The Speakers

Giulio Cimini is Associate Professor at the Physics Department of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, and research associate at CREF. He works in the area of complex systems and interdisciplinary applications on socio-economic systems, using tools from statistical physics, network theory, and machine learning. His current focus is on applying statistical mechanics and information theory to develop models of (possibly multilayer) complex networks, that find a twofold application in network reconstruction and statistical validation of network patterns. He also studies critical phenomena of percolation and diffusion on networks, with applications in the diffusion of epidemics and opinions in structured populations.

Maria del Rio-Chanona has been a JSMF (James S. McDonnell Foundation) Postdoctoral Fellow at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna since June 2021 and at Harvard Growth Lab since December 2021. Maria has a PhD in mathematics from Oxford University, where she was part of the complexity economics group of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Oxford Martin School. She has worked alongside international policy organizations, including the International Monetary Fund and the International Labour Organisation. She did her undergraduate studies in physics at UNAM, Mexico. Maria’s research draws from network science, natural language processing, as well as agent-based modeling and focuses on labor economics, the future of work, green transition, and the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic

Giovanni Dosi is professor of economics at the Institute of Economics. He also serves as co-director of the  ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ task force at the Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University. Additionally, Professor Dosi is a continental Europe editor of the journal Industrial and Corporate Change. He is included in the ISI Highly Cited Research list, denoting those who made fundamental contributions to the advancement of science and technology, and is a corresponding member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the first academy of sciences in Italy. A selection of his works has been published in two volumes: Innovation, Organization and Economic Dynamics. Selected Essays (2000), and Economic Organization, Industrial Dynamics and Development: Selected Essays (2012) both published by Edward Elgar. His book The Foundation of Complex Evolving Systems has been published in early 2023. This manual seeks to offer an integrated analysis of the anatomy and physiology of the capitalist engine of generation and exploitation of technological organizational and institutional innovations - from the drivers of knowledge accumulation, to the modes in which such knowledge is incorporated into business firms, all the way to the processes of innovation-driven “Schumpeterian competition” and macroeconomic growth. In that, it advances the interpretation of such patterns, in terms of economies seen as complex evolving systems.

Mikel Landabaso works in the European Commission since 1990.  He is Director for Fair and Sustainable Economy at the Joint Research Centre, managing the Seville site. Previously he was Director for Strategy and Corporate Communication at DG COMM under the President’s Cabinet. He has also worked as Head of Cabinet of Regional Policy Commissioner and Head of Unit in several Units, including as responsible for Smart and Sustainable Growth and the Structural Funds for Spain, as well as assistant to the Director General of DG Regio. These jobs covered both, policy design and policy implementation. Before joining the EU Commission, he worked as Head of the Research Department and Assistant to the Director General of the Basque Innovation Agency 1986-1990. He has also worked part time as lecturer at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Belgium (2001-2007), visiting Fellow at University of North Carolina (USA) (2000), lecturer at Deusto University and the public University of the Basque Country in Spain (1987-1990). He is currently Honorary Visiting Professor at Cardiff University. He was given the 2004 “Christiane Bom Award” for his contribution to innovation in European Regional policy by the European Regional Development Agencies Association – EURADA. Mikel Landabaso is PhD in Economics (University of the Basque Country 1994, Spain), M.A. in Development Economics (University of East Anglia 1983-84, U.K.).

Vittorio Loreto is a physicist at Sapienza University of Rome and faculty of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna. He is presently director of the SONY Computer Science Laboratories in Rome. He recently coordinated the research program dubbed KREYON, aimed at unfolding the dynamics of creativity, novelties and innovation. While theoretical modeling and data analysis are his native research tools, in the last few years he has been developing interactive tools, games, installations, to directly involve the public on the very research agenda. He created the KREYON DAYS, a new form of scientific event that tightly entangles research, learning, awareness and fun.

Nanditha is researcher at UNU-MERIT. Nanditha's research interests focus broadly on the microeconomics of innovation and development, in detail, on firm capabilities, firm performance and industrial policy. Nanditha is leading the team on "Conflicting and complementary policies for development"  within the new flagship programme of UNU-MERIT on Comprehensive Innovation for Sustainable Development (CI4SD). Before joining UNU-MERIT, she was a Postdoctoral fellow at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa and at the National Research Council (CNR) of Italy (in Florence).

Frank Neffke has been a team leader at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna since July 2021. Before joining the Hub, Frank was the Growth Lab's Research Director. He joined the Growth Lab at Harvard's Center for International Development as a Research Fellow in 2012. His research focuses on economic transformation and growth, from the macro-level of structural change in regional and national economies to the micro-level of firm diversification and the career paths of individuals. This research has shed light on topics ranging from structural transformation and new growth paths in regional economies, economic complexity and the role of cities, local labor markets, the importance of division of labor, human capital and teams in modern economies, the consequences of job displacement and the future of work. Before joining CID, Frank worked as an assistant professor at the Erasmus School of Economics in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He holds a Ph. D. in Economic Geography from Utrecht University and Master degrees in Econometrics and Philosophy from the University of Amsterdam.

Carlo Pietrobelli is a professor and policy advisor on innovation and industrial development and policy. He currently holds a UNESCO Chair on “Science, Technology and Innovation Policies for Sustainable Development in Latin America” at the United Nations University UNU-MERIT, Maastricht. He is a Professor of Economics at University Roma Tre, Italy, and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, Washington DC. He was Dean of Economics at Roma Tre, during 2019-2022. During 2009-2016 he was a Lead Economist at the Inter-American Development Bank. His research interests range from development economics to innovation, trade, industry, value chains and natural resources in developing countries. He has published widely in international journals and his books were published by Harvard University Press, Edward Elgar, Palgrave and Routledge. He holds a PhD in Economics from Oxford University and has been a regular policy advisor to governments in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.

Emanuele Pugliese joined the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in 2017. After undergraduate and Master studies in Physics, he obtained a PhD in Economics from Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy). His research interests include innovation and development, with a focus on the role of complexity in economic systems. He has been consultant for the World Bank Group and researcher for the Italian National Council for Research.

Angelica Sbardella is a researcher at the Enrico Fermi Research Centre in Rome and research associate at SOAS University of London School of Finance and Management. Her research focuses on industrial competitiveness and development, labour markets, technological innovation, economic inequality, and the sustainable transition; data-driven and policy-oriented in its nature, it aims at building a bridge between economic complexity and more traditional approaches in economics. She previously was a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa and research fellow at the Institute of Complex Systems-CNR; has been consultant at the European Commission, World Bank Group, ILO, and UNU-MERIT, using the economic complexity framework to address issues in regional development, skill creation and industrial innovation.

Luc Soete is a Professor at the UNU-MERIT, and Professor and Dean of the Brussels School of Governance. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Sussex Business School and of the Advisory Board of the UNU Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS) in Bruges, Belgium. He is a former Rector Magnificus and professor of International Economic Relations at the School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, and former director of UNU-MERIT, a joint research institute of the United Nations University (UNU) and Maastricht University. Luc Soete is a member of the Dutch scientific advisory body (AWTI) and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) since 2010.[1] He serves on the Board of Supervisors of the Delft University of Technology. Professor Dr Soete is a member of the Economic and Social Impact of Research expert group for the EC’s Directorate-General Research and Innovation, and of the Scientific Committee for the EC’s Joint Research Centre.

Maria Enrica Virgillito is Associate Professor in Economics at the Institute of Economics, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies where she teaches advanced courses on Classical Development, Risks in Economics, Technical change, Income distribution and Macroeconomic Dynamics and coordinates the Seasonal School on "Agent-based models in Economics: theory, toolkit and policy laboratories". She is Global Labour Organization Fellow,  serves as Editor for the Macro and Development yearly issue of Industrial and Corporate Change, as Associate Editor for Structural Change and Economic Dynamics and for Review of Evolutionary Political Economy. She is also member of the Editorial Board of SINAPPSI. She has been part of several H2020 projects and currently unit coordinator of a PRIN project. Her publications have been hosted in a number of international scientific peer-reviewed journals on complexity economics, institutional labour economics, evolutionary economics. Actively engaged in media and social dissemination activities and action research.

Bartel Van de Walle is a Professor of Policy Analysis. Before joining UNU-MERIT he was Head of the Department of Multi-Actor Systems in the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management at the Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands. He has also held faculty positions at Tilburg University, the Netherlands and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA and was a researcher at the Nuclear Research Centre SCK·CEN, Belgium. He was previously a senior fellow with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, USA and has worked extensively with humanitarian organisations, most notably the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).