Speakers Macro-Regional Innovation Week At the crossroads of three European Macro-Regions: Danube, Adriatic-Ionian and Alpine Regions

26-30 September 2016 Trieste, Italy

Giancarlo Caratti

Head of Unit, Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer, Competences, Directorate-General Joint Research Centre, European Commission Dr Ing. Giancarlo CARATTI is heading the "Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer" department at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, which manages the Intellectual Property of the European Commission, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, denomination of origin, etc. In his previous assignments, Mr Caratti managed other Commission departments, namely: "Institutional and International Relations", "Enlargement" and "Policy Support Strategy". Mr Caratti has started his career in the European Commission in 1986 within the unit "Renewable Energy R&D". In 1996 he was appointed Advisor to the Director of the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies in charge of coordination of the scientific work programme and stakeholder relations. He then took over the responsibility of other central units in the JRC, namely the "Policy Support Strategy" in 1999. Last year, he was Deputy Commissioner General for the EU participation in the World Expo 2015, as appointed by the President of the European Commission on 3.5.2013. He was also leading the EU Expo 2015 Task Force, which coordinated the participation of the EU institutions in the Expo. Mr Caratti's educational background is in Mechanical Engineering, with specialisation in Energy. Before joining the Commission he worked in the Faculties of Engineering of Florence (1982) and Pisa (1984-1985), teaching and researching on Industrial Systems and Energetics. In 1983 he spent one year as visiting scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA in the field of Energy Modelling. In 1985 and 1986, he worked as project engineer at Techint, Italy's largest private engineering company based in Milan. Mr Caratti has over 60 publications in international conferences, journals, etc. and is editor of various technical books.

Debora Serracchiani

President of the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia Debora Serracchiani holds a Master of Arts in law from University of Rome “La Sapienza”. She as work experiences as lawyer in labour law, is the President of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region from 2013 to date. Previously she was Member of the European Parliament, member of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) and substitute in the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) from 2009 to 2013. She also was Council member of the province of Udine, vice-group leader of the environment and energy commission from 2008 to 2009, member of the Province Council of Udine and Member of the Constituency Council of Udine. She was Secretary of the Democratic Party (PD) of the Municipality of Udine, from December 2008 to November 2009, and Secretary of the Democratic Party (PD) of Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region from November 2009 to May 2013

Alessandra Pastorelli

Deputy Director, Scientific and Technological Cooperation Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy Alessandra Pastorelli was born in Siena in 1975. She took a Bachelor degree in Political Science at LUISS University in Rome in 1999. She worked as European project consultant for private companies in Brussels, in Grosseto and in Rome between 1999 and 2001. She became diplomat in December 2001 and she served in the Directorate General for Mediterranean Countries at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome between 2002 and 2004. In September 2004 she was appointed as Head of the Economic and Commercial Office at the Italian Embassy in Addis Ababa and she served in Ethiopia and Djibouti until June 2008. Between 2008 and 2012 she served at the Italian Permanent Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna, being responsible for the relations with UNIDO, UNCOPUOS and Technical Cooperation of the IAEA. Since October 2012, Ms Pastorelli is Deputy Director of the Scientific and Technological Cooperation Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in Rome.

Giovanni De Santi

Director, Competences, Directorate-General Joint Research Centre, European Commission Since 1985, Giovanni De Santi has been employed at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, where he developed his professional expertise by managing projects and groups of experts in the fields of energy, transport, mechanical/nuclear engineering, environmental science, and management. In 2007, he was nominated as Director of the Institute for Energy of the JRC based both in Petten (The Netherlands) and Ispra (Italy). The Institute represents the reference centre of the European Commission for research in the energy field. It provides technical and scientific support for the conception, development and monitoring of community policies related to the production, security, safety and sustainability of energy. In particular the Institute focuses on nuclear reactor safety, renewable (solar) energy, hydrogen and fuel cells, energy system modelling and energy security. In January 2011, the Institute for Energy was transformed into the Institute for Energy and Transport and its portfolio consequently expanded to include sustainable transport. As Director of the Institute, Dr. De Santi is responsible for the coordination and management of key energy and transport activities within the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and in the frame of international co-operation between Europe and key stakeholders - both in the research and industrial sectors - from third countries. He is member of steering committees and governing boards of numerous European initiatives, such as the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan, the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Joint Technology Initiatives, European Technology Platforms (solar energy, biofuels, etc.), the U.S.- Europe Energy Council, as well as chairman of international Task Forces UNECE-TF for the standardisation of heavy duty transport emissions. Giovanni De Santi is author of many peer reviewed publications in high level scientific journals and chairman of many international conferences. Since 1st of July 2016, Giovanni De Santi became Director of the Direction I in charge of Competences and is based in Ispra.

Sergio Paoletti

President of AREA Science Park Sergio Paoletti is Full Professor of Biochemistry at the Department of Life Sciences of the University of Trieste, where he was elected member of the Board of Directors (2006-2009), Deputy Vice-Chancellor (September 2009-May 2013) and Acting Rector (May-July 2013). Since April 2016 he is President of AREA Science Park, major Science and Technology Park in Italy, under the aegis of the Italian Ministry of Education, university and Research. On 13 May 2013 he has been awarded the title of "Doctor Honoris Causa" by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim and the following year he was elected foreign member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters. Professor Sergio Paoletti was Post-Doc at the Department of Physical Chemistry of the University of Leiden (the Netherlands) (1974), Visiting Scientist at the Institute of Biochemistry Marina del Norwegian National Institute of Technology (NTH, now NTNU), Trondheim (Norway) (1981), Visiting Professor at the Department of Chemistry of the Brooklyn Polytechnic, now Polytechnic University of New York (USA) (1984). He has been Chairman of the Bachelor degree in Biotechnology, and that of the Master of Science in Medical Biotechnology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Trieste. He was member of several boards such as the Board of Directors of Electra - Synchrotron Trieste S.C.p.A., of AREA Science Park, of the Italian Consortium for Biotechnology (CIB), as well as member of the Scientific Council of the Portoconte Searches S.C.r.L. (SS) and of the Consortium of Trieste Molecular Biomedicine (CBM). He was an expert of the Commission U.E. for the polysaccharides from algal sources and is responsible for Research Funds of various national and international public institutions, particularly in several European projects in the 6th and 7th Framework Programme. He has directed and directs several research projects in collaboration with the pharmaceutical and biomedical industries. Member of several scientific societies, Italian and foreign ones, co- organizer of congresses, workshops and advanced schools both in Italy and abroad (USA) and a speaker at a number of national and international conferences. Professor Paoletti is author or co-author of over 200 papers in international scientific journals and 8 patent families.

Furio Honsell

Mayor of Udine and professor of Informatics at the University of Udine, Committee of the Regions Furio Honsell, is full professor of Informatics at the University of Udine (ITALY) since 1990. From 2001 to 2008 he served as Rector of Udine University and has been President of the Science and Technology Park of Udine. In 2008 Honsell was elected Mayor of Udine (pop 100,000) with a centre-left coalition and re-elected in 2013. In 2009 he joined the Covenant of Mayors 202020 and recently the Mayors Adapt. He is vice- president of the Italian W.H.O. “Healthy Cities” Network. He is strongly committed to implementing policies for health and energy efficiency, combatting climate change and inequities, as well as promoting co- operation at International level. In 2015 he was elected President of the EU Covenant on Demographic Change. He is also President of “Giona”, Italian national Association which promote public toy libraries and games. Mark Nicklas

Acting Head of Unit, Innovation Policy and Investment for Growth, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission Mark Nicklas is the Acting Head of Unit "Innovation Policy and Investment for Growth" in the European Commission's DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROWTH). His unit aims at fostering the modernisation of Europe's industrial base by stimulating investment in innovation and new technologies, promoting new sources of growth, improving the business environment for innovation and monitoring Member States' and regions' innovation performance. He has been Deputy Head of Unit for Innovation Policy for Growth since 2012. Before entering the field of innovation policy, Mark was closely involved in the European industrial policy development as the Assistant to the European SME Envoy and Director-General for Enterprise and Industry. Previously, he spent several years in the European Commission's transport department, dealing in particular with the liberalisation of international air transport. Prior to joining the European Commission in 2003, Mark held several posts in the telecommunications industry in Germany. Mark holds a Ph.D. in industrial economics.

Patrizio Bianchi

Regional Minister for Coordination of European Policies for Growth, Education, Vocational training, University, Research and Employment – Emilia-Romagna Region (ADRIATIC-IONIAN), FVG/Bavaria regions representatives (ALPINE REGION) Patrizio Bianchi is an Italian Economist, full professor of applied economics and politician. Currently he is the Regional Minister for Coordination of the European Policies for Growth, Education, Vocational training, University, Research and Employment of the Emilia-Romagna Regional Government. Prior he was the Rector of the University of Ferrara and Chair of the Foundation of the Italian Universities and formerly served as Dean of Faculty of Economics at the University of Ferrara. In addition, he has been chair of the industrial policy think tank of Nomisma, member of the board of directors of IRI, the main Italian public holding company, president of the Italian agency Sviluppo Italia and member of the Commission for labour policies and manufacturing sectors at the National Council of Economy and Labour (CNEL). Internationally, he has been an Economic Advisor to the Governor of Guangdong Province of China and member of several European and OECD working groups, scientific and expert councils. Patrizio Bianchi is the author or editor of more than 30 books and more than 200 scientific paper, many of them on industrial policies, European policies, international economics and economic development. He is honorary professor at the South China University of Technology (China) and he has been visiting professor at UCLA (USA) and at the University of Toulouse (France). Patrizio Bianchi was awarded by the President of Italy the recognition of knighthood ”Commander of The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic” and received the award of "Minister of Heritage and Culture and Tourism for the political and social sciences" from the distinguished Italian Accademia dei Lincei (Lincean Academy). Patrizio Bianchi earned his degree, summa cum laude, in economics and political science from the University of Bologna, then he specialised, among others, at the London School of Economics. Miroslav Vesković

Coordinator scientific support to macro-regional strategies, Directorate-General Joint Research Centre, European Commission Between June 2010 and December 2014 Miroslav Vesković was Priority Area 7 Coordinator (PAC) of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region EUSDR with main responsibilities to coordinate macro-regional policies in higher education, research and information and communication technologies. As EUSDR PA7 Coordinator he dedicated significant efforts to the issues highly relevant for the development of knowledge society in the Danube Region: promotion of the platform for Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisation (RIS3), combating brain drain and supporting brain circulation through more balanced mobility within the Danube. Since February 2015 Miroslav works at DG Joint Research Centre in Brussels as Coordinator of Scientific Support to Macro-regional Strategies.

Viktor Nedović

Assistant Minister, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia Prof. Dr. Viktor Nedović is Assistant Minister in charge of international S&T cooperation and EU integration in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. His portfolio has comprised of coordination of international programmes with particular focus on Horizon 2020, coordination of National Contact Points network, creation of policies and programmes related to the international cooperation and integration into European Research Area. He is coordinator of the negotiation process related to the Chapter 25 (“Science and Research”). He is co-author of “The Strategy of Scientific and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, 2010-2015, Focus and Partnership” and “The Strategy of Scientific and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, 2016-2020, Research for Innovation”. As representative of the country he is a member of many committees and bodies at the European Commission that are responsible for the creation and implementation of EU policies in the fields of science, research and innovation, such as European Research Area Committee (ERAC), Board of Governors of Join Research Centre, (JRC BofG), H2020 Programme committee on food, Joint Programming Group. He is coordinator of Priority Area 7 (PA7) of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR), Knowledge Society that is related to the regional cooperation in research, higher education and ICT.

He is full professor at Department of Food Technology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade. His research areas belong to biotechnology, food technology, and biochemical engineering. As author and co-author he has published around 400 scientific papers, out of which more than 70 articles published in SCI journals and 30 as book chapters. In addition, he has edited four books for the renowned world scientific publishers (Kluwer and Springer). His articles have been cited more than 1600 times, his h- index is 22 (Google Scholar). He has been coordinating or participating in more than 50 research and networking projects, out of which 30 are international. Prof. Viktor Nedović is founder and president of the Serbian Association of Food Technologists (SAFT) and coordinator of Serbian National Technology Platform “Food for Life”. He has been a member of scientific boards of 40 international food and biotechnology congresses.

Roko Andričević

Professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy, University of Split, Croatia Roko Andričević is a full professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy, University of Split. From 2014-2016 he was a Vice-Minister of science, education and sports of the Republic of Croatia responsible for developing programs for scientific infrastructure projects for the higher education system in Croatia and coordinating the Science and Technology Project by the World Bank in Croatia. He was Vice-rector of the University of Split between 2008 and 2014 and Dean of Civil engineering and architecture Faculty (2006-2008). During 2002-2004 he was Assistant Minister for environmental protection in the Croatian Government and Founder of Environmental Protection Agency of the Republic of Croatia and Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund and president of Board of Directors for both institutions. Prior to that, he spend 12 years at the Desert Research Institute, USA, in the position of research professor developing environmental research programs at the Nevada Test Site (USA) funded by Department of Energy and Department of Defense, USA. In parallel, he had a long- academic and research carrier being full professor in the US and Croatian universities. He published one book and more than 120 scientific papers in peer reviewed journals.

Lucian Brujan

Senior Scientific Officer International Relations, Speaker of the Western Balkans Process - Joint Science Conference, German National Academy of Sciences - Leopoldina Lucian Brujan works as Senior Scientific Officer and Programme Director for International Affairs at the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Since 2014 he acts as Speaker of the Joint Science Conference of the Berlin Process, an intergovernmental initiative to bring the Western Balkans closer to the European Union and support intraregional cooperation. Since 2012, his activity covers different fields of international science affairs, such as science diplomacy, stakeholder relations, science policy, research cooperation as well as science-based advice to policy-makers and civil society. Previously, Lucian worked as Lecturer at the Institute of Geography of the University of Tübingen (Germany), specialising in international relations (border research, migration issues, conflict research) and spatial sciences (local and regional development, post- socialist transition), at the interface between natural and social sciences. As a visiting fellow, he taught and conducted research at different universities throughout Europe. Between 2010 and 2012, he worked in parallel as a science manager (Director of International Affairs) at the University of Tübingen, where he was involved in internationalisation, change management and the German University Excellence Competition. Lucian graduated in Geography and German Studies in 2003, studying at the West-University of Timișoara (Romania) and the University of Tübingen. He received several scholarships from funding organisations, before and after graduation. He was born in Romania (1981), in the multicultural Banat region.

Anna Giorgi

Driving innovation growth (Pillar 1), EU Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) Anna Giorgi is a Researcher at the University of Milan and the Director of GeSDiMont – a department of the University of Milan located in the central Italian Alps, promoting the sustainable development and valorisation of mountain areas. She is experienced in the management of public institutions dealing with research and experimentation activities promoting innovative approaches to territories exploitation and governance. She was the general director of the Italian mountain institute, a national research institute, the president of ISCAR, international scientific committee for research in the Alps, for 4 years and now I’m the Italian delegate. She is the vice-president of ERSAF, the public institution controlled by Lombardy Region providing services to agricultural and forestry sectors and she represents Lombardy Region in the EU Strategy for the Alpine Region – EUSALP, launched on January 2016 - as leader of the action group 1, aimed at developing an effective research and innovation ecosystem in the “Alpine Region”.

Željka Babić

Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Unit, Directorate- General Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission Željka works for the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) since 2008 and is expert in Technology Transfer. She is now responsible for policy and analysis and coordinates macro-regional activities in TT. Before that, she worked in the Stakeholder Relations Unit dealing, inter alia, with the Enlargement and Integration Action, a programme that supports the transfer of the EU acquis to national legislation and facilitates scientific and technical exchange with Western Balkans countries. Željka graduated from the College of Europe and has degrees in International Relations and Diplomacy from Collegium Civitas, Warsaw and in Japanese Language and Literature from the University of Belgrade.

Andrea Mairate

Head of Unit Competence Centre Macro-regions and European Territorial Co-operation, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), European Commission Dr Andrea Mairate was born in Tangier (Morocco) in 1957. He studied Economics in Grenoble, Turin and Paris where he got a Ph.d. After qualification, he started an academic career as lecturer and researcher in applied economics in Paris. In 1989, he worked in Rome as research director in a research centre in a variety of areas including industrial and innovation policies as well as European regional policies. In 1994 he joined the European Commission in the area of regional policy, held managerial posts in evaluation, economic analysis, policy coordination and audit. He is currently head of the Competence Centre on European Territorial Cooperation and macro-regions. During his professional activity, he held several academic positions as associate professor in Padua (Jean Monnet chair), Milan (Bocconi university) and currently in the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) where he teaches a master course on European Integration and Regional Development.

Christina Bauer

Head of the Managing Authority of the Alpine Space Cooperation Programme Christina Bauer studied law and economics and holds a post-doc in business law. Since more than 15 years she has been working for the Land of Salzburg (Austria) in the field of regional development and EU cohesion policy. Christina Bauer is deputy head of the unit "regional development and EU regional policy" in the Government Office´s department for economy, tourism and municipalities. This unit is amongst others responsible for the development and implementation of the region´s strategies for economy and research as well as ERDF- cofounded programmes such as regional competitiveness/investment in growth and jobs, cross-border and transnational cooperation programmes. Already for the third programming period (after 2000-2006 and 2007-2013) the unit acts as Managing Authority of the Interreg programme Alpine Space. Since 2015 Christina Bauer is head of the Managing Authority of this programme.

Lodovico Gherardi

ADRION Cooperation Programme, Emilia-Romagna Region Lodovico Gherardi is a directorial public official of the Emilia-Romagna Region. He is currently coordinator of the Managing Authority of the ADRION European Territorial Cooperation Programme PhD in Economics and forest management, after some experiences in the Universities of Florence, Palermo and Venice, he has been in charge of Interreg programmes on behalf of Emilia-Romagna Region. In particular, in the previous 2000-2006 programming period, he was appointed deputy chairman of Italy's National Committee of the Interreg IIIB Cadeses Programme and official member of the Monitoring Committee and of Financial Control Group. He has represented Emilia- Romagna in the Steering Committee of Adriatic Crossborder Interreg III A Programme and has been chosen by the Ministry of Infrastructures as external expert on behalf of the programme's national coordinator for the projects' evaluation within the interreg III B Archimed Programme. In the 2007-2013 programming period he was chairman of the National Committee, National Contact Point of the SEE (South East Europe) European Transnational Cooperation Programme, member of the Monitoring Committee within the SEE (South East Europe) Programme and Italy-Slovenia Crossborder Programme. Thanks to the various positions he has been in charge of, he was called to take part in the Task Forces for the implementation of the South East Europe (2007-2013) and Adrion (2014-2020) Programmes; moreover, since the candidacy and identification of the Emilia-Romagna Region as Managing Authority of the Adrion programme he has been coordinating the organizational team and has been following the building up of the administrative Unit.

Valentina Pinna

Lombardy Region – Vanguard Initiative and Regional S3 Valentina is the responsible for Research Innovation and Competitiveness of Lombardy Region (delegation to the EU) seconded from Finlombarda, Lombardy Financial Agency and responsible for implementation of the Regional Development Program. Valentina was involved in the launch of Vanguard Regions Initiative and she is currently member of the Coordination Group. She was also member of the Management Board of ERRIN (European Regions Research and Innovation Network). She is supporting Lombardy involvement in several ETPs, EIPs & Joint Programming Initiatives. Before taking up this responsibility, she worked for the European Commission DG Research & Innovation, where she was in charge of the regional dimension of innovation. She was involved in the launch, monitoring and implementation of Innovation Union and, in particular, of European innovation Partnerships (EIP Water-Efficient Europe) and the JPI on Water. Before joining the EC, Valentina was Manager of the EU office of Unioncamere Lombardia. She holds experience in working for Banks and Science Parks. She is an active member of the European Networks’ Ecosystem and facilitator for Lombardy participation in several European platforms/partnering initiatives (S3P, EIP, ETPs, JPIs, JTIs, PPPs).

Eduardo Barreto

Competence Centre Smart and Sustainable Growth, Directorate- General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), European Commission Policy analyst in the Competence Centre Smart and Sustainable Growth in the Directorate-general Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission

Anwar Aridi

Innovation Specialist, World Bank Anwar Aridi is an Innovation Specialist at the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) unit of the Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice at the World Bank in Washington DC. Anwar specializes in science, technology, and innovation policy issues, R&D design, implementation, and collaboration, technology entrepreneurship, and regional economic development. He previously worked as an Economic and Technology Policy Analyst at SRI International Center for Science, Technology, and Economic Development and at the World Bank Middle East and North Africa Country Management Unit. Anwar holds a Ph.D. from the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Administration at the George Washington University (GWU) in Science and Technology Policy. He also has an MA degree from the Elliot School of International Affairs in International Science and Technology Policy at GWU and an MS degree in Information and Telecommunication Systems from Ohio University. Anwar is the coeditor of Innovation Policy: A Practical Introduction (Springer Books 2014 with Vonortas, N. & Rouge, P.).

Désirée Pecarz

Danube INCO.NET, ZSI Ms. Desiree PECARZ is project and communication manager within the Research Policy and Development Unit of ZSI GmbH. She joined the Centre for Social Innovation in 2007 to deal with international RTD/S&T co-operation, SME competitiveness and innovation aspects. In addition to project management, her work focuses also on dissemination, monitoring and evaluation; it includes drafting studies and briefs for the support of policy processes, as well as designing and implementing events to support strategic collaboration activities. She is currently communication manager of Danube-INCO.NET, has previously coordinated the FP7 funded WINS-ICT project, and had WP managing role for the following FP initiatives: WBC-INCO.NET, SEE- Innovation, SCORE, INCONET EECA, BILAT-UKR; and BILAT-RUS. Her educational and professional background includes a degree in Economy of the international trade and value markets at the University of Trieste (Italy), a specialisation in International Marketing at MIB–School of Management, and a position at INFORMEST - Italian Agency for International Economic Cooperation.

Ales Gnamus

S3 Platform, Unit for Territorial Development, Directorate- General Joint Research Centre, European Commission Dr. Ales Gnamus is a scientific policy analyst at JRC Seville since February 2008. Since January 2012 he is closely involved in the activities of the Smart Specialisation Platform. He has been working for the European Commission (DG RTD, DG REGIO, DG JRC) since 2004. He has long-standing analytical experience with European trans-regional and international S&T cooperation, renewable energy technologies, smart cities, eco-innovations and sustainability issues as a whole. His interests include policy analysis, benchmarking, qualitative and quantitative assessment of policies and on modern internet-based communication / dissemination information platforms. He holds a Ph.D. in natural sciences and had been previously working as researcher dealing with different research topics at universities and research institutes in various countries.

Armin Mahr

Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economics, Austria Armin Mahr is a senior public manager and political advisor. In the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy he is heading the strategy unit, responsible for research locations and regional policies. Armin has an international track record as a science, research and innovation expert involved in peer reviews of innovation systems and in strategy projects at national, regional and European level. He has been an early partner of the EU Commission’s S3 Platform; he was among the initiators of the OECD project on smart specialisation that helped to connect the concept of smart specialisation to practical implementation. His easy-to-use brochure “RIS3 KEY” (together with Joanneum Research), aimed at unlocking the S3 concept to regional developers, the science and business sectors, was published in seven languages and can be downloaded from www.era.gv.at/regions. At EU level, Armin has been advocating for the inclusion of HEI and the research sector, at equal terms with business and industry, in finding smart regional specialisations. Armin believes in a dynamic multi-level governance model that connects the European, national and regional with the institutional level, and encourages universities and research centres to become 'lead institutions', shaping the future of their region. As a political scientist (London School of Economics, University of Vienna) he was previously involved in various international research and technical assistance projects both in the business consultancy and non-profit sector. Armin says: ‘When old policy silos crumble, we need new thematic and territorial references to communicate policy interventions in a tangible way and turn stakeholders into partners. That is why we have seen a renaissance of place-based policy concepts like smart specialisation, lately.’’

Peter Wostner

Government Office for Development and Cohesion Policy, Slovenia Dr. Peter Wostner is the head of the Smart Specialisation Coordination Unit in the Slovenian Government. He was also the team leader for its preparation. Dr. Wostner is an expert on EU budget and EU Cohesion Policy were he has been, for last 12 years, directly involved from the MFF and regulatory negotiations to setting up of the programming framework and implementation arrangements. He is a lecturer and a moderator and also author of number of articles, especially as regards EU budget and development policy. Dr. Wostner is also the chairman of the OECD’s Working Party on Rural Policy and Vice-Chair of the Regional Development Policy Committee.

Ketty Segatti

Director of the Education, Right to Study, High Learning and Research Office, Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Italy Ketty Segatti is the Director of the Education, Training and Research Area of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and the Managing Authority of the 2014-2020 European Social Fund Programme. Graduate in Economic and finance, from 1996 to 2006 she was the head of the Economic and finance department of the Municipality of Tavagnacco (Ud). In 2006 she began to work at Friuli Venezia Giulia Region as Director of the University, Research and Innovation Office, which became the Education, University and Research Office in 2010 and the Education, Right to study, High Training and Research Office in 2013. From 2015 she has been in charge of the Education, High training and Research Area, which has included from September 12th 2016 all the Training sector too. Over the years of regional activity, her main responsibilities have been represented by managing links between research and higher education bodies, regional clusters and financing them; supporting regional networks between national and international research centres, regional universities and science and technology parks; overseeing the regional planning and development of actions supporting higher education, scientific research and technological development, research and initiatives for scientific divulgation and internationalization; overseeing the regional actions concerning education and higher education, ensuring the coordination between the Region and local bodies, supporting schools in developing their educational offer; developing international and European cooperation projects; overseeing the planning and management of regional actions to promote public services for the right to study in education and higher education. To these assignments it has been currently added the responsibility to lead the whole Training sector, performing the functions of Managing Authority of the 2014-2020 European Social Fund Programme too.

Tomislav Radoš

Managing Director, Croatian Centre for Industrial Development (CIRAZ ) Tomislav Radoš, vice president of Croatian Chamber of Economy, was born on 2nd April, 1971, in Požega, Croatia. Radoš attended the Faculty of Economics and Businesses in Zagreb earning a bachelor's and a master’s degrees as well as a Ph.D. with the thesis “The Relationship between Strategy and Business Performance of Croatian Companies”. After working as a head of the Risk Management Sector at Unicredit Bank, Zagrebačka banka d.d., Zagreb, Croatia, he was management board member in the automotive industry firm, AutoZubak ltd. In 2003 he became chairmen and CEO of AutoZubak ltd. and was responsible for 500 employees. Six years later he establishes and manages his private company named Strategic Plan Ltd, focusing on counselling services in the area of strategic management and finances, management of financial restructuring projects, development and implementation of business strategies as well as projects on renewable energy resources. In year 2013, Radoš took a position of an Advisor to the Minister of Economy as a head of the working group for Industrial strategy development and a head author of the Republic of Croatia’s Industrial Strategy 2014 – 2020. Following this assignment, he became an Assistant to Minister of Economy in charge for industry, investments and EU programmes and projects and was responsible for development of Innovation strategy and Smart specialization strategy of the Republic of Croatia. Currently he is a Vice President of Croatian Chamber of Economy for Industry, and IT and Energy and Environment. In his career he has published various scientific, research and professional papers.

Marija Vujaković

Director, BSC Centar, Serbia Marija Vujaković is the Director of the Information Centre for Business Standardisation and Certification (abbr. the BSC Centre) in Novi Sad, Serbia. What is of particular relevance for the Innovation’s Week Tutorial Session - Smart Stories: S3 from Design to Implementation is her experience in IPA HU-SRB INTERRIS PROJECT where she was project manager, in IPA HU-SRB CROSS-CLUSTER where she was a project manager, too. Her experience in creating The Regional Innovation Strategy of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina 2015-2020 (RIS-APV) where she was a co-author and in creating The Cross-Border Innovation Strategy of South Great Plain (Hungary) and Vojvodina (Serbia) where she was also a co-author can also contribute to the success of this Conference. She has considerable professional experience of implementing national and international projects in the field of increasing competitiveness of the national economy in terms of lifelong learning and innovation, as well as in areas related to business standardization and certification. She is an engineer - a leader with a vision and motto: People are in the centre of anything we do.

Jan Larosse

Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), European Commission Jan Larosse works as a policy analyst for the Competence Centre Smart and Sustainable Growth in the DG REGIO of the European Commission. He is responsible for the development of the Thematic Smart Specialisation Platforms. He is a seconded national expert from the Flemish Government, where he was coordinator of industrial policy as a Senior Scientific Advisor. He has been working on smart specialisation policy from the early start in 2008, as a national expert in DG RTD.

Leda Bologni

Regional Technology Platforms and Projects Dept. Manager – ASTER, Emilia Romagna Region (ADRION) Leda Bologni is an Engineer with a PhD in Robotics. Her skills concern innovation policies and transnational R&D and technology transfer programmes. She is external expert, independent evaluator and reviewer for the European Commission. Recently she managed the Technology Foresight exercise and the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process in the framework of the regional Smart Specialization Strategy. In ASTER, the in-house providing company for innovation of the Emilia-Romagna region, she is the manager of the Industrial Research Unit and responsible for the S3 Technical Assistance. Moreover, she is the manager of the High Technology Network. Leda is also national expert in Italy for S3.

Lydia Alessio-Vernì

Deputy Director, Industry, Tourism and Cooperation Department, Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Italy Lydia Alessio-Vernì holds a degree in law (Trieste University, IT), is a post graduate in the forensic field (Trieste University, IT), qualified as a lawyer and in 2009 did master’s degree (Bocconi University, Milan, IT). The title of her thesis is “Measures to support competitiveness, research, development and innovation in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region. Elements to readdress policies: analysis of activities in the period 1998- 2008” She first was a lawyer’s apprentice in a law firm: (1998: President of the Association of practicing lawyers) before being a lawyer from 2000 onwards. She worked as administrative officer (management of European co- funded programs) in Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Central Directorate for Productive activities, coordinator for state aid and EU policies in the Central Directorate for Productive activities, Director’s Staff, Director of the Economic policies and territorial market office in the Central Directorate for Productive activities and Director of the Industrial support and promotion Office in the Central Directorate for Productive activities. From April 2014 to date she is the Deputy Director of the Manufacturing Area at the Central Directorate for Productive activities. She also is since November 2014 onwards the Managing Authority of FVG Region ERDF O.P.s 2007-2013 and 2014-2020 at the Central Directorate for Productive activities, Manufacturing Area.

Aleš Hančič

S3 for Industrial Modernisation - Smart mechatronic tools and dies, TECOS, Slovenia In 2005 dr. Aleš Hančič joined TECOS Slovenian Tool Development Center, first as a young researcher and PhD student in the field of biopolymer composites, and then as Director of Research and Development. In November 2006, he was hosted by the University of Minho in Portugal, where he completed a part of the experimental work on the doctoral thesis at the Department of Polymer Engineering. In August 2012, he received his doctorate at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Ljubljana. In 2013 he was appointed a Director of the Slovenian Tool Development Centre TECOS. In the recent year he has also been employed at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana as a research and teaching assistant and as a research associate lecturer at the College of Polymer Technology in Slovenj Gradec. He is also the president of Board of Directors of Centre of Excellence for Polymers CO PoliMat.

Martina Hartl

EUSALP Action Group 1 “To develop an effective research and innovation ecosystem” Martina Hartl is Senior Policy Officer within the Austrian Ministry of Science, Research and Economy dealing with international research co- operation and macro-regional strategies specifically. Her scientific background lies within the Social Sciences and Humanities where she holds a master degree in sociology from the University of Vienna. She has extensive experience in national and EU research programme development and has served as EU Programme delegate for Socio- Economic Sciences and Humanities as well as Science in Society in FP6 and FP7. Within Horizon 2020 she is expert for issues of international co-operation and she also serves as delegate for the Strategic Forum for International Science and Technology Cooperation. In her 4 years as national expert at the European Commission´s DG Research and Innovation she has worked intensively on issues of Widening Participation and Smart Specialisation which she now follows up in the macro-regional contexts of the Danube and Alpine strategies.

Mathilde Konstantopoulou

EUSAIR co-coordinator Pillar “Blue Growth” Mathilde Konstantopoulou has studied Economics at the Athens University of Economics and has a postgraduate degree in Finance from Lancaster University in the UK. She has worked at the banking and financial sector for a decade and is now employed at the Special Service for Strategy, Planning and Evaluation of the Operational Programmes at the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism. She is the national representative and member of the Monitoring Committees of the European Territorial Cooperation Programmes: URBACT and ESPON. During the preparation of the current programming period 2014-2020, she was responsible for the relevant trialogues and the adoption of the European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) and the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) Regulations. She is currently involved in Cohesion Policy issues and especially, territorial cohesion, sustainable urban development and strategies of the territorial cooperation programmes. She is also responsible for the preparation and implementation of the Regional Operational Programme of Western Macedonia in Greece. She participates to the team of the National Coordinator of the Ministry for the Adriatic-Ionian macro-regional strategy (EUSAIR) and its incorporation in the Partnership Agreement and the national operational programmes. She represents the Greek project partner at the strategic project EUSAIR FACILITY POINT, which will be implemented in the context of the ADRION transnational programme and will provide support and technical assistance to the EUSAIR Institutions (Governing Board and Pillar Coordinators), facilitating also the exchange of information among stakeholders and potential beneficiaries. She is also Deputy Coordinator of the Thematic Steering Group (TSG) of pillar I – Blue Growth of the EUSAIR Strategy.

Stefano Casaleggi

Director-General, AREA Science Park 52, from Friuli, Italy, degree in electrical engineering, master's degree in business management from SDA Bocconi, executive education at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, after ten years' experience in IBM, both in Italy and abroad, in the areas of marketing & sales and consulting for businesses, moved to the Edison group to guide the commercial activities of the electricity sector. During a four-year period as general manager, he leads Edison Energia to be the first operator within the energy free market. Left the group, he establishes Hyperlynx, consulting company, that reckons among its major customers electrical domestic players and former municipal companies. In 2009 he co-founded Aither, a company operating in electricity production from renewable sources, then in 2010, establishes Castel, a company for strategic and process consulting. He is currently Managing Director of the AREA Science Park, Italian Public Research Body, as well as member of the board of Elettra Synchrotron Trieste and member of APSTI Executive Council.

Nicola Buonanno

Territory Sales Manager , Google for Work, Italy Nicola Buonanno is the Territory Sales Manager at Google for Work. After graduating in Public Administration and International Institutions Management at Bocconi University of Milan he started his career at Autodesk Italy as Sales Rep. focusing on the CAD software business. After this experience he joined Tech Data Italy, covering different roles. Before joining Google Inc. he held the position of Business Development Manager for the Autodesk Media & Entertainment solutions at Tech Data Italy. He has been working at Google since 2009, covering several roles both abroad (European Headquarters) and in Italy. Nicola is now responsible for the sales of the Google for Work Solutions to medium and large Clients in Italy with focus on messaging and collaborations tools and devices. Google for Work solutions include products like Google Apps, Google Maps for Work, Chrome for Work, Android for Work and Google Cloud Platform.

Pier Luigi Dal Pino

Director of Institutional and Industrial relations, Microsoft Italy and Austria As Managing Director for Institutional and Industrial Relations, is the main Italian referent dedicated to institutional relations in the political and regulatory environment. The figure covered with Pier Luigi was born to better interpret the epochal digital transformation represented by cloud computing and destined to change the way the products use and the relationship with users. Its role is very important because the main objective is to communicate with one voice industry, market and Government: creates and maintains the high-level relationships to create project initiatives that put ICT to overall innovation centre Country System. He graduated in Economics and Master in European Public Relations, Young Leaders 2006 Italy-US Council for over 15 years is the director of Institutional Relations of Microsoft, from 2001 to 2006 at the direction of the Southern Europe and from 2015 also responsible for Austria and Switzerland. Before joining Microsoft, he served for four years as Corporate Affairs Manager at Philip Morris, dealing with institutional communication and development programs for the American tobacco company in Italy and two years at Procter & Gamble with the responsibility of marketing communications for Health and Beauty Care sector.

Fabrizio Renzi

Director, Technology, Innovation & Research, IBM Italy Fabrizio Renzi is the Director of technology, innovation and Research of IBM Italy since 2014. In this role he leads all the IBM Italy technical activities, for partnering with Italian clients and institution around ICT solutions, digital transformation initiatives and Research. From 2011 to 2013 he was Director of technology and innovation for Italian banks, insurances and financial institutions. In 2009-2010 he was, based in Dubai, and was IBM Director of Systems and Technologies for emerging markets (Russia, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) Since 1997 he worked on leading edge technologies and transformation initiatives for IBM, with increasing managerial responsibilities in areas such as: on demand, e-business, ecommerce, network computing solutions, client server. He joined IBM in 1990 as System Engineer in charge of introducing in Italy new products technologies and solutions developed in our R&D labs in USA, where he also spent some years of his professional life in international assignments. Master degree in Electronic Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, he also got an International Executive Program MBA from INSEAD in Paris. Keynote speaker in several scientific and technology related events, Renzi is author of several publications and he taught in several Italian universities

Luis Sanz

Director General, International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) Luis Sanz (Spain, 1952) is Director General of the International Association of Science Parks since 1996, and member of its Executive Board. A trained sociologist, he is an expert consultant and senior adviser to different Science Parks worldwide and chief co-ordinator of over 30 international conferences on Science and Technology Parks, regional development and innovation policies. He is author of numerous papers, books, articles and presentations on this topic and has participated as invited speaker in over 100 international conferences and seminars all over the world. Formerly he was the co-director of Valencia Technology Park (Spain) which he founded in 1987 and as positions of trust he has been Vice-President of the Spanish Association of Science Parks and President of the European Division of the IASP. Luis Sanz is also the head co-ordinator of the World Alliance for innovation (WAINOVA).

Josep Miquel Piqué

International President, IASP Josep Miquel Piqué is a Telecommunication Engineer from La Salle and UPC and MBA from ESADE. He holds also diplomas from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California-Berkeley and Universitat Ramon Llull. He is a disciple of Professors Henry Etzkowitz (co-founder of Triple Helix), Francesc Solé Parellada (Entrepreneurship) and Jerome Engel (Clusters of Innovation). He is the President of XPCAT (Catalan Network of Science Parks), Vice- President of APTE (Spanish Network of Science Parks) and Vice-President of IASP (International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation). He is expert of the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) of the European Commission and member of the Team of Specialists on Innovation and Competitiveness Policies of the United Nations Commission for Europe (UNECE). His long professional experience in university management has leaded him to promote and lead Postgraduate Programs, Technology Transfer Centers, University Incubators and Innovation Science and Technology Parks. He has promoted several hybrid organizations taking the partnership model University-Industry-Public Administration. In the field of public administration has been CEO of the District Innovation - 22 @ Barcelona, Director of Strategic Sectors of the Agency of Local Development - Barcelona Activa and CEO of the Office of Economic Growth of the Barcelona City Council. Among other projects he has participated in teams of Barcelona European Capital of Innovation and Barcelona Mobile World Capital He has published several papers in publications and congresses on Innovation Ecosystems. He has participated in several international forums in Europe (Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Italy and UK), America (Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, U.S.A.) and Asia (Korea, Philippines, Singapore, Japan and China). The central line of his activity is the promotion of Knowledge-based Economy and Society in order to consolidate Knowledge Cities on Smart Cities.

Paris Kokorotsikos

Head of Greece-based Euroconsultants Dr. Paris Kokorotsikos is CEO of Athens Stock Exchange listed Management and Technology Consulting Company EUROCONSULTANTS S.A. with subsidiaries in most of Central, East European and MENA countries and owner of i4G incubation for Growth Technology and ETEP Incubators, as well as shareholder of Thessaloniki Technology Park and numerous technology start-ups in the sectors of IST, life sciences and environment. Dr. Kokorotsikos through EUROCONSULTANTS Group participates in the development of Technology Infrastructure and funds Initiatives in SE Europe (Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Czech Republic), and GCC countries (Technology Parks in Bahrain Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Oman). During the past years he was involved in many PPP and ERDF projects conception and development and aiming at University and research centres Infrastructures, Innovation Zones, Technology Parks private sector infrastructures, Industrial parks, University preincubators and accelerators in EU and precession countries. Dr Kokorotsikos has extensive experience in Croatia as developer of Euroconsultants Croatia and has been involved in several projects conception as well as in the preparation of the 2007-2013 operational programmes, in addition to projects preparation with universities. Dr. Kokorotsikos was member of the board of the Technology Transfer Association of EU. He has coordinated technical assistance teams at top government level on planning, management and evaluation of Operational and Development programmes for more than 40 countries and regions aiming at Private Investments increase, for SMEs, for Technology Transfer, for Quality in industry, for Interregional and Cross- Border Cooperation and especially for promoting entrepreneurship from Research Institutes, in the framework of EU, WB, EBRD and government programmes. He has been author at several papers on development issues and addressed in many relevant conferences in the EU. Dr Kokorotsikos started his career (in parallel in PhD research) as industrial liaison officer of the Chemical Process Engineering Research Institute (CPERI) of the National Foundation for Research, and has taught courses on the Energy technologies and Technology Transfer at the Engineering School of the Aristoteles University of Thessaloniki.

Stephen Taylor

Director of Marketing, Communication and Business Development Unit, AREA Science Park Mr. Stephen Taylor has over twenty five years-experience as a Director and Senior Consultant, helping major firms and government agencies in Europe and North America to access the latest knowledge and expertise for analysis and planning for new business, market research, new product development, and technology commercialization. He has negotiated sales, joint ventures and partnership agreements with other organisations, both public and private, to further the strategic objectives of the organisations he has represented. As well as extensive face-to-face closure of key account sales, he has also successfully negotiated non-cash deals with other organisations to achieve mutually beneficial partnerships. His collaboration with AREA Science Park (Trieste) started at the beginning of 2009 and in September of the same year he was appointed as Director of the Technology Transfer Department to optimize strategic activities for technology transfer. Since January 2010 he sits on the board of Innovation Factory S.r.l., the in-house incubator of AREA Science Park, with specific responsibility for business competitiveness and internationalization and in May 2011 he was named CEO. In 2015 he became Director of Marketing, Communications and Business Development.

Mauro Giacca

Director-General International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) Education. 1984, Degree in Medicine; Faculty of Medicine, University of Trieste, Italy. 1985, Professional License; Admitted to the Medical Doctors and Surgeons Register, University of Bologna Medical School. 1989, Ph.D. in Microbiology and Virology; University of Genoa, Italy. Positions. Since 2014, Director-General of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Trieste, Italy, an international, intergovernmental organisation for advanced research and training in the United Nations Common System, with seats in Trieste, Italy, New Delhi, India and Cape Town, South Africa. 2004-14, Director of the Italian Component of the ICGEB in Trieste. Since 1995, Group Leader of the Molecular Medicine Laboratory at ICGEB Trieste. 2000-04: Founder and Director of the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Scuola Normale Superiore, in Pisa, Italy. Other appointments. Since 2012, Expert Member in the National Committee for Biotechnology, Biosafety and Life Sciences (CNBBSV), an advisory body to the President of the Council of Ministries of the Republic of Italy. 2005-2010, member of the Scientific Council of the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC) of Bangkok, Thailand. 2001-2005, member of the Executive Committee of NEST (National Enterprise for NanoScience and NanoTechnology) at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy. Since 1998, member of the Ethical Committee of the University Hospital, Trieste, Italy. Since 1996, Scientific consultant for the Italian Association for the Prevention and Cure of Handicaps (AIRH). 1995-1997, member of the Scientific Board of the Italian Society of Molecular Biology and Biophysics (SIBBM). Teaching and mentoring activity. Since 2005, Full Professor of Molecular Biology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Trieste, Italy. 2000-2005, Associate Professor of Molecular Biology at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy. Member of the PhD School Faculties of several Italian Universities. Scientific interests. Current research interest focuses on the development of novel biotherapeutics for cardiovascular disorders, with special emphasis on the identification of cytokines and microRNAs able to induce new blood vessel formation and cardiac regeneration in patients with myocardial infarction or heart failure. He also maintains a strong interest in the molecular biology of HIV-1 infection, with particular reference to the molecular mechanisms governing HIV-1 latency and reactivation. He has published over 280 full papers in peer reviewed international journals and is the author of the book "Gene Therapy", Springer ed., 2010. He presents his research activity at meetings and seminars worldwide and regularly contributes articles to national newspapers and popular science magazines. Funding. He has obtained grants for his research activity from various public and private bodies, including the European Union, the Italian Ministry for Education and Research, the World Antidoping Agency (WADA), Montreal, Canada, the Ataxia UK Charity, UK, the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy, the Telethon foundation Italy, the Istituto Superiore di Sanita' Italy, and others. Since 2010, he is the recipient of an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). Since 2012, he is the European Coordinator of a Leducq Foundation Transatlantic Network of Excellence grant.

David Pitschmann

Lakeside Science & Technology Park GmbH, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria Mr. Pitschmann is responsible for Marketing and Communication at Lakeside Science & Technology Park since 2014, requiring knowledge about tenants concerns, wishes and needs as well as understanding the role of STPs.

Gordana Danilović Grković

Science and technology Park Belgrade, Serbia Ms. Gordana Danilović Grković has over twelve years’ experience in the SMEs support, especially start up support, business incubation and innovation, and eight year experience in the management of technology development projects – including long term research, development, innovation projects and transfer technology. She has graduated on the Faculty of Economic and finished master studies in the field of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. She has initiated the first Business technology incubator programme and established the first Business Incubator of the Technical faculties Belgrade with the purpose of providing the support to start ups as well as the spin off companies coming from the Technical faculties. During the 8 years of BITF functioning, in total the establishment of the 60 startups has been supported, over 300 engineers employed out of 30 returners from abroad. Furthermore, through the BITF programmes over 600 students was trained on the entrepreneurship, management, marketing and Intellectual properties. Today, Ms. Gordana Danilović Grković is acting director of the first Science technology park Belgrade, established in June 2015 through the partnership of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, City of Belgrade and the University with the mission of creating the strong technology core and fostering the innovation development of the Republic of Serbia.

Iztok Lesjak

General Manager, Technology Park Ljubljana Iztok Lesjak M.Sc. is an international expert in business development and establishing knowledge-based SMEs, incubation and regional policy development and initiator as well as the CEO of Technology Park Ljubljana in Slovenia. He obtained his postgraduate M.Sc. degree in economics while his B.Sc. degree is in computer science, both from the University of Ljubljana. After working as a researcher in the digital communication field, he was involved in marketing the Slovenian national institutes’ research capabilities on the Italian market. His next activity was leading the Technology Park at the Jozef Stefan Institute, the predecessor of Ljubljana Technology Park Ltd where he was appointed General Manager in 1996. He managed a 43 million EUR investment project, partially financed by ERDF, for the design, development and implementation of the park infrastructure and value added services. He was actively involved in the evaluation process for more than five hundred hi-tech company start-up initiatives and is also a recognized international expert in the fields of national and regional innovation and/or technology transfer and regional development strategies. In 2010 he took on the role of a senior lecturer in business planning and entrepreneurship at the University of Nova Gorica. He was the initiator for the establishment of the National Association of Technology Parks, Business Incubators and Technology Centers and was President of this Association from 2005 to 2008. He was President of the European Division of International Association of Science Parks from 2010 to 2012. Additionally, form 2011 he has been appointed as a president of entrepreneurial development body at Regional development agency and a vital member of a group which established a national Initiative Start:up Slovenia.

Fabrizio Rovatti

Director, Innovation Factory, AREA Science Park Incubator Fabrizio Rovatti is currently Managing Director of Innovation Factory, incubator and in-house company of AREA Science Park, and Responsible of the Innovation Center of AREA Science Park. The main activities of Fabrizio Rovatti are the management and the implementation of strategic actions focused on Innovation. These activities, especially the valorisation of research and the technology transfer, help strengthen the competitive potential of companies and create a connection between the research world and the entrepreneurial system, through enhancing research results, promoting company development activities, and supporting the creation of new high-tech companies. In the previous years, after a period as Project Manager of EU Projects, Fabrizio Rovatti worked in the Technology Transfer Department of AREA Science Park, developing and managing projects with a strong focus on new technologies and innovation; some of these projects were in collaboration with M.I.T. Massachusetts Institute of Technology and SRI (Stanford Research Institute) International.

Theologos Prokopiou

Managing Director, business incubator i4G S.A Dr. Theologos Prokopiou is a senior international expert on innovation and entrepreneurship support infrastructure projects and especially Incubators/Accelerators and Science & Technology Parks. His unique skill-set that emanates from a perfectly interwoven industrial and consulting experience, focuses on the promotion of competitiveness and innovation and on commercialization of R&D. Dr Prokopiou is currently the Managing Director of the Technology and New Economy Incubator i4G-Incubation for Growth (www.i4gr.gr) member of the Euroconsultants Group, overseeing the services provided to incubatees in the fields of management consulting, technology management, popularization of investment possibilities, seeking and securing of funds for business development. He has successfully participated in the establishment and management of numerous incubation and S&T Parks initiatives, and is highly experienced in the development and delivery of high-end SME training and consultancy services. Dr. Prokopiou has worked on projects and initiatives in Greece and the Western Balkans, and also in Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia and the Middle East with substantial projects in Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Notre Dame, he served of the Board of Directors of TII (www.tii.org) and participates in the activities of IASP (International Association of Science Parks, www.iasp.ws). Dr Prokopiou is a certified Business Coach under the EU SME Instrument.

Juan Antonio Bertolin

Innovation and Projects Director, Science, Technology and Business Park of the Universitat Jaume I of Castellón (ESPAITEC) Since 2007, Juan Antonio Bertolin is responsible of Innovation and Projects Management in Espaitec, Science and Technology Park of Universitat Jaume I in Castellon (Spain) providing mechanisms to connect companies settled in the Science and Technology Park (start- ups, spin-off, tractors) to the Global Innovation EcoSystem, strategies of technology scouting, open innovation, hybridization management and project management protocols. He focuses in Hybridization Management, co-creation approaches, High Productivity Team Management and Innovative approaches for Regional Innovation Ecosystems and is currently preparing his PhD related to "Science and Technology Parks as promoter agents of Territorial Development into Areas of Innovation ecosystem". International Association of Science Technology Parks and Areas of Innovation Advisory Council member; Deputy Convener of the Thematic Research Group University-Industry Partnership of the Triple Helix Association, Council member of ENoLL (European Network of Living Labs). Previously, Juan Antonio was Project Manager at Accenture, where he developed his professional consulting career in international ICT projects and at GRUPO IT DEUSTO, as Account Manager in Mobility, Health and ICT projects. Physicist by University of Valencia, Master in Local Development Promotion Management at UJI (Universitat Jaume I Castellon) and Postgraduate in General Business Management at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). He has published several papers to conferences and innovation magazines about Advanced Management in Science and Technology Parks and Open Innovation.

Tim Hart

Managing Consultant for Isis Enterprise Tim has gained >25 years’ experience in technology commercialisation, particularly from university environments, and in the life sciences. He has worked as an academic researcher, technology transfer professional, and entrepreneur, having spun-out and managed two investment-backed life science companies from university research. Tim’s current role is as Managing Consultant for Isis Enterprise, the international innovation management consulting group within Oxford University Innovation Ltd, the University of Oxford technology transfer company. Tim’s experience is truly international, having worked for and with some of the largest technology corporates and leading universities across Asia, Russia, Europe, North and South America, Australia, and Africa. Tim is passionate about scientific innovation and entrepreneurship and over the last 25 years has developed deep insights from a local to global scale. He has advised and supported the private and public sector across the world with strategies and implementation support for innovation and entrepreneurship instruments and programmes.

Maurizio Fermeglia

Rector, University of Trieste Maurizio Fermeglia is full professor at the Department of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Trieste, where he holds the course in Chemical and Biochemical Reaction Engineering and Process and Product design. From 2006 to 2012 he was the head of the Department of Industrial Engineering & Information Technology, from 2010 to 2012 he served as president of the Research board of the University of Trieste. He was the director of the Ph.D. School of Nanotechnology at the University of Trieste from 2007 to 2013. From 2013, he is the Rector of the University of Trieste. Professor Fermeglia research interests are focused: on multiscale modeling for materials design and life science, applied thermodynamics, process simulation, molecular modelling for nanotechnology and nanomedicine. Maurizio Fermeglia is member of the EFCE working party on thermodynamics and transport properties, IUPAC fellows, member of the AIChE, member of Italian associations GRICU and AIDIC. He received the Italy meets Asia Science Award in 2015. He was scientific consultant of ICS - UNIDO within the Subprogram 'Process Simulation and sustainable development' from 1999 to 2011 and of UNEP for the implementation of PRTR in different countries from 2005 to 2013.

Cristina Marullo

Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy Cristina Marullo is PhD in Innovation Management and she is a post-doc researcher at the Institute of Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa. Her research topics are R&D and innovation management in technology- based SMEs. Actually she’s interested in the impact of collaborative R&D strategies and business model innovation on SMEs growth. Previously she has been working as a data analyst for public government research centres on regional innovation systems and ICT-enabled SMEs development. She’s currently involved in International Research Projects in collaboration the IPTS JRC, other European Universities and the European Investment Bank.

Mattias Dinnetz

Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission Mattias Dinnetz (Policy officer, JRC) is a research commercialisation professional with a strong focus on creating value in the interface between public research and private enterprise across a number of technological fields. During his career he has been involved in all stages of the innovation cycle, which entails access to risk finance, brokering deals – in essence transferring technology – between universities and companies, including the establishing of start-up companies, licensing deals, and contract research. Managing the innovation process entails identifying novel ideas with business potential in research, IPR management, and industrial liaison, as well as negotiating terms and conditions for equity-based risk capital with seed and venture capital partners. Mattias is increasingly doing social, economic, and legal research with the aim of improving policy for technology transfer, in areas such as biotechnological innovation and intellectual property exchange and finance.

Elena Andonova

Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission Technology Transfer Advisor at the Joint Research Centre, European Commission Elena is a multi-disciplinary expert engaged in innovation management and international commercialization projects. Her expertise lies in business planning, deal structuring, financing and marketing. Currently, Elena works as an policy officer and advisor at DG Joint Research Centre of the European Commission engaging in technology transfer capacity building programmes and policy support. Beforehand, Elena worked for Oxford University Innovation where she developed technology transfer programmes and collaborations with industry, academia and governments around the world with a focus on Latin America. Elena joined Oxford University Innovation in October of 2009 as a fellow from the Said Business School at Oxford University, where she had completed her MBA. Before coming to Oxford, Elena spent few years working for the capital markets division of Lehman Brothers in London, involved in negotiating and trading of sovereign bonds. Elena has experience in macroeconomics and corporate finance and graduated from the American University in Bulgaria with a double major in Economics and Business Administration.

Mauro Lattuada

Technology transfer Manager, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland After graduating at the Milan Polytechnic in 1998, Mauro Lattuada worked for Alcatel in the radio links department. In 2000, he joined EPFL in Lausanne, for a new project on wireless systems for digital newsgathering. During the same year, Mauro Lattuada co-founded Livetools Technology a company developing compact and portable digital systems for TV production of sports events like Olympics games or Tour de France. In 2004 he obtains his doctoral thesis in the field of signal processing. In 2006, he joins by Abilis Systems, a fabless semiconductor company of the Kudeslki group (now ALI Tech Corporation), where he covers different positions ending as technical manager for the definition of new products and the business development. Mauro Lattuada joined the team in March 2013 TTO as a Technology Transfer Manager.

Michel Morant

General Manager, Interface Enterprises, University of Liège, Belgium and Vice President, ASTP-Proton Michel Morant is presently the Managing Director of the Knowledge Transfer Office of the University of Liege and University Hospital. Michel Morant graduated in electromechanical and electrical engineering at University of Liege in 1979, than a MBA in 1982 and a PhD in 1984. During this period, he has been working at the ULg as a Research Engineer in the Electrical Engineering Department, in charge of collaborative research. In 1986, he joined the Power Transport and Distribution Division of the AEG Daimler-Benz group, became member of the board in 1990, and vice-president in charge of the technique and commercial departments in 1995. In 1998, he joined the University to boost the technology transfer office. With about 45 staff members, more than 125 spin off companies created, 20 licences a year, the Liege office is one of the more active KTO of Belgium. In Belgium, he the President of LIEU, the network of KTO’s association, is a member of the board of Creative Wallonia Engine, and he is a member of the Science and technology Policy advisory board of Wallonia. He is in the board of several spin offs companies, and he is chairing the board of the spin off company Symbiose Biomaterials. Michel Morant is member of several international associations, ASTP-Proton, TII, AUTM, LIEU, SPOW, IASP, Curie. He is also currently Vice-President of ASTP-Proton, the merged paneuropean association for Tech transfer.

Alberto di Minin

Associate Professor of Management, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy Alberto Di Minin is Associate Professor of Management at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa and he is Research Fellow with the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, University of California – Berkeley. Di Minin is currently the Italian Representative on the SMEs & Access to Finance Programme Committee, for Horizon 2020, with the European Commission. At Sant’Anna, Alberto is teaching innovation management and innovation policy. Alberto’s research deals with Open Innovation, appropriation of innovation and science and technology Policy. Alberto writes for Nòva, Il Sole24Ore.

Koen Jonkers

Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission Dr ir Koen Jonkers is currently working as Deputy Head of Unit of the Innovation Systems Analysis (ISA) unit of DG JRC. The unit's aim is to provide comparative country analysis of the European Member States on selected R&I topics to assess the impact of specific R&I policies through econometric, macro-economic and qualitative policy analysis. This is done in order to place Country Level analyses into context and to draw policy lessons through benchmarking and the identification of good practices. The ISA unit provides inputs to DG Research and other policy DGs involved in the Research and innovation part of the European Semester process. Through its various projects the ISA unit also aims to support other parts of the R&I policy making process of the European Commission. Before joining DG JRC, Koen worked at the CSIC Institute for Public Goods and Policies in Madrid, Spain and made 25+ publications on topics related to Scientific Mobility, Highly Skilled Migration, Scientific Careers, Research Collaboration, Public Funding of R&D, Research Organisations, scientometrics and various other topics in the field of research and innovation studies. In addition to a PhD from the European University Institute, he holds a research master in political studies and international relations from the University of Birmingham, an MSc in Science and Technology Studies from the University of Amsterdam and an engineering (MSc) degree in Biotechnology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

Petra Püchner

Executive Manager, Steinbeis Foundation Dr. Petra Püchner is Director of a Steinbeis Enterprise. She holds a degree in Biology and a PhD in Environmental Engineering. After 5 years 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 director in the year 2000. Petra has been engaged in innovation and related policy issues for more than 20 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 answer the knowledge transfer challenge in regard to key enabling technologies and their applications towards SME. Open Innovation for SME is another expert area, in which she just developed a specific coaching process for SME. Together with her co-directors and a team of 50 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. Petra is appointed member of the H2020 Advisory Group for Energy Research and the AG for Gender Issues. She founded the European Network of Women for Innovative Energy Solutions – Women4Energy. In FP7, she was appointed member of the SME Research Advisory Group.

Aamir Butt

Chief Executive Officer at Tumour Trace Ltd Building a tested customer centric go-to-market strategy and executing it through focused organisational alignment is in Aamir’s DNA. With 20- years of experience of starting and selling his own businesses, and supporting over 90 other businesses, taking new products to new markets is at the heart of his expertise. Aamir has built scalable business models across several verticals including health, medtech, digital and service industries. Goal focused and results oriented, Aamir knows tools and processes deeply enough to teach, consult, coach and execute.

Vittorio Venturi

Group Leader, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) Dr. Vittorio Venturi (born in Treviso, Italy on the 06 August, 1965) graduated from Edinburgh University, UK, and received his Ph.D. degree in Microbiology from the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. During his PhD research he focused in the regulation of iron-transport processes of beneficial plant associated bacteria which promote plant growth; the monopolization of iron nearby plant roots is an important trait which keeps microbial pathogens away. He then moved as a postdoctoral fellow to the International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (ICGEB), Trieste, Italy, where he started investigating intercellular signalling among bacteria. He then went on to become Group Leader at ICGEB continuing his studies on intercellular signalling. He is now particularly interested in (i) how plant associated bacteria undergo interspecies communication and interkingdom signalling with plants and (ii) plant microbiomes and the development of microbial products for a more sustainable agriculture. Alessandro Marcello

Group Leader, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) Alessandro Marcello is the Head of the Molecular Virology Laboratory at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) based in Trieste, Italy (http://www.icgeb.trieste.it/molecular- virology.html). Essentially a virologist, Dr Marcello’s research experience ranges from the investigation of the molecular basis of viral disease, to the study of the cellular response to viral infection, to the development of antiviral strategies and innovative diagnostic tools in collaboration with industry.

Jana Kolar

Executive Director, Central European Research Infrastructure Consortium (CERIC-ERIC) Dr. Jana Kolar is Executive Director of CERIC-ERIC, a research infrastructure dedicated to advanced characterisation of materials. Dr. Kolar has been Director General of Science and Technology at the Ministry in Slovenia, chairman of the board of Slovenian Technology Agency and a member of the board of Slovenian Research Agency. She is currently a member of the board of European Institute of Technology and Innovation (EIT), a member of the ERA Council Forum Austria, a high- level expert body advising the Austrian Minister responsible for Science and Research, and a member of Horizon 2020 advisory group Innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises.

Bernard Denis

European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) Bernard Denis has more than 10 years experience in innovation, intellectual property and knowledge transfer. He joined the Technology Transfer group of CERN in 2005 as section leader with responsibilities for all technology transfer operational activities. In 2007, Bernard was appointed deputy group Leader. He is a founding member of the High Energy Physics Technology Transfer Network (HEPTech) regrouping the TT Offices of institutes active in High Energy Physics. In 2012, Bernard was seconded to the European Commission. He joined the Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer unit of the Joint Research Centre where he provided expert advice for the IPR strategy of the Galileo Satellite Navigation programme and for the management of the Technology Transfer sector. Bernard is now a member of the CERN unit in charge of the relation between CERN and the European institutions with a specific role in relation with EU research and innovation policy. Before working in the area of knowledge transfer and innovation, Bernard has been working in various positions at CERN including IT project leader for the development of the SPS and LEP accelerators control systems and deputy group leader of the unit in charge of the CERN outsourcing policy. Bernard regularly acts as an expert for WIPO in technology transfer fact- finding missions and capacity building workshops. He also acted as international evaluator of project proposals for the establishment of Technology Transfer Centres in the Czech Republic. He is accredited Registered Technology Transfer Professional by the Alliance of Technology Transfer Association (ATTP). He has an engineering background in electromechanics, an MBA and an Advanced Diploma in Management Consultancy from the Henley Management College. He developed and delivered negotiation training programmes for the CERN knowledge transfer and purchasing services, for the JRC Technology Transfer unit and for the PhD symposium of HEPTech. Bernard is also lecturing on project management at the Geneva School of Economics and Management, Geneva University. In May 2016, he became a member of the Professional Development Committee of ASTP- Proton.

Giancarlo Panaccione

National Research Council, Institute for Materials Manufacturing (CNR-IOM) Giancarlo Panaccione holds a PhD in materials science. He is senior researcher at IOM Institute-Lab. TASC- Trieste of National Research Council (CNR) Italy. From 2006 to present, he was Coordinator of the CNR research activity “Phase transition and magnetic properties in strongly correlated oxides, metal-semiconductor interfaces, and anomalous metals”, he was scientific coordinator of EU-FP5-VOLPE- Project, local responsible of I-FOX FP7 and Prin-Oxide projects, coordinator of the Miur-Elettra PIK project Ultraspin. He is now coordinating the CNR-project SPRINT focused on time resolved magnetic spectroscopy and he is member of the EXC-board and Joint Research Activity leader of the Nanoscience Foundry and Fine Analysis NFFA- Europe H2020 project (2015-2019). The research activity of Dr. Panaccione is mostly devoted to the exploitation of Synchrotron Radiation spectroscopies for the study of correlated systems and novel quantum materials, following three main axes: (1) electronic and magnetic properties of low dimensional sys- tems (surfaces and interfaces), (2) electron confinement, and (3) complex oxides. He has more than 160 publications in peer reviewed journals.

Alberto Morgante

Director General, CNR – IOM Alberto Morgante holds a Degree and a Phd in Physics from the university of Trieste. He is since February 2010 the Director of the CNR-IOM Institute. Previously he was Director of National TASC Laboratory INFM. He also is since November 1999 associate professor of Physics at Trieste University while before he was researcher at Trieste University, researcher at Laboratorio TASC-INFM, Trieste and had fellowships at Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Max Plank, at Fritz-Haber-Institut der MPG Berlin in collaboration with prof. G. Ertl. He also was a visiting scientist at the Nanoscience and Engineering Centre of Columbia University New York USA. Alberto teaches courses on “Electrodynamics and relativity” for physics students, “Surface physics” for PhD students, “General Physics” for Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology students He is a member of PhD School in nanotechnology of Trieste University, from 2008 to 2013 deputy director of the School and member of the Scientific committee of the School. He also is supervisor of more than 16 PhD students and more than 20 degree students, member of final examination boards for PhD students at international and national PhD schools. Furthermore, he is since October 2014 member of Board of Directors of Sincrotrone Trieste Company that runs the Elettra synchrotron and Fermi FEL.

Alfonso Franciosi

President and Chief Executive Officer, Elettra Sincrotrone Alfonso Franciosi, a national of Italy and of the U.S., currently serves as Chairman of the Board (Presidente) and Chief Executive Officer (Amministratore Delegato) of Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., and is a Full Professor of Physics with the University of Trieste. He was born in 1955 and graduated summa cum laude in Physics from the University of Rome "La Sapienza" in 1978. He was a postdoctoral fellow with the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1980 to 1981. In 1982 he joined the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis as an Associate Scientist. He was promoted to tenured Associate Professor in 1988. During his years in the U.S. he was Principal Investigator of numerous research projects funded by the U.S. Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation (NSF), 3M, Honeywell, Sperry, Control Data Corporation, etc., and from 1987 through 1993 served as Nucleation and Growth Focus Leader of the NSF Center for Interfacial Engineering, a private-public 50-50 partnership that developed a major infrastructure in Minneapolis to host joint industry- University research teams. From 1993 to 1999 professor Franciosi held concurrent part-time appointments as Director of the TASC National Laboratory of the Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia in Trieste, Associate Professor of Physics with the University of Trieste, and Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science with the University of Minnesota. In 2000 he became a Professor of Physics with the University of Trieste. In 2001 he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Starting in 2004 professor Franciosi served as Chief Executive Officer of Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A. in his capacity of managing director on the company's Board and since 2014 he serves also as Chairman of the Board. The publication list of professor Franciosi includes more than 300 articles in refereed international journals on the physics and materials science of semiconductors, semiconductor heterostructures, superlattices, quantum wells, metal/semiconductor contacts, thin film nucleation and growth, lasers and optical modulators, synchrotron radiation spectroscopies and microscopies, and he holds 3 U.S. patents in such fields. Professor Franciosi has been the advisor of more than 30 doctoral and master students in Italy and in the U.S. Most of his former students are now employed by industrial concerns such as Intel, 3M, IBM, Xerox, Cypress Semiconductor Corporation, Bosch, Insiel, etc. A few hold faculty positions in Cambridge, Bristol, Cork, Linz, Minneapolis, Nova Gorica, etc.

Maria Cristina Pedicchio

President, National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics, INTERREG Programme Maria Cristina Pedicchio is Professor of Algebra at the University of Trieste and since 2011 she is President of the Institute of National Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (OGS), one of the research institutions supervised by the Ministry of Education, University and Research, located in Trieste. After a long international experience as a researcher in mathematics, today she is mainly devoted to the management and promotion of research institutions and of research and innovation policies. Previously she was President of AREA Science Park, the first Italian scientific and technology park, she has promoted and presided for 8 years the Centre for Molecular Biomedicine (CBM), a public-private company managing the Molecular Biomedicine Technology District of Friuli Venezia Giulia region. She is Chairman of the Technical Scientific Committee of the National Agency for the Promotion of European Research (APRE) and a member of several Boards of Directors. She has a wide participation history in international institutions and expert groups such as the participation to the ERAB – European Research Area Board and to the Strategic Forum for International S&T Cooperation of the European Commission. In recognition of her merit she was honoured with the title of Commander in “Merit of the Republic of Italy”.

Olga Spasić

Counselor, Technology Transfer and IP Commercialization, SMEs and Entrepreneurship Support Division, Department for Developed and Transition Countries (TDC), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva Olga Spasic is a Counsellor for Knowledge Transfer and IP Commercialization in the WIPO SMEs and Entrepreneurship Support Division, Department for Transition and Developed Countries (TDC), which provides assistance and support to WIPO Member States and their innovation stakeholders in establishing innovation structures in the form of ecosystems of interconnected and interdependent public and private structural elements (policies, organizations, funds and people) and relationships. Ms. Spasic deals with issues related to the development of innovation intermediary organizations such as technology management units and IP Hubs to foster systematic innovation, creation and knowledge transfer, as well as with programs and projects focusing on the development of human capital and professionals in the area of innovation and technology management. Her work and competencies address challenging issues such as designing customized pilot projects related to the development of knowledge transfer infrastructures in various countries and regions, such as the WIPO Pilot Project on “Establishment of Technology Transfer Offices (TTO s) in Arab Region,” as well as the creation, management and delivery of tailored capacity building programs in the area of IP commercialization for universities and R&D institutions (for example IPR Management for Universities, IP Marketing, IP Valuation and Successful Technology Licensing (STL). In addition, Ms. Spasic analyses the interactions between intellectual property and development, and uses that analysis to propose new platforms for IP-based collaboration and knowledge transfer among innovation stakeholders in WIPO Member States.

Ulf Petrusson

Director, Centre for Intellectual Property, Chalmers University of Technology, University of Gothenburg Ulf Petrusson is a Professor of Law at the University of Gothenburg as well as the Director at the Institute for Innovation and Social Change at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg. In addition, Professor Petrusson is the director for the Centre for Intellectual Property (CIP) and Program Director at the Intellectual Capital Management (ICM) Master program at Chalmers University of Technology/University of Gothenburg. Professor Petrusson is engaged in research focused on law and technology with specific interest in how technology and other knowledge can be claimed and managed as assets, property, and capital in early and open innovation projects. Professor Petrusson has experience in working as a Company Lawyer/IP consultant at Göteborgs Patentbyrå AB. He is a co-founder, senior advisor and board member at CIP Professional Services Ltd, a development and business consultancy company.

Frédéric Caillaud

Scientific Director, National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), Courbevoie, France Frédéric Caillaud joined INPI (French Patent Office) on April 2015 as Director of Innovation in charge of developing IP awareness, IP landscaping and IP rating. Prior to joining INPI, he was Director of the Licensing and Business Development Department at L’Oréal for 20 years, at Fournier Pharma for 7 years and Director of a Genetic engineering Dpt for Rhône-Poulenc Pharma (4 years). Frédéric Caillaud is a Medical Doctor and received a Ph. D. in Genetic engineering from the Pasteur Institute of Paris. He is a postgraduate in Strategic Management from HEC School of Management and is one of the first certified licensing professional (CLP). He is regularly giving lectures and courses (145 until now) related to Licensing matters, Open innovation, IP strategic management, Patent analytics and rating systems all over the world. He is one of the founder of European Knowledge Transfer Society (accrediting Tech Transfer trainers and certifying TT professionals).

Ivana Stefanović Ristin

Coordinator, National Rural Development Network, Serbia President and founder of National LEADER Network Serbia – NLN-, umbrella rural CSO organization and Serbia’s largest non-profit network of rural change makers. We're engaging people from all walks of life in nearly 600 rural communities across more than 60 municipalities from each region of Serbia. 10 years of experience in rural development Projects management and fundraising, as well as in public affairs management. Member of IPARD Monitoring Committee in Serbia. Member of AEIDL Association for information on rural development, Brussels. Educational background: Specialist in International Relations, Political Sciences.

Sotiraq Hroni

General Director, Rural Development Policy, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Albania Mr. Sotiraq Hroni is Chairman and founder of the Albanian Network for Rural Development (ANRD) - a non-governmental organization established at the end of 2015, whose mission is to promote community- led rural development through advocacy and initiatives on policy development and implementation. The Albanian Network is the youngest member of PREPARE partnership - a group of European and national non- government organizations. Member of the PREPARE Organizing Group – the decision-making body of the PREPARE. Member of IPARD Monitoring Committee in Albania. Mr. Hroni is a former diplomat and advisor to the PM and President of Albania. Mr. Hroni’s professional background and involvement with civil society over the past fifteen years has been focusing particularly on good governance and rural development, accountability and integrity development reforms, civic participation and evidence-based policy making.

Marina Koprivnjak Coordinator of Croatian Rural Development Network - HMRR I have been working in the civil sector for over eight years, since January 2009, as a coordinator of the Croatian Rural Development Network - HMRR. My everyday tasks in the Network include communication with members, coordination of activities, writing project proposals, project management, reporting, organizing and conducting workshops, conferences, communication with the media, participating in meetings at local and international level, policy analyses, editing e-newsletters, HMRR website and Facebook fan pages, etc. Member of IPARD Monitoring Committee (2010-2014) Member of Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 Monitoring Committee (2015-to date).

Paolo Sabbatini

Associate Professor of Viticulture and Extension Specialist Paolo Sabbatini graduated with a MS and PhD from University of Ancona (Italy) and become Assistant Professor in Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University (2007) and promoted with tenure to Associate Professor (2013). He has Research (50%), Extension (40%) and teaching (10%) responsibilities and research focus is on vine physiology. Emphasis is on physiological and cultural factors limiting vine growth, sustainable yield, fruit quality and their interaction with biotic and abiotic stress. Carbon assimilation, storage and partitioning are the major tools for his studies. His ultimate goal is to solve whole plant problems that will optimize vine productivity and quality. He has several ongoing research project on crop load balance, canopy management to improve fruit quality, determination of action thresholds of pest and diseases in common Michigan wine grape cultivars and viticultural approaches to reduce bunch rot in wine grapes.

Pierpaolo Penco

Management Consultant, MIB Trieste School of Management Pierpaolo Penco has 20 years of experience in the field of marketing and communication for research institutions, hi-tech companies, tourism, wineries and their associations, international consulting firms (Italy Country Manager of Wine Intelligence, London). At the same time, he developed a strong academic and pedagogic experience for Business Schools (Director of the Wine Business courses at MIB Trieste School of Management since 2002), Universities (Visiting lecturer at the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia, since 2007) and other institutions. As a consultant, Pierpaolo carries out business advice, especially for the wine industry, on: market research and consumer behaviour analysis; branding and differentiation strategies, marketing and communication plans; PR activities to importers, journalists and opinion leaders; wine tourism and territorial marketing development; definition of EU, regional and cross-border financing projects.