Michela Bello is a Socio-Economic Analyst at the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), where she leads a research project aimed at better understanding the state of research and innovation (R&I) performance of the European Union. Prior to joining the JRC in 2021, she has worked as an analyst in the OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation (2016-2021) and as a consultant for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) (2009-2016).

 Michela holds an MSc in Economics from Bocconi University and is currently studying for a PhD at the Science Policy Research Unit of the University of Sussex. Her main research interests include innovation, digitalization, foreign investment, and global value chains.

Ron Boschma is Full Professor in Regional Economics at University of Utrecht, and Professor II in Innovation Studies at Stavanger University. Boschma, among others, has laid the foundations of a new influential stream in Economic Geography, that is, Evolutionary Economic Geography. In the period 2013-2015, Boschma was director of the Centre for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy (CIRCLE) at Lund University. Boschma has published in international journals on the geography of innovation, spatial evolution of industries, the structure and evolution of spatial networks, agglomeration externalities and regional growth, and regional diversification. Boschma has been member of the Research, Innovation and Science Experts (RISE) High-Level Advisory Body to European Commissioner Carlos Moedas 2015-2016.

Stefano Breschi obtained his PhD from the Department of Economics, Università di Pavia (Italy) in 1994. He is Professor of Applied Economics and Deputy Director of the Center for Research on Innovation, Organization and Strategy (CRIOS) at the Università Commerciale L. Bocconi, Milan (Italy). His main research interests are in the economics of technical change, industrial dynamics, social networks, economics of science, economics of the patent system, economic geography and regional economics. He carried out several research projects for international (e.g. European Commission DG Research, DG Information Society) and national (e.g. ENEA, Confindustria) organisations. He is author of numerous articles in journals like Economic Journal, Research Policy, Industrial and Corporate Change, Regional Studies, Journal of Economic Geography among others. He is Associate Editor of the journal Industrial and Corporate Change.

Nicoletta Corrocher is Lecturer in Applied Economics at Bocconi University and Research Fellow at ICRIOS (Invernizzi Center for Research on Innovation, Organization, Strategy and Entrepreneurship), Bocconi University. She obtained a PhD in Economics and Management of Innovation at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies and an MSc in Science and Technology Policy at SPRU, University of Sussex. Her main research interests concern the diffusion of innovations and industrial dynamics - particularly in ICT industries and service sectors – and the emergence of eco-innovations in the framework of sustainable development. She has published in international journals such as Research Policy, Regional Studies, Industry and Innovation, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Technological Forecasting and Social Change.

Dario Diodato is an economist working at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. Between 2017 and 2019, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University’s Growth Lab. Before his PhD in Economic Geography at Utrecht University (2013-2017), he worked as a researcher in urban and regional economics at the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (The Hague, 2009-2012). His research interests lie in the fields of technological change, structural transformation, migration and technology diffusion, cities and regions, human capital and skills, economic complexity and economic resilience.

Dr. Evgeni Evgeniev leads the investment agenda of the Industrial Research, Innovation and Investment Agendas Unit at Prosperity Directorate of DG Research and Innovation. He manages the Annual Flagship report on EU Industrial R&D investment scoreboard in collaboration with JRC-Seville. Before his assignment with the European Commission, he served as Research Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Bulgaria to the EU (2018-2021). During 2015-2018, he worked as Vice-Rector at VUZF University and also served as senior advisor to the Minister of Education and Science of Republic of Bulgaria on research infrastructure policy. Dr. Evgeniev has published in international journals and has contributed as author to over two dozens of World Bank reports, as well as to analytical outputs of the European Commission, IMF, OECD, and UNIDO. He has published five books.

Balázs Lengyel is an economic geographer who works on topics at the intersection of economic geography, innovation studies, and network science. He aims to understand how social interaction facilitates economic and technological progress embedded in geographical space. Balázs leads the ANET Lab at the Centre for Economic- and Regional Studies in Budapest and has established the NETI Lab at the Corvinus University of Budapest (CUB). He is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Data Analytics at CUB. Previously, Balazs was a visiting scholar at MIT Human Mobility and Networks Lab and at Umea University. He completed his PhD in economics at Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Andrea Morrison is currently Associate Professor of Applied Economics at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Pavia and Adjunct Professor of Innovation and Sustainability at the Department of Management and Technology, Bocconi University. He is also research fellow at ICRIOS Bocconi University. He holds a M.A in Development Economics from the University of Sussex and a Ph.D. in Economic Development, Institutions and Sustainability from the University of Roma Tre. His research interests lie in the areas of evolutionary economics, innovation studies and economic geography. He has investigated extensively topics like system of innovation, industrial clusters and knowledge networks, global value chain, green innovation, high skilled migration. 

Roberta Rabellotti is Professor of Economics at the Department of Political and Social Science, University of Pavia (Italy). After graduating in Economics at Università Bocconi, she got a Master of Science in Development Economics at the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s College) and a Doctor of Philosophy at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.

Roberta is an economist with experience in qualitative and quantitative research in the field of economics of innovation, economic development, and regional economics. 

Throughout her career, Roberta participated in and led several research and consultancy projects. She has provided academic advice to, amongst others, the European Commission, the IADB, OECD; UNIDO; UN-CEPAL, UNCTAD, the ADB and various national and regional governments. 

Prof. Rabellotti is in the scientific board of GLOBELICS and she is currently consulting editor of the International Journal of Business Policy.  More information is available at https://robertarabellotti.it