5TH BALKAN & BLACK SE CONFERENCE „DAYS OF CLUSTERS 2014“ MODERATORS AND SPEAKERS PROFILE Can Ortabaş is the chairman of Urla Şarapçılık, the young winery that helped put the eponymous Aegean town on the Turkish wine map, neighbouring the 200 hectare Uzbaş Tarım, one of the prominent arboretums in Turkey specializing in Mediterranean plants, founded by Ortabaş back in the year 1998 where the palm tree collection is the largest plantation in the entire world. As the leading wine producer of the area, he feels it is their responsibility to guide local efforts for bringing life to the region as a center for wine trade and tourism cherishing local values, traditions and indigenous grape varieties in collaboration with other ventures in the area. His efforts in viticulture have so far presented two long-forgotton indigenous varities to the Turkish grape collection; ‘Urla Karası’ and ‘Gaydura’, both propogated from a single plant. His wines have been awarded with over 90 medals at notable international contests including consecutive ‘Regional Trophy’ awards in the respected Decanter World Wine Awards in 2013 and 2014 for the Nero d’Avola-Urla Karası blend. Their flagship wine ‘Tempus’ was the first ever Turkish wine tasted by the US critic and wine writer Robert Parker.

The winery, already a candidate for the LEED certification, that utilizes solar power to produce more electricity than CAN ORTABAŞ the winery consumes, was selected as one of the 10 most distinguished projects in 2010 by Arkitera, the leading Chairman of Urla Şarapçılık, Turkey independent architectural institution in Turkey. Each year, over 25,000 people visit the winery from where they are directed openheartedly to other attractions of the Urla region as a concrete evidence of his dream come true.

Economical background, with extended professional experience from the humanitarian and development support institutions. Advisory support for implementation and financial management of local development projects. In charge of SME development in construction, textile and agro sector through cluster initiative. Development of action plans and planning and implementation of training seminars for Cluster support. One of authors of the Cluster House Model for Economic Development in the Balkan. GORAN ZLATKOVIC The TCI member. Executive Director of the Cluster House Nis Serbia Member of the Organizing Committee of the V Balkan and Black Sea Conference “Days of Clusters 2014”

Werner Pamminger is an experienced executive and senior consultant for a many years. After a couple of years in industry as an engineer, Werner became in 2006 the CEO of Clusterland Upper Austria Ltd. the Upper Austrian regional development agency for cluster and network management, responsible for 50 employees and an annual budget of about 6.5 mil €. Werner is an international renowned expert in cluster management and in the plastics industry, he has established the Upper Austrian Plastics Cluster since 1999 (a plastic industrial network of about 400 contributing companies). Clusterland Upper Austria ltd. is considered as a role model of excellent and successful cluster management within Europe. His main competences are situated in the fields of general management, project management, institutional development, workshop trainings and moderation. He serves in various expert groups and boards (e.g. on the TCI board). Werner has a science (M.Sc. in automation engineering, University of Applied Science, Wels) and a business administration (M.B.A. University of Toronto) university degree, various training and education WERNER PAMMINGER in organisational development and lived/worked in the United States for 1 year. Werner lives with his wife and son in Upper Austria. CEO Clusterland Oberösterreich GmbH (Clusterland Upper Austria ltd)

Fabio Russo, national of Italy, is a Senior Officer at the Clusters and Business Linkages Unit of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Vienna, Austria. Since taking up his duties in 1992, he has been managing various projects for private sector development worldwide. His main area of expertise is on Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Cluster/Networks and value chains development. He is responsible for the UNIDO programme on SME export and origin consortia and has forged various partnerships with other UN Agencies, FABIO RUSSO Academia and International Organizations for the promotion of Origin-Linked Products. Senior Officer at the Clusters and Business Linkages Unit of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Vienna, Austria Born in in Ankara Hilal UNAL has completed his bachelors in Middle East Technical University in City and Regional Planning department After she graduated she got accepted to Middle East Technical University to complete her Master Degree in Public Administration. She started her professional carreer as International Relations adn foreign trade in several companies Than she was transferred to GOKSER MAKINA under the title of Project Manager. She was responsible from developing and managing Research and Development Projects. “Coordinator Special Award” was given by The HİLAL ÜNAL Scientific and Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) two times since she had the coordinator role in FP7 Projects. She developed and managed more than 10 national funded R&D Project and four Framework 7 Project granted by Cluster Coordinator European Union and In 2011 she joined OSSA as coordinator. She is managing two projects funded by the Ministry of Defence and Aerospace Cluster (OSSA), Ankara, Turkey Economy.

Current Business: • Partner, VEGO Consulting Ltd. Izmir, Turkey Consulting SMEs in Strategic Management, Export Development, Marketing and Brand Development, Supply Chain Management. Consulting and Training in donor funded Government and Private funded projects in Cluster Development, Entrepreneurship Development, Export Development. • UNIDO Senior Cluster Development and Business Linkages Expert (projects in Turkey, Kuwait, Montenegro). • Lecturer, Izmir University of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration; Teaching “Strategic Management” and “International Business” Izmir, Turkey. Experience: • 2007-present / Partner, VEGO Consulting Ltd./Part time Instructor at İzmir University of Economics • 2003/06 – 2006/07 / Director, EU-Turkey Business Center (ABIGEM) EU funded project. • 1985-2003 / Executive Positions in Food, Textiles, Office Automation, Cosmetics Sector Companies. VEDAT KUNT • 2010-present / Board Member, INSME-International Network for SMEs, Rome, Italy Partner, VEGO Consulting Ltd. Izmir, Turkey Have broad experience with enterprises in strategic management, export development, sales and marketing, brand management, organizational development, innovative product and service development at national and international Part time Instructor at İzmir University of Economics level and Cluster development, Entrepreneurship Development and Export Marketing in various Donor funded Member of Program Committee of the Balkan and Black Sea projects. Conference “Days of Clusters 2014” Education: • 9 September University, Faculty of Social Sciences, International Marketing, MBA, Izmir, Turkey • Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Engineering; Industrial Engineering, BSc. ’85, Ankara, Turkey

Christin Pfeiffer is Secretary General at INSME – the International Network for SMEs from January 2012 based in Rome. Since 2007 she has worked as a Consultant at APRE – Agency for the Promotion of European Research as appointed National Contact Point for international cooperation. She was directly involved in different FP7 projects and assisted SMEs in submitting research proposals to the Framework Programme as an expert for the specific Programme “Research for the benefit of SMEs”. She managed a project on innovation management for SMEs as well as projects with China and South Africa to enhance scientific collaboration with Europe. Christin Pfeiffer is particularly involved in training and transferring knowledge on a national and international scale with a special focus on project writing and managing and innovation and technology transfer enabling issues. CHRISTIN PFEIFFER Prior to APRE, she worked at DaimlerChrysler Italia (External Affairs and Public Policy) and as a Researcher for the Secretary General Italian Government Institute for Industrial Promotion in the field of International Cooperation (projects on access to micro-finance and knowledge transfer). She graduated in Law, Economics and Italian Philology, (M.A.) and European INSME, Italy Studies (M.E.S.).

Born in Izmir in 1969, Akgerman graduated from Robert College in İstanbul and has a Bachelor’s degree in Tourism and Management from Bilkent University, Ankara. Akgerman started his career in travel industry as an Information Clerk whilst a student and worked his way to General Manager in 1994 and Vice Chairman and CEO in 1998 of Çimentaş Turistik İşl. Yatırım San. Ve Tic. A.Ş. (Çittur) Now, he is the Chairman. He also served as a Member of the Board of Çimbeton Hazırbeton ve Prefabrik Yapı Elemanları (1997-1999), then as General Manager of Çimstone Doğal Kompoze Taş İşletmeleri (1999-2002) Currently, he is the Chairman of AKG Yalıtım İnşaat Malzemeleri San. ve Tic. A.Ş and More Su Ürünleri Ticaret A.Ş. and AKG Trading Ltd.; Vice Chairman of AKG Gazbeton İşletmeleri San. ve Tic. A.Ş. and Ertuğ Balık Üretim Tesisi Gıda ve Tarım İşl. San. Ve Tic. A.Ş. Akgerman also holds positions as Vice Chairman of Rekmar Advertising and Urla Winery. He previously served as Vice Chairman of Genç İşadamları Holding A.Ş. (1997-2005); as Member of the Board of Doğalgaz Dağıtım A.Ş. (2003-2005) and Dost Sigorta Aracılık Hizmetleri A.Ş (1996-1999). Akgerman is the former Chairman of Aegean Industrialist Businessmen Association (ESİAD), former Board Member of Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TÜSİAD); Former Vice Chairman of TÜRKONFED (Turkish BÜLENT AKGERMAN Business and Enterprise Confederation); Former Chairman of SEDEFED (Federation of Industrial Federations); Former Chairman and presently Advisory Board Member of Aegean Young Businessmen Association (EGİAD); former Chairman of AKG Group of Companies; Chairman and presently a Member of the Advisory Board of AIESEC İzmir; former Vice Commadore of Aegean Vice Chairman of Urla Winery; Offshore Yacht Club (EAYK); former member of Aegean Region Chamber of Industry (EBSO). Bülent Akgerman is the Honorary Consul of Ireland in Izmir. He is also member of High Advisory Council of ESIAD, Founder and President of Chaine des Rotisseurs Vice Chairman of the Board of Çimentaş Education and Health Foundation and the Board of Turkish American Izmir, Turkey Business Association (TABA – AmCham); Board Member of Turkish – Italian Chamber of Commerce of İzmir, Aegean Forest Foundation (Ege Orman Vakfi); Member of Assembly of İzmir Chamber of Commerce; Member of KALDER, Fenerbahçe 1907, Dokuz Eylül Rotarians, İRD (İzmir Reklamcılar Derneği) and Member and Founder of Aegean Contemporary Education Foundation (EÇEV); Senator of Junior Chamber International. Akgerman is also the founder and President of Chaine des Rotisseurs, Izmir Branch. He enjoys cooking, photography, traveling, sailing, skiing and diving. Akgerman is married to Özlem and has a nine years old daughter, named Defne.

Mr. Carsten Lund M.Sc. (Econ.) now based in Copenhagen is President of the Cluster House, Nis, Serbia. The Cluster house includes all functions and facilities necessary for development of clusters like cluster management, advisory service, training and education, training and meeting facilities, and cluster administration. Cluster House is the outcome of the Local Economic Development Program (LEDIB) focusing on cluster development in South Eastern Serbia in the sector for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Program has been financed by the Danish Foreign Ministry. Based in Nis Serbia for five years Mr. Lund was responsible for the implementation of the Program. Mr. Lund has many years of international business experience from working in the private business sector, where he has had leading positions in the pharmaceutical business, electronics, domestic appliances etc. Further he has been CARSTEN LUND, M.Sc. (Econ.) an entrepreneur and director/partner of an SME within the energy savings business. Mr. Lund has also been active in the consulting business advising entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs. President of the Cluster House Assembly, Denmark Mr. Lund has recently updated his knowledge at Harvard Kennedy School, Boston, US following two programs: Member of the Organizing Committee of the V Balkan and “Leading Economic Growth” and “Innovation for Economic Development”. Black Sea Conference “Days of Clusters 2014”

Graduated both as an engineer and economist, Daniel Cosnita has been working in the last 10 years in the fields of technology transfer and innovation and of regional economic development. Ha has been involved in setting up several pilot projects like the IT Business Incubator of the Technical University in Timisoara (UBIT), the clusters Pro Wood (wood and furniture), Cluster2Success (IT, cross border RO-HU) etc. Since 2008 he has been supporting the Romanian Ministry for Economy in the generation of the national cluster policy, by performing the cluster mapping exercise at national level, contributing to the elaboration of the Guide of Applicants of the financing schemes dedicated to the poles of competitiveness etc. Currently he is a member of the team of experts supporting the Ministry of Education and Research in the elaboration of the Smart Specialisation Strategy of Romania. He acted as a consultant for the Algerian government in setting up a national network of business incubators and for the Turkish government in the elaboration of the national cluster strategy. He has generated and managed numerous national and international projects - especially FP6, FP7, and has run several project generation seminars in Romania and abroad based on the concept of individual and institutional learning. Since 2011 he is the president of the Romanian DANIEL COSNITA Cluster Association. President of the CLUSTERO-Romanian Cluster Association Professional experience: a. Experience of 31 years in RDI. b. Assessor of RDI projects (12 years experience). c. Responsible of QA of the “INVENT” – Romanian RDI Programme (2001-2006). d. Executive Director (1998-2006) of EMS, QMS Certification Body, accredited by 2007. e. Manager and Auditor for quality, environment, occupational health and safety management systems. DR. CORNELIA MURARU-IONEL, Agricultural Mechanical f. Co-author of one patent. Engineer g. Last relevant graduated courses: "Cluster Manager" and "Innovation Manager" (2012). Senior Researcher within INMA - National Institute of R-D h. Manager/responsible of 35 RDI European and national RDI projects: for Machines and Installation designed to Agriculture and Food Industry. Head of Technology and Business Incubator - "CLUSTERIX - European Innovation Clusters for Cross-Linking" - INTERREG IV C – ongoing project (project INMA-ITA (member of Ecabit – Network of Business responsible); Incubators and Technology Parks in Eastern Europe and - "Collaborative systems and mechanisms of economic clusters and networks of firms in the global knowledge Central Asia). Manager of IND-AGRO-POL Competitiveness economy - CLUSTIONVA", Romanian RDI Programme (project manager); Pole (bronze labelled by ESCA). Vice-president of the CLUSTERO – Romanian Clusters Association - "Developing the concept of technological pole in regional plan and clusters in regional networks, support of increasing the competitiveness of economic operators from machinery industry - INOVCLUSTER I", Romanian RDI Member of: Romanian RDI College Advisory; WG “Clusters Programme (project manager); of Excellence” – the Danube Strategy; ARoTT - Romanian Association for Technology Transfer; SIMAR - Society of g. More than 90 scientific publications (of which 7 books and 12 ISI articles). Mechanical Engineers Romania; EurAgEng - European Award: Society of Agricultural Engineers - 2008: Award for the best performing Romanian Technology and Business Incubator (INMA-ITA).

The most of his professional life dedicated to development of Free zones, starting from his master thesis “Influence of Free Zones on employment increase and direct foreign investment” over his PhD thesis „The role of free zones in the process of restructuring economy of Serbia” up to more then 20 work papaers regarding this subject. For his business results Mr. Kostic has been awarded as the best entrepreneur in 2011 by Serbian Chamber of Commerce. As president od Regional Chamber of Commerce Nis Mr. Kostic was awarded by Kapetan Misa Anastasijevic award for outstanding results in bussiness, and contribution to the economic capacity of the region and others.

During his leader ship Free zone Pirot company has been also awarded many times on national and international level, by awards for corporative filantrophy or by ancknoledgemnt of the magazine „Foreign Direct Investment“ DR. DRAGAN KOSTIC magazine as 41st Free zone in the world reference to busines incetives and its achived results. Mr Kostic is also President of group of Free zones of Serbia founder of the diving club Pirot and its active member. President of Regional Chamber of Commerce of Nis Chief Executive Officer of Free zone Pirot Natasha Sivevska is technology textile engineer with 18 years experience in textile sector. She has involved in the field of export activities, lobby and advocacy, market research and project development. Since 2005 she is on the position of executive director of the TTA-TC (Textile trade association of Macedonia – Textile cluster). TTA-TC is NGO, whose primary goal is improving companies’ competitiveness, thus registering world trends in global market, as well as adjusting the participants’ own production to such trends and changes. Her professional career has included activities and functions in the Association as organizing operative, financial, strategic, and action planning for the Association, coordinating and supporting the association members in their activities, daily communication with Government institutions, Business Organisations and Donors, Education faculties and similar Associations in the region or wider, providing information’s for the Association’s members with the requirements of the foreign markets and supporting them in development of their own product with the aim to reach the vision of competitive textile industry in the region. NATASHA SIVEVSKA Natasha Sivevska is a member of the NECC (National Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness Council) and Member of Executive director Textile trade association the Textile committee in the Macedonian Institute for standardization, working on implementation of European Textile cluster Macedonia textile standards. She contributed in the publication of Monograph for 100 year anniversary of Food processing, Textile, Chemical and Metallurgy Industry in Macedonia, published by Association of the Chemists and Technologists

of Macedonia. She was also involved in creation of the Strategy for development of Macedonian textile industry and the action plan for its revitalization, ordered by the Ministry of economy. She successfully managed two cross border and one international IPA projects as well as several regional projects.

Nikolina Trajanoska is working since 1999 at the Ministry of economy of the Republic of Macedonia as a Councillor, Head of Sector. Since 1994-1998 she was delegate at the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia, and from 1977- 1994 was working as a Technical manager, General Manager in one textile factory. Beside the regular working obligations and on several international projects connected to the competitiveness and human resource development, she also actively participated on the projects: Strategy for development of the textile industry in the Republic of Macedonia, Strategy for industrial policy 2009-2020, Strategy for sustainable development of RM, Strategy for Innovation 2012 -2020 and other projects in the Ministry of Economy. DR. NIKOLINA TRAJANOSKA Councillor Ministry of economy of the Republic of Macedonia

Zeljko Erkapic is currently holding the position of CEO in Agricultural Equipment Cluster Ltd. This cluster project was initiated within Croatian Employer's Association by founding National Centre for Clusters in the beginning of 2007 which included another 4 cluster initiatives apart from Agricultural Equipment Cluster. Working on that project in structuring and organizing the cluster almost for two and half years, Agricultural Equipment Cluster separated from National Centre for Clusters in July 2009 and formally was registered as Limited Liability Company. Agricultural Equipment Cluster was awarded with a prize of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship for its achievements, as the most successful cluster in the Republic of Croatia in 2011 and Zeljko was voted for the best cluster manager in Croatia. In 2013 AEC was certified with the „Bronze Label“ certificate of the European Union project „Cluster Excellence“, which additionally ensures greater visibility, recognisability, better positioning and evaluation in further integration regarding the European Union as well as participation in various EU projects and funds. ZELJKO ERKAPIC, MSC. Before coming to current position, in his career Zeljko worked in several distinguished firms mainly as CEO or CEO in Agricultural Equipment Cluster Ltd. commercial manager. His prior education is primarily focused on economics as he graduated the Faculty for Foreign Trade at Zagreb University. He also has a great deal of experience in export and import businesses. During 2004 and Osijek, Croatia after 20 years of experience in the field of economy, he graduated at the postgraduate program of Entrepreneurship at University of J.J. Strossmayer in Osijek and obtained diploma of the Master of Science. Zeljko is also active in a scientific project “Gaining economic prosperity by strengthening regional competitiveness” started by Faculty of Economics in Osijek. He co-authored several scientific studies at the same faculty. Since summer 2009, Zeljko has actively participated as a lecturer at Public Relations and Media Studies Graduate School “Kairos” in Zagreb teaching introductory program called “Entrepreneurship Basics“.

She holds a degree in Biology and a PhD in Environmental Engineering. After over 5 years work as researcher in contract research for industry and on national and European Research Projects (topic: biodegradable plastics), she started a career as consultant for innovation and technology transfer at Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum (SEZ), where she climbed the position of managing director in the year 2000. Petra has been engaged in innovation and related policy issues for more than 15 years. The topics range from exploitation of research results to industry applications to innovation systems and their role to trigger competitiveness. She is working as advisor to industry and policy – latest in regard how to boost innovation through new cluster concepts in cooperation with the Baden-Württemberg Minstry of Finance and Economy. Together with her team of 30 staff members, she develops concepts and strategies in regard to enhance the use of key enabling technologies with a view to emerging industries and smart specialisation. DR. PETRA PÜCHNER She is founder of the European Network of women for innovation energy solutions – women4energy and an expert Managing Director on innovation & gender issues. In the European Strategy for the Danube Region, she represents the Ministry of Finance and Economy in Baden-Württemberg as vice chair of the Working Group on Cluster Excellence within the Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum of the Steinbeis Innovation Priority Area 8. gGmbH, Germany

Zorica Marić works for the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Republic of Serbia, as a senior advisor responsible the development of programs and measures for cluster development support, program implementation, analyses and benchmarks as a basis for the program. She was involved in initiation of establishment of over 20 cluster initiatives in Serbia, provided support in their development, cluster specific action programmes; cross-cutting policies and programmes; cluster policy advocacy, promotion and communication; evaluation of the cluster initiatives performance and preparation of recommendations for future work. Before her engagement at the Ministry, she worked for 20 years in various private companies mainly the foreign trade sector. She graduated with a degree in Economics in 1981 at the Faculty of Economic, University of Belgrade,

where she in 2010, also obtained Master’s degree at the postgraduate study course “Theory and Policy of Economic ZORICA MARIĆ Development”. Her thesis is entitled “Serbian Cluster Initiatives Performance Analyses". Senior advisor Ministry of Finance and Economy, Republic of Serbia

Dr. MARKO KOŠČAK was a Project Manager of the Dolenjska and Bela krajina Heritage Trails Partnership in SE from 1996 - 2009. He was and still is involved in different activities in the field of Rural Development in Slovenia and abroad since 1986, when he started implementing Integrated Rural Development Projects on local- community level in Municipality of , Slovenia. Since then he was a regular consultant with the Ministry of Agriculture, where employed from 1999 – 2001 as an Advisor to the Government in the Sector for Structural policy and Rural development. He studied in , Birmingham (UK), Vienna (Austria) and in 1999 completed his PhD on the thesis »Transformation of rural areas along the Slovene – Croatian border« at the Faculty of Arts – Department of Geography. He is a founding member of the Slovenian Rural Development Network, which is part of the European Network »PREPARE«. From 2009 he is a lecturer at VERN, Zagreb, Croatia – High School for Management on topic of Rural Tourism, ERUDIO – High School for Sustainable Tourism in Ljubljana, Slovenia on topic of Ecotourism and from 2012 at University of , Faculty of Tourism Brežice, Slovenia on topics of Destination Management and Tourism Strategies. His work experiences are primarily on the following fields: Rural and Regional development, DR. MARKO KOŠČAK Sustainable Community Development, Economic Diversification on farm, Sustainable Heritage Tourism, Rural STUDIO MKA, Slovenia Tourism, Ecotourism, Strategic Planning in Tourism, Destination management and Product Development as well as Cross-border Co-operation.

Enric Pedrós received his Bachelor in Management and Business Administration from Lleida University. He also holds other study qualifications in International Trade from The Ney York University, and has completed courses in cluster managing in IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. Enric is interested in Cluster Innovation systems, and almost all part of its professional experience has been enrolled on this issues. He joined the Catalan Cluster FEMAC in 1998, and since then has been involved in Marketing, internationalization and Innovation Projects for the companies and members of the cluster, and 2012 FEMAC received by the European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis, sponsored by the EU Commission the recognition of the GOLD LABEL, to his excellent management in Clusters. He is also member of TCI-Network, an International Cluster Organization. Enric as a Cluster marketing professional is deeply involved in various projects dealing with market research, internationalization and commercial strategy. Cluster strategy, the management of marketing tools, as well as international cluster cooperation matters are one of his main scope of work since many years. Enric’ philosophy is to

ENRIC PEDRÓS approach all opportunities from an cluster perspective and pursue innovative ideas with a point-of-relevant mindset. Throughout his career he has combined business with engagement as a professor in different courses in the Cluster Manager at FEMAC University of Lleida, and ESMA School. Enric is married with two kids, he is passionate about his family, playing tennis, travelling around the world or just The Catalan Cluster of Agricultural Machinery in Lleida, lying at good beach. Catalonia, Spain

Christina Leucuta is Senior Advisor CLUSTERO-Romanian Cluster Association with over 10 years of experience in managing projects on social innovation and cluster policy. She was Director at the Ministry of Economy-Directorate for Industrial Policies and Cluster Policy Coordinator. She has performed consultancy work for the International Labour Organization-ILO and OECD LEED on social innovation and the decent work concept in the Romanian TCF sectors. She was the representative of Romania in the Enterprise Policy Group-Director General within European Commission-DG Enterprise and Industry. Since 2008, Christina Leucuta has carried out research on clustering process and competitiveness, social and industrial innovation, SME promotion and value chain development. Christina Leucuta holds a Master in Economics-International Economic Relations from the Academy of Economics, Bucharest Romania and several diplomas in technology foresight for decision makers (UNIDO Viena), cluster managers training (France Clusters), ESCA Cluster Benchmarking Expert Certificate VDI/VDE Berlin Germany; “Towards world class clusters in Romania”(ILO/ITC Geneva),European integration (Irish Management Institute). CHRISTINA LEUCUTA Management experience Senior Advisor CLUSTERO-Romanian Cluster Association -Project Manager and main author of the studies within ILO program for improving competitiveness in the Romanian light industry by promoting the decent work; -Project Manager Ministry of Economy as partner – SEENECO project-CIP program and ClusterPoliSEE-Trans-national Cooperation Program for South East Europe; -Coordinator of Romanian Cluster Policy within INOVCLUSTER projects; She is author of several articles in INTARZIA review, DIALOG TEXTIL and she has represented Romania at several international events. - Women Initiative for development of the Balkan Rural Tourism 18-20.06.2014; - UNIDO’s project assisting the FYR Macedonia’s tourism sector 17.03.2014; Women Initiative for development of the Balkan Rural Tourism 18-20.06.2014; - UNIDO’s project assisting the FYR Macedonia’s tourism sector 17.03.2014; - Development of Creative Wine and Other Routes as Tourists Product 10-12.05.2013; - Iter Vitas route 22.04.2013-24.04.2013; Decentralization in the Republic of Macedonia: Desire, need or reality 2013;

- ProNet module “Soft Skills for Communication and Negofiatin for Investors” Attraction december 2013;

Active participation in the projects of the CENET fondation and Tikves vine rute foundation; IVICA VELKOVSKI - Human Resourccce Development Cooperation Programs in the framework of China’s foreign Aid’Manuals for Tikves Wine Route Cluster, Macedonia participants China 10.10 - 31.10.2012

Nina Vujosevic was born in Podgorica in 1977. She graduated on the Faculty of Economics, University of Montenegro in year 2000. After undergraduate studies, she participated to specialization programmes in the fields of International Economics and Finance including practical courses and trainings in Commercial Bank of Greece in Athens, Deutsche Bank in Berlin and German Institute for Economic Researches in Berlin. In year 2004, she took a Master Degree in International Finance and in year 2009 and the PhD degree in International Economics and European Studies. From 2001 to 2005, she worked at the Institute for Strategic Studies and Prognoses in Podgorica as an analyst in fields of Macroeconomics an International Economics. In 2005 she worked for GIZ, and from 2006 to 2010 she worked for Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank as Head of Public Finance Department. Within the period 2002-2010, she worked as a consultant for organizations like UNDP, USAID, etc. Since November 2010, she works for the Ministry of Economy as Deputy Minister/General Director for DR. NINA VUJOSEVIC Development. The areas of her responsibility is coordination of EU funded projects for the Ministry, participation in EU accession negotiation process, and regional development with the focus on Deputy Minister/General Director for Development at competitiveness enhancing of less developed areas. Nina Vujosevic is also an associated professor at the the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of University of Donja Gorica in Montenegro. Montenegro She speaks English and German, lives in Podgorica and is a mother of three children.

Fabiola Duro is an Albanian specialist on Economic Diplomacy. Her achievements include a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration from the Economic Faculty of Tirana and a Master Degree in Economic Diplomacy from the Mediterranean Academy of Malta. Her professional achievements range from foreign policy to FDI and trade negotiations. Notably, she occupied the position of Project Coordinator at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport up to 2008. She continued as an expert on multilateral economic cooperation at the Investment and Trade Development Directory, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She furthered her academic achievements by taking on the position of Assistant Professor of Business Communication and Entrepreneurship at the Management and Communication Department for SME, Economic Faculty of Tirana. Mrs. Duro worked as an adviser on International Relations and Foreign Direct Investments for the Mayor of Tirana from 2011 to 2014. Her expertise extends on the financial issues as she has been a Financial Consultant at SVN Albania and Kosovo. Her current position is Chief of Cabinet and International Director for Foreign Affairs at the Tirana Chamber of Commerce focusing on Economic PROF. ASS. FABIOLA DURO bilateral and multilateral relations, on economic protocols cooperation, SME developing policies and FDI Head of International Relations at the issues. Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tirana, Albania Mrs. Duro currently resides in Tirana and continues offering her expertise on Economic Diplomatic issues and lobbies to represent the interests of businesses, members of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tirana.

John Murray is originally from Northern England but has been based in Sofia, Bulgaria for 6 years. This allows him to run his Clusters’ Project Management Company throughout Eastern and South-East Europe

as well as Turkey, Mediterranean and Caspian Sea areas. Before this period he was the Chief Executive of a Chamber of Commerce; Director of an Enterprise organization; and way back helped young people get their first job and ran the UK’s first Youth Enterprise Centre. Keen on Sports, Travel and supporting his wife’s Hotel Furnishing Company. John was a Clusters Expert to ClusterPoliSEE for both Internationalisation and Smart Specialisation. 2014 JOHN MURRAY has largely being spent as a professional traveller working on an assignment in Tonga, South Pacific. Growthclusters BG, Bulgaria

Prof. Vassiliοs Makios has received an Electrical Engineering degree from the Technical University in Munich, Germany and a Ph.D from the Max Planck Institute for Plasmaphysics in Munich. He is Professor Emeritus at the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Patras, Greece and at the Dept. of Electronics of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He has been awarded the silver and gold medal of the German Electrical Engineering Society. He is a life senior member of the IEEE, member of the Canadian Association of Physicists, the German Physical Society and the VDE, Professional Engineer of the Province of Ontario and the Greek Technical Chamber. He is a co-founder and Head of the Corallia Clusters Initiative. He has been influential in the establishment of hi-tech companies in Greece and abroad, aiming to enhance innovation in certain areas where Greece can attain international acclaim, by bringing together all key innovation players in a sustainable ecosystem (SMEs, academia, R&D centers, government, suppliers, customers, financial institutions, VCs, etc). He has been involved in teaching and research in microwave and optical communications, data communications networks, LAN's MAN's, B-ISDN and ATM technology with emphasis on efficient hardware implementations and rapid prototyping, and also in photovoltaic systems research. He has published over 150 papers and numerous patents in the above fields. PROFESSOR DR. VASSILIOS MAKIOS Today, he is the General Director of Corallia Clusters Initiative and plays an instrumental role in the design General Director, Corallia Clusters Initiative, Greece and implementation of interventions introduced by Corallia with a vision “to sustain a Greek environment with the right framework conditions to allow sciences, innovation and entrepreneurship to flourish again” and ultimate goal “to establish the brand Innovation Designed in Greece”. More information at: www.corallia.org.

Ivana Mezak, M.Sc. in Economics is Head of Division for Competitiveness Clusters in Croatian Government’s Agency for Investments and Competitiveness. With respectable consulting background in contracting, accounting and auditing in private sector, Ivana continued career in Agency for Regional Development of the Republic of Croatia focusing on multiplex operational risks management and formalization of the ARD procedures with special scope on prescribed checks and control procedures. Presently, Ivana is holding pivotal role in work of 12 national competitiveness clusters which represents the “triple helix” networking institution environment for creation of the comprehensive economic policy in Croatia. IVANA MEZAK Simultaneously with the work in the Agency for Investment and Competitiveness, Ivana is finalizing her Head of Division for Competitiveness Clusters postgraduate thesis on “Quality Theory” at the Faculty of Economics and Business in Zagreb, Croatia. Sector for Competitiveness, Zagreb, Croatia

He was born in 1982 in Inegöl . Primary, secondary and high school education was completed in Bursa. In 2003, he graduated from Konya Selcuk University Faculty of Communication. He has completed graduate studies in International Trade. Since 2010, he holds the position of General Secretary of Inegol Furniture Manufacturers Association.

BILAL PEKER

General Secretary of Inegol Furniture Manufacturers Association, Turkey

Born May, 25, 1962 Graduated Belgrade Medical Faculty 1987 Post Graduate Studies in P.R. China Practiced Medicine in: Yugoslavia, China, South African, Sultanate of Oman, and Grand Cayman Island BWI Returned to Montenegro 2008 and replenished family vineyard that has been in the family for generations. Happily married and father of four GORAN RADEVIC M.D. Owner of Radevic Estate Winery, Montenegro Irena Rezec has vast experience in delivering expertise and implementing complex assignments which focus on: - SME development and related business support services; - private sector and regional competitiveness through strategic management and organization, internationalization and networking/partnering/clustering approaches; - Local and Regional Economic Development; - ICT, advanced information, knowledge and intelligence based services and tools for all the above mentioned domains; - the monitoring of future trends for all the above mentioned domains.

She began her career in the private sector – in software development companies and IT departments. She joined the Ministry of Economic Affairs – Small Business Department (in 1993) and later on the Small Business Development Centre as the Euro Info Centre’s Manager where she became familiar with SME IRENA REZEC development and business support offered either on a local, regional, national or EU level. Since 2002 she Managing Director, WOTRA, Strategic Intelligence Ltd., is the managing director of WOTRA, a private company, and has been continuously involved in the EU and Slovenia other projects worldwide in her areas of expertise in the role of senior expert, project manager, team leader, trainer, evaluator, and reviewer. At the same time, she has been investing a great deal of effort in supporting private initiatives which are connected with collaboration/partnership/networking/clustering models, methodologies and tools, i.e. with the optimization of the existent business collaboration models of her/WOTRA’s clients and the development of new, innovative ones.

Akin Gurbuz is a winemaker and wine consultant for the most prestigious wineries in Turkey. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Viticulture and Oenology from the University of California, Davis. In addition, Akin Gurbuz completed his Masters study in ‘Computer and Information Systems’ at the City University of New York, Brooklyn College. Akin is the founder of Gurbuz Gida AS. An Istanbul based company that is focusing on the production of premium Turkish wine in the near future. He is a judge at the prestigious ‘International Wine Challenge Competition’ in London. He regularly attends wine competitions, symposium, wine tastings and wine educational events in winemaking around the world. He organizes and gives seminars about vineyard management and winemaking for both amateur and wine professionals locally and internationally. Akin is interested in sustainable and organic and biodynamic practices in grape growing and winemaking. AKIN GURBUZ He is also a strong supporter of clustering in wine business. He is a founder of the ‘Winemakers of Thrace’ group and one of the founders of the ‘Turkish Wine Bloggers’ group. Winemaker and wine consultant, Tekirdag, Turkey Akin is a member of Chateau Kalpak’s Advisory Board. Akin lives in Tekirdag with his wife Melike Gurbuz and 6 years old daughter, Alya.

Graduating from the Boğaziçi University initial assignment was at Kutlutaş Holding. Then worked as the founder/partner/GM/president of various companies. In 2004 joined Microsoft Turkey and became General Manager for Middle East and Africa in 2010. Left Microsoft as of September 2011 to focus on his private wine and natural agricultural products business.

SELİM ZAFER ELLİALTI

Owner of Suvla Wines, Trakya Region, Turkey

Milan Vemic has over 10 years of practical enterprise development and management teaching experience. From 2003 through 2010 Milan worked as an SME expert on all 3 main EU funded Enterprise Development Programs in Serbia, supporting 15 regional SME and development agencies and starting several business incubators for the Serbian National Investment Plan (2006). He is currently affiliated with the European University in Aktobe, Kazakhstan. His accomplishments include the Annual Impact Study (2007) of the European Fund for South East Europe, downstream creation and capacity enhancement of the business clinic portal (2010) supporting SME planning and financing, and conducting the EBRD Banking Environment / Performance Survey (BEPS II) aimed at 31 countries, covering 872 banks for a detailed snapshot of the region’s banking sectors before & after the global financial crisis (2012). His writings include: (1) technical paper for the UNCDF international year of microcredit 2005: “The Emerging Role of Microfinance in the Post-Disaster Context: Some Lessons from Bosnia”; (2) Fundamentals of financial management, a 2007 edition (3) The Science of Economic System and Economic Policy in Transition a 2008 edition of textbook for the Faculty for Management Studies in Novi Sad where he taught (4) Internal audit, PROFESSOR DR. MİLAN VEMİĆ a 2008 manual for the Ministry of Labour of Serbia. Other recent accomplishments include the compilation (co-author) of the Annual Impact Study (2007) of the European Fund for South East Europe, the Associate Professor of Finance, Kazakh EU University development of a business clinic e-template on the Technical Support to Enterprise Policy and Innovation Business School Project in Serbia (2010) and conducting the EBRD Banking Environment / Performance Survey (BEPS II) aimed at 31 countries, covering 872 banks for a detailed snapshot of the region’s banking sectors before & after the global financial crisis (2012).