoven University of Technology. He went on to launch his own startup company Ashmore Software BV.

The author of three books and a number of articles on innovation, he was accepted as a PhD candidate at at his alma mater, the Delft University of Technology, in 2013, where he aims to develop a multidimensional model explaining innovation.

Van der Kooij is married and spends most of his time working in the South of France.