SPEAKERS AND FACILITATORS

Nana Adeishvili		Executive Director, CERMA - Centre for Enterprise Restructuring and Enterprise Management
Marie Ahlgren		CEO, Àrviva, Sweden
Thomas Andersson		President, IKED - International Organization for Knowledge, Sweden
Armando Arguelles		Director, Tabasco in Action, Mexicos
Björn Asheim		Prof of Economic Geography, University of Lund, Sweden, and Prof, Centre of Technology, Innovation, and Culture, University of Oslo, Norway
Salvador Avila		ECG - the Economic Competetiveness Group
Andrius Bagdonas		Director Sunrise Valley, Lithuania
Lennart Bångens		Department of Marketing, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Arthur Bayhan		Special Advisor VINNOVA, Sweden
Per-Olof Berg		President, SSES Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship, Sweden
Silvano Bertini		Emilia Romagna Development Agency, Italy
Mike Best		University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA
Per Bill		Moderate Party, Member of Parliament, Committee on Education, Sweden
Robert P. Breault		Chairman,  Breault Research Organization, USA
Trish Brimblecombe		Head of School, Computing Whitireia Community Polytechnic, New Zealand
Melih Bulu		Director, Competitive Advantage of Turkey
Erik Bunis		CEO, Technology Transfer Institute of Jönköping, Sweden
Brian C. Catts		Principal, Cattman Ventures, USA
Alf Chaiton		Senior fellow, University of Ottawa, Canada
Hana Chlebna		Deputy Head, Czechinvest, Czech Republic
Lars Christensen		Senior advisor, FBA, Sweden
Phil Cooke		Cardiff University, UK
Michael B. Darch		Executive Director, Ottawa Global Marketing, Canada
Mateja Dermastia		State Undersecretary, Ministry of the Economy, Slovenia
Emiliano Duch		President, Competitiveness, Spain
Jan Edling		Senior Expert, The Swedish Trade Union Confederation, Sweden
Peter Eklund		Head of economic development and business intelligence, province of Södermanland, Sweden
Lars K. Eklund		Director of Divison, VINNOVA
Michael Enright		Prof University of Hong Kong
Arne Eriksson		Arne Eriksson Konsult, Sweden
Per Eriksson		Director General, VINNOVA, Sweden
Petra  Falchetto		Inno Group, Austria
Ifor Ffowcs-Williams		CEO Cluster Navigators, New Zealand
Kevin Fitzgibbons		Group Leader, Strategic Planning and Policy, Corporate Services Branch, National Research Council, Canada
Anders Flodström		Head, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
Ulla-Britt Fräjdin-Hellqvist		Senior Expert, Confereration of Swedish Enterprise, Sweden
Harry Frank		Senior Vice President for Business Technology Evaluation at ABB
Nils Gabrielsson		Inno group, Sweden
Håkan Gergils		Consultant, Ecofin Invest, Sweden
Meric Gertler		Prof University of Toronto, Canada
Robert Gonzales		President New Global Strategies, LLC, USA
Yves Guyon		Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Lyon, France
Antoni Gurguí i Ferrer		Director General for Industry, Catalan Government, Spain
Börje Haag		Cluster co-ordinator, Biotechvalley.nu, Sweden
Staffan Håkansson		Director International Affairs, VINNOVA, Sweden
Daniel Hallencreutz		Intersecta AB, Sweden
Göran Hallin		ITPS - Institute for Growth Policy Studies, Sweden
Kai Hammerich		Director General, ISA - Invest in Sweden Agency
Alec Hansen		President, ECG - the Economic Competetiveness Group
Eric Hansen		ETG, the Economic Transformations Group, USA
Ralph Hantschel		Cap Gemini Ernest and Young
Lars Hansson		University of Dalarna, Sweden
Johan Hauknes		Research director , STEP Centre for Innovation Research, Norway
Peter Heydebreck		Managing Director, Inno Group, Germany
Gerd Holzschlag		Cooperation, Company-Networks and Cluster, Knowledge- and Technologie-transfer Steirische Wirtschaftsförderung, Austria
Tomas Hultgren		Director, Business Climate and Infrastructure, West Sweden Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Sweden
Kent Johansson		Chairman of the West Sweden Regional Development Board
Elisabet Juan		Executive, The Competitiveness, Spain
Tomas Kjellqvist		Head, Division for University Support and National Research Development, SIDA, Sweden
Kaj Klarin		Vice Director of Division, VINNOVA, Sweden
Heikki Kotilainen		Deputy Director General, Tekes - National Technology Agency of Finland
Alan Koziarski		Manager - Clusters and Networks, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise
Anders Källström		Director, Western Sweden Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Sweden
Mikel Landabaso		Head of sector, European Regional Development Fund, European Commission
Magnus Lagnevik		Professor, Lund University, Sweden
Helen Lawton Smith		Reader in Local Economic Development, Centre for Local Economic Development, UK
Thomas Liljemark		Program Director, International Policy Learning, VINNOVA, Sweden
Peter Lindholm		Inno Group, France
Göran L indqvist		CIND - Centre for Research on Innovation and Industrial, Uppsala University, Sweden
Valdis Lokenbahs		President of DATI Group SC, Latvia
Anne Ludvigsson		Social Democrat Party, Member of Parliament, Committee of Industry, Sweden
Per Lundequist		Senior consultant, partner, Intersecta AB, Sweden
Ted Lyman		Senior Principal, ECG - the Economic Competetiveness Group, USA
Anders Malmberg		Prof CIND, Uppsala University, Sweden
Raul Malmstein		Ministry of Economy, Estonia
François Manneville		Counsellor for Science and Culture, French Embassy, Sweden
Leif Melin		Prof of Strategy and Organization, Jönköping International Business School, Sweden
Mateja Mesl		State Secretary, Ministry of the Economy, Slovenia
Josep Maria Montagut		Deputy Director General for Industry, Catalan Goverment, Spain
Grant Morrill		Private Enterprise Officer, Office of Emerging Markets, USAID
Likando Mukumbuta		ZATAC-Zambia Agribusiness Technical Assistance Center Project, Zambia
Kevin X Murphy		President, J E Austin Associates, USA
Lynn K. Mytelka		Director, United Nations University Institute for New Technologies (UNU/INTECH), USA
Claire Nauwelaers		Research Director, MERIT, Netherlands
David Nordfors		Special Advisor to the Director General, VINNOVA, Sweden
Lars Olsson		Analyst, VINNOVA, Sweden
Leif Pagrotsky		Minister of Industry, Employment and Communication, Sweden
Diane Palmintera		President, Innovation Assosiates Inc, USA
Kathrin Peters		Associate Director, SQW Limited, UK
Tea Petrin		Minister of Economy, Slovenia
Alberto Pezzi		Official, CIDEM - Catalan Government Iinnovation Agency, Spain
Michael E. Porter		Prof Harvard Business School, USA
Gerlinde Pöchhacker		Area-Manager "Cluster-Management" OÖ. Technologie- und Marketinggesellschaft m.b.H., Austria
Lluis Ramis		Executive, Competitiveness, Italy
Alonso Ramos		Chihuahua Cluster Policy
David Reilly		Director of Digital Media and Creative Industries Cluster Team, Scottish Enterprise, UK
Frédéric Richard		Strategic Research and Economics Branch, UNIDO
Tracy Scott Rimington		Cairns Region Economic Development Corporation, Australia
Rolf Rising		Director, Head of IT and Electronics, ISA - Invest in Sweden Agency, Sweden
Stuart Rosenfeld		Regional Technology Stragedies Inc, USA
Lars-Göran Rosengren		CEO, Volvo Technology, Sweden
Rafael Ruiz
Holger Schiele		h&z Unternehmensberatung AG, Germany
Brane Semolic		TCS Manager, Slovenia
Bagie Sherchand		ZATAC-Zambia Agribusiness Technical Assistance Center Project, Zambia
Örjan Sölvell		Prof CIND - Centre for Research on Innovation and Industrial, Uppsala University, Sweden
Laurent  Souliers		Inno Group, France
Lois Stevenson		Deputy Executive Director, Industry Canada, Canada
Indira Singh		Ontario Ministry of Nothern Development, Canada
Peter Skupch		Senior Industrial Development Officer, UNIDO, Austria
Anne-Christine Strandell		ITPS - Institute for Growth Policy Studies, Sweden
Antoni Subirá		IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain
Peter Tamas Szilasi		Cluster Manager, Pannon Automotive Cluster, Hungary
Lena Torell		President, Royal Swedish Academy of Engeneering Sciences, Sweden
Mike Tibbetts		Senior Executive, Digital Media and Creative Industries Cluster Team, Scottish Enterprise, UK
Claas van der Linde		Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard University, USA
Elisabeth Waelbroeck-Rocha		President, BIPE, France
Alfred Watkins		Lead Private Sector Development Specialist, Europe and Central Asia Region, The World Bank
Hans Wigzell		President, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
David Wolfe		Prof Political Science, University of Toronto, Canada
Rolf Wolff		Dean, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Göteborg University, Sweden
Anders Östhol		ITPS - Institute for Growth Policy Studies, Sweden

BIOGRAPHIES

Marie Ahlgren has an MBA with focus on business networking from Uppsala University and a degree in international business from the University of Gothenbourg. She has for almost 20 years worked in large international companies primarily with new innovative businesses. Since a few years back she runs her own company ArViVA together with a partner, focusing on female leadership and entrepreneurship.

Thomas Andersson is President of IKED International Organization for Knowledge. He is also associated professor at the Stockholm School of Economics and serves on the International Advisory Board of the World Knowledge Forum. Over the past year he was Chairman of the Swedish Government's Innovation Policy Expert Group (IPE) and main Secretary of the Ministers' of Finance project on "The Nordic Countries and the New Economy" in the Nordic Council of Ministers. He previously served as Deputy Director for Science, Technology and Industry at the OECD, assistant Under-Secretary in the Swedish Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and represented Sweden in the group of Director-Generals for Industry in the European Commission. He has been a visiting fellow at Harvard University, Bank of Japan, Hitotsubashi University, and University of Sao Paulo.

Armando Arguelles, Director, Tabasco in Action. Since its inception in 2002, Armando Arguelles has directed and fostered Tabasco in Action-a private sector-led collaborative economic development project for the state of Tabasco Mexico. With a staff of eight, he is supervising the development and implementation of eight clusters and more than 65 action initiatives. Armando is an entrepreneur and business man, who worked at the state's economic development office for one year, prior to being appointed to direct Tabasco en Action. He is a graduate of Monterrey Tech, and served as last year as President of the Tabasco Alumni of Monterrey Tech.

Björn T. Asheim is Profesor of Economic Geography, University of Lund, Sweden, and Professor, Centre of Technology, Innovation, and Culture, University of Oslo, Norway. He is co-founder of the new Centre of Excellence in innovation system research (CIRCLE) at Lund University. He was previously Professor of Human Geography, University of Oslo, Norway.  He has recently co-edited a book on Regional Innovation Policy for Small-Medium Enterprises (Edward Elgar 2003) and is the author of numerous papers on economic and industrial geography including papers on industrial districts, regional innovation systems and learning regions. He is Editor of Economic Geography and Regional Studies and member of the editorial board of European Planning Studies and the Journal of Economic Geography. His current research is on SMEs and regional innovation systems.

Andrius Bagdonas, Director of Sunrise Valley cluster (Vilnius). Before joining Sunrise Valley project worked in telecommunications (was responsible for new Internet services development in Lithuanian telecom). He has a Master degree in International communication (Vilnius University) and Media and multimedia (University Paris II). He also studied Political science and International relations in Lausanne (Switzerland).

Dr. Lennart Bångens is Assistant Professor at the Department of Marketing, Chalmers University of Technology where he received his Ph.D. in 1998 based on his work on business networks and learning in East Africa. His current research continues this line focusing on interfirm learning studied in two projects. The Tanzanian project analyzes the effect of structural adjustment programs on the conditions for learning whereas the South African one studies the role of small-large firm interaction in technological learning.

Arthur Bayhan is Senior International Economist and Director for Regional Programmes at the International Organisation for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development (IKED). He is directing the programmes of IKED on the countries in transition and on the emerging market economies.
Mr. Bayhan was Head of the Enterprise Development Unit at the OECD and General Manager of the OECD Centre for Private Sector Development between October 1992 and September 2001. The Unit was responsible for OECD work related to entrepreneurship and enterprise development and investment promotion in non-member countries.
During his tenure, Mr. Bayhan played a key role in the creation of a range of regional periodic OECD Foras for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (FEED) in South East Europe, Russia, the Baltic's and South America. Mr. Bayhan established sustainable networks of foreign investment agencies and regional roundtables for investment promotion in transition and emerging market economies and assisted the establishment of a number of the OECD Centres in several regions, which includes Multilateral Tax Training Centres in Copenhagen/Denmark, Vienna/Austria and Ankara/Turkey. Mr. Bayhan established the first and the unique OECD Centre for Private Sector Development in Istanbul/Turkey.
Prior to his work at OECD, Mr. Bayhan spent three years at the European Commission in Brussels managing support programmes directed towards the improvement of business environment and market access for SMEs in the EU member countries.

Per-Olof Berg www.sses.com/public/frameset.asp

Professor Best leads the Anticipating Technology Trends project at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and is an associate member of the Center for International Business and Management, Judge Institute, Cambridge University. Professor Best has been or is engaged in industrial policymaking in Malaysia, Northern Ireland, Massachusetts and Slovenia.  
Furthermore, he is the author of The New Competitive Advantage: The renewal of American Industry, Oxford University Press, 2001, and The New Competition: Institutions of Industrial Restructuring, Harvard University Press, 1990.

Robert P. Breault is VP Americas of TCI. He is the Chairman and founder of the Breault Research Organization, Inc. (BRO), an optical engineering software developer and consulting company. He has participated in the analysis of renowned space based sensors such as the Hubble Telescope, GALILEO (in orbit around Jupiter) and CASSINI (on the way to Saturn). He is Co-Chairman of the Arizona Optics Industry Association (AOIA) since 1992. He has helped export this concept into the international arena, and has played a role in the formation of the optics clusters in Arizona, and 24 other regions of the world. He has been a participant at regional, national, and global economic development meetings. He is one of AOIA's representatives to the international Coalition for Photonics and Optics organization, and is one of SPIE's USAICO representatives. He serves on several of SPIE's committees. He is also on the Board of Directors of: ArizonaÌs Governor's Strategic Partnership for Economic Development (GSPED) 1992-.., Chairman of the Greater Tucson Economic Council (GTEC) 1998-1999, SPIE (International Optics Organization) 1998-2001, chairman of the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) of SPIE, Board member of the Coalition for Photonics and Optics (CPO) 1995-ö (An International Cluster like organization). He is Senior Advisor to the Economic Competitive Group (ECG) out of California that does Cluster building on a global scale and is on the Board of Stellar Optics Research International Corporation (SORIC), a Canadian company, as well as the Board of Directors Edmund Scientific.

Trish Brimblecombe is Head of School at the Computing Whitireia Polytechnic. In her current study she focuses on the emerging policy framework for e-mechanisms in New Zealand and its impact on government, business and education developments and interactions.  http://www.whitireia.ac.nz/school/computing/staff/t_brimblecombe.html

Melih Bulu worked various positons in private sector. He participated the CAT team in 1999 as the Tourism Cluster Leader and become the director of CAT in 2002. Melih got his Ph.D with the thesis title of Profiling Micro Clusters: identification of Value-adding Production and Service Chains by Using Graph Theoretical Approach from the Bogazici University. He teaches entrepreneurship and management of global company courses in universities.

Erik Bunis is the Managing Director of Länsteknikcentrum AB, the technology transfer institute of the County of Jönköping (http://www.ltc.se/). He has also assumed the role of process manager of the regional innovation system ReFine and a member of Board of the cluster initiative "Kingdom of Aluminium". Through the ACENET initiative Mr. Bunis supports cross-border collaboration between European clusters and company networks.

Brian C. Catts is the founder and principal of Cattman Ventures, LLC, a Tucson, Arizona-based consulting firm specializing in the development and implementation of sound cluster-based economic development strategies and the regional collaborative networks and linkages with higher education and research that are critical to their success. His private consulting work builds upon his 15-year tenure with the University of Arizona’s Office of Economic Development, one of the earliest and most comprehensive University-based economic development programs in North America.
Mr. Catts is recognized in Arizona and internationally via his research and documentation of Arizona’s 14-year cluster-based development experience, in addition to extensive international economic development projects in New Zealand, Ukraine and Taiwan.

Hana Chlebna graduated from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture at the Technical University of Prague in 1977. For nine years she worked as a designer of civil and industrial construction projects for one of the country's largest construction firms. During this time she was responsible for all aspects of design, technical inspection on site and construction works management. Between 1985-1993 she was director of the Investment Department of Merkuria, a foreign trade company, where she was responsible for the management of all facilities as well as supervising construction of what was at the time, the largest warehousing facility in Czechoslovakia. Since 1993 she has been working for CzechInvest, the national foreign investment attraction agency in the Czech Republic. She was initially appointed as the head of the Regions department, tasked with building up a national network of regional representatives across the country. This led to the creation of the highly successful PARC programme whereby some 70 industrial zones were created in partnership with municipal and city authorities. CzechInvest has since established a national industrial property database and has developed a program of public support for industrial property development inside industrial zones. Ms Chlebna is currently managing a series of Phare funded projects in Moravia-Silesia region focused on restructuring local economic base. One of the pilot redevelopment schemes is a project to regenerate a 150ha brownfield site of the former Vitkovice steelworks in the regional capital Ostrava. She is also responsible for the implementation of a cluster development strategy in the same region. Both of these programmes aim to address the challenge of rising unemployment in a region with declining competitiveness through the attraction of foreign investment whose needs are aligned to the strengths of the cluster. While CzechInvest is primarily a service provider to foreign investors it also acts as an advisor to the Czech Government and to Czech cities on economic development and investment promotion issues including industrial zones and national investment incentives. Ms Chlebna was appointed Deputy Chief Executive of CzechInvest in 1998.

Lars Christensen is senior advisor and interactive researcher for the Swedish firm FBA, a full-service consulting firm specializing in change and process management, performance measurement, action-oriented strategic research on regional development and public program evaluation. Mr Christensen focus his activities on the essence of regional leadership and the social (micro) processes within strategic regional change processes. Also, he holds a position as lecturer in marketing at Karlstad University and has co-written Sweden’s most popular book concerning marketing research. He holds a M Sc in marketing and psychology from Karlstad university, and is enrolled in the doctoral programme at the School of Business, Stockholm University.

Philip Cooke is University Research Professor and founding Director (1993) of the Centre for Advanced Studies, University of Wales, Cardiff. His research interests lie in studies of Economics of Biotechnology (partner in CESAGen Research Centre), Regional Innovation Systems, Knowledge Economies, and Policy Actions for Business Clusters and Networks. As a field leader in Knowledge & Innovation Sciences he has co-ordinated and participated in five FP projects since 1995. He co-edited a book entitled 'Regional Innovation Systems' in 1998, a fully revised 2nd edition of which is published in 2003. He co-authored a book on network governance, called 'The Associational Economy', also published in 1998, and is co-author of 'The Governance of Innovation in Europe' published in January 2000. His most recent book 'Knowledge Economies: Clusters, Learning and Cooperative Advantage' was published by Routledge in 2002. Prof. Cooke was adviser to Lord Sainsbury's Biotechnology Clusters mission in 1999 and is currently UK government Cluster Policy, and Innovation Review adviser. He is EU adviser on Regional Foresight, OECD adviser on Knowledge Economies, and UNIDO adviser on Innovation Systems. In addition to the books, he is author of more than 100 research and scholarly articles in leading journals. He is also Editor of 'European Planning Studies' a bi-monthly journal devoted to European urban and regional governance, innovation and development issues.

Michael Darch is the Executive Director of OCRI's Ottawa Global Marketing. The Global Marketing group is responsible for the attraction of investment, companies and people to the Ottawa region and the branding and marketing of the City of Ottawa. Michael is a strong advocate of focused, cluster-based economic development. He has been the driving force behind the economic partnerships formed between Ottawa and five U.S. cities. He has rebuilt the marketing of Ottawa around its successful technology clusters, skilled workforce, research strength and business support infrastructure. Michael has over 30 years experience in the private sector. He was President of Viva Interactive Learning Inc, a company producing computer-based Health and Safety educational products. Michael was also the President of REDO, an organization to assist the economy of Ottawa to adjust to the federal government downsizing announced in 1995. Prior to that appointment, he was the founder and President of Lansdowne Technologies Inc. for 20 years. Lansdowne provided management services to large technology-intensive projects, primarily in the aerospace and defence sectors. Michael served as an engineering officer for 11 years in the Canadian Air Force. Currently the Vice- Chairman and Director of the Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport Authority, Michael also served as a Chairman of the Ottawa Economic Development Corporation. He has also served as a Director on the Boards of several technology companies, both public and private.
Michael holds Masters degrees in Business from the University of Ottawa and Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada. He is a Professional Engineer, registered in the Province of Ontario.

Mateja Dermastia, holder of B.Sc. Degree in Chemistry as well as Master's
Degree of Economic Science, is at the present time occupying the position
of the State Undersecretary at the Competitiveness and enterprise
development sector in the Ministry of Economy of Republic of Slovenia. She
is involved with and active in the areas of development policy to promote
innovation processes as well as competitiveness of Slovenian economy.
Mateja Dermastia has been active as a researcher and advisor in the field
of innovation systems for more than a decade. As head of consultancy
department of Center for International Competitiveness she has acted as
advisor to numerous groups of firms and institutions, providing them with
strategic advice on how to increase competitiveness at cluster level and
was also in charge of the first cluster development project in Slovenia.
She is a member of the expert group Enterprise Clusters and Network Policy
at the European commission of, as well as member of expert group inside the
program of OECD LEED for promotion of clusters in the countries undergoing
transition processes. During the last two years, she has been an active
participant at numerous seminars and conferences covering the cluster and
innovation policy.

Emiliano Duch is the Secretary General of TCI. He is President and CEO of the firm COMPETITIVENESS (http://www.competitiveness.com/), an international consulting group specialized in "Building Competitive Business Clusters, which he founded with the support of leading business leaders as Michael Porter and Alessandro Benetton, as well as specialized banking institutions. As CEO of COMPETITIVENESS he has acted as advisor to hundreds of clusters, providing them with strategic advice and specialized e-services, through projects sponsored by local banks, Governments, as well as multilateral institutions (European Commission, UN). The Group has conducted more than 100 consulting projects on competitiveness reinforcement at cluster level, and even has a stake in the first succesful B2B cluster portal in Europe, located in Sassuolo (Italy) (http://www.ceramicaclusters.com/). Emiliano Duch is Master in Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard University, MBA (Class of 91) from the Harvard Business School, and originally an Architect from the UPC in Barcelona.

Peter Eklund is head of economic development and business intelligence at the province of Södermanland, Sweden. He has more than five years experience of coordinating and facilitating cluster development in the region. Eklund has over 30 years experience of working with industrial and economic development on a global, national, regional and local level in the private and public sector respectively. He has also worked as a researcher at the Royal institute of technology in Stockholm, the department of social and economic geography, University of Uppsala, Ministry of Industry and to the European commission.

Lars K. Eklund is PhD from the Stockholm School of Economics and Director for the Division of Innovation Actors at the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems - VINNOVA. Dr Eklund has worked as a scientific, political and action researcher at the Institute for Economic Research - EFI, Swedish Association of Local Authorities, Ministry of the Interior, Swedish Centre for Working Life, the Swedish National Audit Office, Ministry of Labour, European Social Fund Objective 4, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Swedish Institute for Regional Research. He was on the team that lounged the European Union Objective 4-program on structural change and development of competence in the Kingdom.

Michael Enright is a TCI Director. He became the Sun Hung Kai Professor of Business Administration at the University of Hong Kong in 1996 after six years as a professor at the Harvard Business School. Professor Enright's research has focused on international competitiveness, regional clustering of industry, and economic development. He has directed or co-directed major reviews of economies on five continents and has co-authored five books on competitiveness (the latest being The Hong Kong Advantage --Oxford University Press-- with co-authors Edith Scott and David Dodwell) and numerous papers on regional clustering. Enright has consulted extensively to companies, governments, and other organizations on business strategy, international competitiveness, and economic development. He has appeared in twenty-seven countries as an invited speaker, lecturer, educator, and/or trainer. Professor Enright received his A.B., his M.B.A., and his Ph.D. (in Business Economics) from Harvard University. His dissertation, "Geographic Concentration and Industrial Organization", focused on the clustering phenomenon. Enright also served as research manager for the ten nation study of international industrial competitiveness that resulted in Michael Porter's book The Competitive Advantage of Nations (Free Press, 1990).

Per Eriksson is the first Director General of VINNOVA, the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems that was founded 2001. In 1972, he received a Master of Science in Electrical engineering from the Lund Institute of Technology and in 1981, he was awarded a Ph.D. in Telecommunications. From 1980 until 1989, Dr. Eriksson was the Founder, President and Chairman of the boards of a couple of small consultancies in Signal Processing and Acoustics. In 1981, he became Assistant Professor in Telecommunications and Signal Processing in Lund Institute of Technology and from 1981 until 1987, he became the Director of Undergraduate studies in Electrical Engineering, Lund Institute of Technology.
During the period 1983 - 1988, Dr. Eriksson became the Dean and Chairman of the Board of Undergraduate Studies in Electrical Engineering, Technical Physics and Computer Engineering, in Lund Institute of Technology. From 1989 until 2000, he was appointed first President of the new Blekinge Institute of Technology.
He is a Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. In 1999 he got the Royal Institute of Technology National Prize for Academical Leadership, "Janne Carlsson Prize" and in 2001 Dr Eriksson got the Telecom City Prize of Honour.

Mrs. Petra Falchetto is managing director of inno GmbH Vienna. Her consultancy work specifically focuses on EU-structural-funds-programmes: design, concepts and successful implementation of such programmes in member-countries, esp. in this case she concentrates on the changing situation concerning the new future EU-members. Above all she is strongly involved in ACENET (Accelerating the process of establishing clusters and company networks) as project-coordinator.

Ifor Ffowcs-Williams is the Chairman of TCI. He is CEO of Cluster Navigators Ltd, New Zealand. Since establishing Cluster Navigators in 1997, Ifor has been active across Europe, North America, Africa, the Caribbean and Australasia in introducing the relevance of clustering as a cornerstone for economic development. The focus has been on the training of economic development professionals in the process of cluster development, reviewing cluster development programmes, and facilitating initial cluster workshops. Clients have included: International development agencies: The World Bank; OECD; Commonwealth Secretariat. National agencies: Scottish Enterprise; VINNOVA and NUTEK, Sweden; Mauritius' National Productivity and Competitiveness Council; Industry New Zealand; Industry Canada; Trinidad & Tobago's Tourism and Industrial Development Company; South Africa's Tourism Department. Regional / Local Agencies: SE England Development Agency; Northern Ireland's Centre for Competitiveness; Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency; Queensland's Department of State Development; Louisiana's Department of Economic Development; Oregon's Department of Agriculture; Cape Province (South Africa); Brisbane City (Queensland); local economic development agencies throughout New Zealand and Australia Industry Associations: South African Sugar Association; New Zealand Biotech Association. Prior to the establishment of Cluster Navigators, Ifor was with the New Zealand Trade Development Board and over a decade encouraged New Zealand's exporters to move beyond their comfort zones in 'co-operating to compete' through participation in soft and hard networks, and clusters. http://www.clusternavigators.com/

Kevin Fitzgibbons, a graduate of UniversitÈ de MontrÈal with a Masters degree in Political Economics (1990), has had over 10 years experience as a strategic planning and policy analyst and advisor at NRC.  Over the years he has been involved in NRC strategic planning, including the NRC Vision to 2006, the IRAP Strategic Planning Framework and Implementation Plan, the Institute for National Measurement Standards, the Manufacturing Technology Group, and the NRC Fuel Cells Innovation Program.  Kevin has been actively involved in Federal Innovation Policy initiatives such as Canadaís Innovation Strategy and the conceptual and operational development of NRCís Cluster Strategy. 

Anders Flodström is president of KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology, since 1999. He is a professor of material physics and an internationally recognized surface physicist. A former researcher at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and National Institute of Science and Technology. He has also been CEO of the Knowledge Foundation, established by the Swedish Parliament in 1994. He is former Secretary General of The Swedish Research Council for the Engineering Science and former president of Linköping University, Sweden. Linköping University is a three faculty university – engineering, philosophy and medicine. It has two main locations, the cities of Norrköping and Linköping. As a rector he started the Norrköping Campus.
KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology, is a technical university. Approximately 18 thousand students attend bachelor and master engineering programs in science and technology. Approximately 2 thousand students study for their PHDs in science and technology. KTH is the leading technical university in Sweden with a yearly turnover of 310 million Euro, 3000 employees and above 200 full professors.

Harry Frank graduated from Chalmers Inst. of Technology, Gothenburg in 1968 with a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. 2001 he was awarded PhD. In 1969 he jointed ABB /ASEA). From 1969 until 1980 Dr Frank was Researcher and Project leader at ASEA in thyristor-technology. 1980 until 1990 he developed as Division Manager the company Reactive Power Compensation which achieved a market share of 60%. During the period 1990 - 94 Dr Frank became a business developer and Market Manager for ABB Capacitors. From 1994 until last year 2002 he was Director of Research at ABB Sweden. He is currently Senior Vice President for Business Technology Evaluation at ABB and also process leader for Robotdalen. Dr Frank is member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. He is also member of the technology Management Board within ABB. I 1990 he received the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences gold medal for his successfully development and leadership within thyristor-controlled systems.

Håkan Gergils, Director, born 1940, Stockholm, Sweden. An economist by profession, former Chairman of the Swedish Shareholders’ Association. Currently working as senior advisor to governments, EU Commission, business organisations and corporations. Involved in Research and Innovation Policies. Håkan Gergils has during the last 10 years also reviewed the development in Eastern Europe. He has his own consultant company Ecofin Invest.

Meric S. Gertler is Professor at the University of Toronto. His research interests include regional and national systems of innovation, local and regional economic development policy and planning, Political economy of technological change and industrial reorganization in its geographical context: Canada and Western economies. Moreover he has published on, among other things, innovation and social learning as well as cultural geography.

Robert L. Gonzales is president of New Global Strategies, an economic development, strategic planning and business consulting company specializing in regional economic development, industry cluster-based economic development, program evaluation, and strategic planning. His recent projects include working with economic development organizations in New Zealand, Canada, and Puerto Rico establishing and developing clustering programs. As Chair of the Education Committee, Council of Urban Economic Development, now International Economic Development Council (IEDC), he has developed and implemented the professional development, training and certification program (CEcD) for economic development professionals. Mr. Gonzales currently serves as Chair of the Ethics Committee which is developing the organization’s Code of Ethics and ethics guidance program for economic developers. He also serves as a member of the Audit, Certification, and International Commitees, chairing the Global Economy Section.
Fact sheet on Robert L. Gonzales (20K)

Antoni Gurguí is Director General for Industry of the Catalan Government
(Generalitat de Catalunya). Mr. Gurguí has worked in the Catalan Department of Industry, Commerce and Tourism since 1987 heading different areas such as Energy Analysis and Programming Service and the Technical Office. Before joining the Catalan Government, he worked in the private sector first in industry, then as a consultant and university faculty member, during which time he combined teaching with research activities. Mr. Gurguí holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and a Master of Science in Engineering from
the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). He won a Fulbright scholarship (1977-78) and is an applications analyst and systems technician (IBM and SEAT). His work experience covers a wide range of subjects: thermonuclear fusion, energy, groundwater hydrology, transport and regional planning, heat engineering and information and telecommunications technology. He is co-author of a number of books and publications on these subjects and has been a member of several Catalan and international scientific and cultural associations.

Börje Haag is currently working as the cluster co-ordinator in Biotechvalley.nu. Börje Haag has over 40 years of working experience from different areas within the Swedish biotechnology industry. Most recent assignments includes being production manager at Active Biotech AB. Further back, he has been production manager at Pharmacia & Upjohns plant in Strängnäs as well as holding production related post in other companies, for example ASTRA.

Daniel Hallencreutz is founder and managing director for the Swedish company Intersecta AB. Intersecta is a full-service consulting company specializing in action-oriented strategic research on regional development, industrial clusters and SME competitiveness, as well as public program evaluation and performance measurement. He has more than ten years of experience from research and consultancy. Holds a degree in economic and social geography from the university of Uppsala, Sweden.

Göran Hallin, Head of policy analysis and evaluation at the Swedish Institute for growth policy studies. He has more than fifteen years of experience from research and consultancy relating to national and regional policies for economic development. Specialising in the division of tasks performed by various actors in development programmes (e.g. local, regional and national agencies; as well as private sector agents). Holds a degree in economic and social geography from the university of Uppsala, Sweden.

Dr. Eric Hansen, President, Economic Transformations. Dr. Hansen is one of the pioneers of cluster-based economic development, and continues to innovate ways to stimulate private-sector development and public-private collaboration in different economic and cultural contexts around the world. His speciality is advising and motivating regional leaders in the design and execution of large-scale economic
change efforts that focus on action and implementation. Among other activities, Dr. Hansen directed successful cluster-based economic strategy projects for California, Arizona, North Dakota, Texas, the States of Tabasco, Campeche and Chihuahua in Mexico, Hong Kong, and Morocco. Formerly, Dr. Hansen worked as a regional economist at the World Bank, taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and worked with the Iranian Plan and Budget Organization. He holds a Ph.D. in regional economics and planning from M.I.T. and a BA in economics from the University of California at Santa Cruz. He is a founder of The Competitiveness Institute and serves on the Board of the ManKind Project.

Lars Hansson is currently working as a project leader for Jernkontoret (the Swedish Steel Producers’ Association) together with Dalarna University in the formation of a new education and research department within the area of metal forming in Borlänge, Sweden. He has earlier worked in Morgårdshammar AB, a company within the mechanical industry, as V.P. for marketing and engineering. Before that was Mr. Hansson occupied within SSAB, the leading swedish steel company, in various positions, such as manager of quality and process development, manager of marketing and sales, investment projects and production management. Mr. Hansson has a M.Sc. in Metallurgy and Materials Technology and a Lic.Eng in Metal Forming.

Johan Hauknes is senior research fellow at STEP. Trained in theoretical physics and economics and with experience from policy formulation, his emphasis is on innovation dynamics and structural change, and on the role of services in these. Between 1996 and 1998 he was organising a European project on services' role in innovation dynamics - the SI4S project.

Staffan Håkansson is Director at the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems, VINNOVA, with responsibility for international collaboration and the Competence Center program. He is a member of the Swedish National Space Board and was until 2002 the chairman of the Swedish Offices of Science and Technology. He is a former Director of the National Swedish Board for Technical Development, STU, with responsibility for Planning, Coordination, Evaluation and International Contacts, and a former Deputy Director of the National Swedish board for industrial and technical development (NUTEK).

Elisabet Juan has worked in Competitiveness since its foundation in 1993. She has participated and led consulting projects in leisure industries (publishing, film production, multimedia, tourism), design manufactures (textile, furniture, shoes) and others such as pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics and natural stone processing. She has participated as expert in several forae on innovation and industrial policy definition, including expert collaborations in Mexico and Guatemala. She is responsible for innovation and has launched the internet supported activities in Competitiveness.
Elisabet holds a degree in Management and Master in Business Administration from ESADE (Escola Superior d'Administració i Direcció d'Empreses), Barcelona.

Tomas Kjellqvist is Head of Division for the Division for University Support and National Research Development, UNI, at the Department for Research Cooperation, SAREC at the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. (Sida/SAREC/UNI) UNI is supporting universities in the poorest countries in order for them to achieve capacities to conduct research that can influence education and services provided by the University to society. Tomas Kjellqvist has earlier worked with collaboration between Swedish universities and universities in Africa and Latin America, as well as desk-officer at Sida/SAREC. He has also for two years (2000-2002) been Head of the Division for Information and Communication Technologies in Development Cooperation, at Sida/SAREC, where support to build ICT infrastructures at universities in LDC was one important mission. Innovation systems and university/society links has been a great challenge in his work, and he is hoping for theory soon to become practical application within the Divisions work.

Kaj Klarin is PhD in Production Engineering and Materials Technology from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Dr Klarin is the Vice Director for the Division of Innovation Actors at the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems - VINNOVA. (http://www.vinnova.se/) He is also one of the two managers of VINNOVAs regional development programme VINNVüXT.(Regional growth through dynamic innovation systems).

Magnus Lagnevik has a research background in International Business and Strategic Management. Between 1991 and 1997 he was the scientific leader and co-ordinator for the Swedish research programme LOK, Lantbruk, Livsmedel och Konkurrenskraft.(The Swedish Agro- and Food Industry in Deregulation and International Competition)
Since 1997 he is the scientific leader for Lund International Food Studies LIFS - Lund International Food Studies is a program that aims to bridge different disciplines as well as researchers from different parts of Europe in order to establish a platform for better understanding of the fundamental changes that is taking place in the European food and packaging industries. The overall purpose of the research program is to capture and analyse the future dynamics of the Swedish food chain in international competition. A strong emphasis is on the understanding and measurement of consumer demand changes. Another focused area is the interaction between marketing intelligence and technology and the creation of food Innovations.

Mikel Landabaso works in the European Commission (1990-2003) and is Head of sector of the Innovation strand of " Innovative Actions " under the European Regional Development Fund, involving the direct management of over 40 innovation-related regional programmes in 14 European countries for an approximately 200 million budgetary envelope for the period 2002-2004. He works as principal administrator who has been responsible for the conception, management and evaluation of pilot actions in the fields of innovation promotion (RIS - Regional Innovation Strategies and RTTs- Regional Technology Transfer Projects) and information society (RISI- Regional Information Society Initiative: Strategy and Action Plan and RISI2- Pluri-regional Telematic Applications) under innovative actions of the European Regional Development Fund 1994-99. These pilot actions, with a budget of over 40 million Euros, involved the direct participation of over 60 regional governments in 15 countries of the European Union. He was previously responsible for the launching stage of the STRIDE and TELEMATIQUE Community Initiatives 1990-94. Mikel Landabaso was the Head of the Research Department and Assistant to the Director General of the Basque Regional Development Agency (SPRI S.A., a public holding company with over 20 subsidiaries) during 1986-1990 responsible for management and co-ordination of the company's policies and actions under the Director General, before joining the Regional Policy Directorate General of the European Commission in 1990. 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. ), Diploma in Advanced European Studies, with a scholarship from the Basque Government (College of Europe 1985-86, Belgium) and Licenciado en Ciencias Economicas (Universidad del Pais Vasco, 1978-1983). He has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (U.S.A.) under the EU Fellowship program (2000) and he is part-time professor of regional policy at the Free University of Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) since 2001. During the period 1986-1990 he combined his work in the regional development agency with work in University as lecturer in Economics in the public and private Universities of the Basque Country. Since then he has also been a visiting lecturer in several Universities in Europe and abroad. He has also been part of the editorial board of "Ekonomiaz" and secretary (1988-1990) of the Basque regional science association. He was asked to contribute as an external expert to the 'Spanish white book on innovation" (Cotec, 1998) and participated as referee for several publications, including the European Policy Forum and proposals to the British ESRC. Member of the national Jury for the Ist University-Enterprise Awards of Spain 2002.

Dr. Helen Lawton Smith is Reader in Local Economic Development, Centre for Local Economic Development, Coventry University. She is also Senior Research Associate at the School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University. She is the founder and Director of Research of the Oxfordshire Economic Observatory, an independent research centre, based in Oxford University. Her research interests include the geography of innovation and the development of scientific labour markets.

Thomas Liljemark is at the present time responsible for the function “International Policy Learning”, including being responsible for the VINNOVA engagement in the Swedish Offices of Science and Technology. His major experience is to develop strategies for and to implement national and international programs for RTD (joint industry- institute- uni-versity), innovation systems, technology transfer for SMEs, incubators and technopoles, regional/local efforts and financing. His experience is primarily gained at VINNOVA and its predecessors (STU and NUTEK). He spent a little less than a year as a volunteer at NSF in Washington DC and acted also at that time as a part time specialist technical attaché at the Swedish Embassy there. He is deeply involved in the EU work within the fields of innovation systems etc as a Swedish delegate to committees and as an expert to the European Commission, and has also gained experience from Canada and other European and Nordic efforts. He spent recently half a year with the Ministry of Industry, Employ-ment and Communications, where he worked with innovation policy matters and the EU sixth framework program for RTD. Thomas Liljemark is a PhD in Chemical Engineering, Textile Chemistry and Polymer technology, from Chalmers University of Technology. He has also completed studies in Business Economy at the Stockholm University.

Peter Lindholm is the managing director of inno-group, a European consultancy firm specialised in economic development, innovation and technology (Austria, France, Germany, Sweden). Peter developed specific experience in programmes focusing on SMEs with high growth potential. He works in most European countries as well as in the CIS. His activities are shared between strategic consultancy for key clients and hands-on implementation of concrete projects.

Göran Lindqvist is active at the Centre for Research on Innovation and Industrial Dynamics (CIND) at Uppsala University, Sweden. He is also CEO of the cluster research and education group Ivory Tower. He has a background as a strategy consultant at the international firm Monitor Group. At Monitor, founded by Harvard professors Michael E. Porter and Mark Fuller, he conducted analysis of clusters and country competitiveness. He also has extensive experience in company strategy and market analysis. At Ivory Tower and CIND, he has performed cluster related studies for Swedish government agencies. Publications include "Svenska klusterkartor" ("Swedish cluster maps") published with Örjan Sölvell and Anders Malmberg, and "The Cluster Initiative Greenbook" published with Örjan Sölvell and Christian Ketels.

Valdis Lokenbahs is President and Chairman of the Board of DATI Group since the foundation of the company. DATI Group is one of the leading IT companies in the Baltics, with more than 400 employees. Since its foundation the company has been orientated also towards the international markets, focusing on such sectors as public sector, telecommunications, insurance and banking, tourism and logistics, providing customized solutions for complex IT projects in Latvia, Western Europe and Scandinavia. The company maintains its key position as information system developer for the public sector in Latvia, and in the Western market considerable results have been achieved in the public sector in the UK. Export of services provided 69% in sales in 2002.

Per Lundequist is partner and senior consultant at Intersecta AB, Uppsala. He has a D.Phil. in Economic geography from the department of social and economic geography, University of Uppsala. His research particularly focuses on industrial dynamics and local and regional economic development. Per Lundequist has more than ten years of experience from consultancy work related to industrial restructuring, clusters and public program and performance measurement.

Ted Lyman has over 30 years experience in economic development consulting, starting originally at the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International), where much of ECG’s approach to clusters and competitiveness was first formulated. Mr. Lyman has served as Project Director for cluster-based projects all over the world, including Austin, Texas; Wichita, Kansas; Arizona, Ottawa, Canada; Chihuahua, Mexico; Northeast Brazil; Slovenia; Malaysia; and China. He lectures at the World Bank Institute and is a fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Science.

Anders Malmberg is Professor of Economic Geography and Director of the Centre for Research on Innovation and Industrial Dynamics (CIND) at Uppsala University, Sweden. He co-ordinated the European Science Foundation Scientific Programme on Regional and Urban Restructuring in Europe 1990-1995. He has held visiting research positions at Durham University, UK and at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences. His research focuses and industrial dynamics and local and regional economic development.

Raul Malmstein is Deputy Secretary General at Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications in Estonia. He is also chairman of supervisory board of Enterprise Estonia, the main implementing body for enterprise policy. Mr. Malmstein oversees strategic planning activities and enterprise policy implementation in the ministry. He joined Estonian civil service in 1999 and working in current position since 2000. Mr. Malmstein's previous experience is from private sector, between 1994 and 1998 he worked for Hansa Asset Management (since 1995 as CEO), the subsidiary of Hansabank - the biggest commercial bank in Baltic states. Mr. Malmstein earned M.Phil (sociology) in 1994 from Graduate School, City University of New York and previously graduated from department of economics from Tallinn Technical University.

François Manneville, former counsellor for Science and Technology at the French Embassy in Spain (1995-1999) and in Germany (1992-1995), is counsellor for Science and Culture at the French Embassy in Sweden. He is also international relations advisor for the Sophia Antipolis Science Park. For the last 15 years he has been in charge of the innovation financing policy for the Midi-Pyrénées region. He graduated from the ENS in 1972 and holds a PhD in applied mathematics.

Leif Melin is Professor of Strategy and Organization at Jönköping International Business School, where he is conducting research on strategic change and leadership, strategizing, the dynamics of family business, and innovative forms of organizing. Leif Melin took his PhD in Industrial Marketing at Linköping University in 1977. He has published widely in many international journals and books. He is serving in several editorial boards, such as Organization Studies, Strategic Organization, Journal of World Business, and British Journal of Management.

Mateja Mesl, MA in sociology and regional planning is currently State
Secretary at the Ministry of the Economy, Government of the Republic of Slovenia, managing the Department for Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness. Focus is on the design and implementation of the policy measures to promote entrepreneurship and innovation, policy support for enterprise co-operation, development of clusters and technology networks, promotion of productivity measures and continuous improvement systems, innovation and SME development. Her background is in consultancy and project management on the field of regional development, restructuring of the depressed industrial and rural regions, promotion of entrepreneurship and SME development.

Josep Maria Montagut is Deputy Director General for Industry of the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya) and he is the responsible for the cluster program in Catalonia. Mr. Montagut has been involved in the implementation of cluster policy in Catalonia since its launch in early '90s and in this framework he has supervised more than 25 cluster-based development initiatives in a wide range of industries. On behalf of the Catalan Government, Mr. Montagut is also member of the Board of different technological centers and industry-based organizations such as IDIADA (automotive), LGAI (testing and certification) and Vallés Technology Parc among others. Mr. Montagut holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) of Barcelona.

Grant Morrill is a career foreign service officer with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) specialized in private sector development and economic growth in developing and transitional economies. Over his over twenty year career with USAID, he has served on long-term assignments in Nepal, Pakistan, and Morocco and numerous short-term missions in the developing world. He is currently managing for USAID a worldwide assessment of donor and non-donor efforts to determine how best apply competitiveness methodology can be most effective in USAID-assisted countries.

Kevin X. Murphy, President, J E Austin Associates, received his degrees of Master in Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, and Master of Public Administration at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. He has written case studies on international management for Harvard, for the World Bank, and for a variety of other clients. Mr. Murphy has also supervised the development of over 100 case studies and technical notes on management issues in developing countries. Mr. Murphy's consulting experience covers strategic planning, economic development, and management training in over 20 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, North and South America. Mr. Murphy, with Mr. Lanza of USAID, introduced competitiveness methodologies to USAID. He has as a partner implementer for USAID managed competitiveness initiatives in 15 countries.  

Lynn Krieger Mytelka was appointed Director of UNU/INTECH in July 2000. Between 1996 and 1999, she was Director, Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development (DITE) in UNCTAD, Geneva. Prior to this she taught at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, where she was Professor, Faculty of Management and Public Policy from 1982 and subsequently a Distinguished Research Professor. She also holds an Honorary Professorship and Chair, Development Economics at the University of Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Professor Mytelka has undertaken numerous research and capacity building projects and consultancies for various governments and international agencies, including the EU, OECD, UNDP, UNCTAD, UNIDO, IDRC and the World Bank. Her research work covers a broad range of issues in development, science and technology, including innovation systems, technological upgrading in traditional industries, North-South co-operation, biotechnology, international trade and competitiveness. Prof. Mytelka serves on a number of Advisory Boards, including: MATCH International Centre (an NGO that links Third World and Canadian women); the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS); The Competitiveness Institute, Barcelona; MUNDO, International Technological Assistance Group, University of Maastricht; UNESCO Global Forum and Chair of the Scientific Committee for the Europe/North America Region.

Claire Nauwelaers is Research Director at MERIT, the University of Maastricht, in the Netherlands. She is working on policy analysis, evaluation, and benchmarking in the areas of Science, Technology and Innovation, for the European Commission and European national and regional authorities. She published books and articles dealing with innovation systems, policy learning in innovation, the role of institutional frameworks, new approaches to cluster policies, and innovation policies in candidate countries.

Dr. David Nordfors is Special Advisor to the Director General of VINNOVA and former director of research funding of the Knowledge Foundation (KK-stiftelsen), where his programs for academic research in collaboration with industry were the largest source of peer-reviewed funding for the regional universities in Sweden. He designed scientifically published methods for knowledge dissemination connected to the research grants. He was also director of communication of the Knowledge Foundation, founding publisher and editor-in-chief of "IT and Learning", the largest Swedish publication for school professionals, initiator of "Sajber", the largest Swedish television program about IT and Science Editor of Datateknik, the largest Swedish magazine for IT professionals. He completed his doctoral thesis on molecular quantum physics in 1990 at the University of Uppsala, where he started his research in under Prof. Kai Siegbahn (Nobel Prize in Physics 1982).

Lars Olsson is an analyst at the Innovation System Analysis Division of VINNOVA. He holds a M.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, and a Ph.D. in the History of Technology and Industry, from Chalmers University of Technology. Is currently responsible for analysis and technology foresight within VINNOVAÌs priority research areas in the field of information and communication technologies and in transport.

Leif Pagrotsky is Head of the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications. Responsible in the Government for issues relating to the promotion of trade and industry, primary industries, the simplification of regulations relating to small enterprises, competition policy, needs-based research and development, energy policy and state ownership policy. The Minister for Industry and Trade is also the minister responsible for the following issues coming under the Ministry for Foreign Affairs' field of responsibilities: foreign trade and trade policy, export promotion, promotion of foreign investments in Sweden and implementation of the European Community's internal market.
Fact sheet on Leif Pagrotsky (69K)

Ms. Palmintera is the founder and President of Innovation Associates, Inc. (IA), founded in 1988 to provide services in technology-based economic development such as technical assistance, program design and implementation, research, policy analysis and evaluations. IA is best known for its work on applying best practices to help governments, organizations, and universities develop initiatives aimed at promoting technology enterprises. Ms. Palmintera has assessed models of those practices in Europe, Asia-Pacific and U.S.A. Ms. Palmintera recently authored Developing High-Technology Communities: San Diego and Partners on a Mission: Federal Laboratories Contributing to Economic Development that provide strategies for stimulating economic development based on university-industry collaboration and using federal labs to anchor business development. Based on extensive work on the commercialization needs of SMEs, IA has also developed an Internet-based service that matches business and technical services to meet SME needs. Ms. Palmintera holds an MPA in public finance/policy analysis.

Dr Kathrin Peters, Associate Director of SQW Limited, is an applied economist with extensive experience in policy design and implementation. She graduated from Hamburg University in Germany with a PhD degree awarded for a dissertation on West GermanyÌs foreign trade performance in the 1970s. One year of her post-graduate studies was spent in Cambridge, United Kingdom, where she worked with the Cambridge Economic Policy Group on areas of fiscal and monetary policies. She joined SQW Limited in 1985 and has been with the company from its very early stages. She has worked on projects concerned with local and regional economic development both in the United Kingdom as well as elsewhere in Europe and Asia Pacific. Her country experience includes the emerging economies of Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia) as well as the more mature Western European economies of Germany, Portugal and Spain. She has been involved in a number of SQW's cluster studies, most notably that of the Cambridge Phenomenon. 

Tea Petrin is Minister of Economy in Slovenia. She is a professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana. From 1989 to 1992 she headed the Research Centre and Centre for Continuous Education at the Faculty of Economics. She was the founder of postgraduate studies in Entrepreneurship at the Faculty of Economics (developed during 1990-1992 in collaboration with European universities). She has been a thesis advisor to MA and PhD students (from 1989). As an expert in economics, she was advisor to the Committee for small business development of the RS (1987-1990), advisor to the Government of the RS on real sector restructuring (1992-93), and to the FAO Regional Office for Europe (1990-1993) for development of entrepreneurship in rural areas, where she was also employed (1994- 1997). She co-operated with the World Bank on the assessment of the financial potential of new entrepreneurs in Slovenia (1993) and on the development of the conceptual framework for the Agency for Restructuring and the Privatisation Fund (1990-1991). She was also member of a working group of the World Bank, FAO Investment Centre (1996- 1997), UNDP/UNIDO (1988-1992) and EU Enterprise Enlargement Unit (2000).
Tea Petrin was a visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1988- 1989), the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley (1992). She was also a Fulbright scholar at the University of California, Institute of International Studies, at Berkeley (1993 to 1994), and at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Center for Industrial Competitiveness, Lowell (1994).
She is a member of the editorial board of the Review of Industrial Organisation (since 1994). From 1994 to 1996 she was a Slovene member of the European Small Business Council, and a member of the International Small Business Council (from 1992), member of the European Association for Industrial Economics Research (since 1998) and a member of the Economic Council of the Government of Slovenia (1992).
She was the head of more than 30 research projects in areas of trade in goods, market structure, competitiveness, small and medium sized enterprises and entrepreneurship, restructuring of enterprises and economic policy fostering the restructuring of companies, international competitiveness and entrepreneurship. Her bibliography includes more than 200 books, monographs, as well as scientific and professional articles published at home and abroad in the areas of industrial policy, competition policy, restructuring of enterprises and entrepreneurship. Her contributions and major works represent the beginning of studying small business and entrepreneurship in Slovenia and Yugoslavia, and the beginning of active industrial policy stressing company restructuring, networking and co-operation between the business sector, University and the Government. Between 20 April 1999 and 7 June 2000 she was the Minister of Economic Affairs in the Government headed by Dr Drnovek.

Alberto Pezzi is currently working at the Centre for Innovation and Business Development (CIDEM) of the Catalan Government with direct responsibilities in industry competitiveness and cluster-based initiatives. Mr. Pezzi has over nine years experience in regional development and knowledge management working as consultant mainly in Italy and Spain for companies like Cluster Competitiveness and, lately, McKinsey & Co, where he has been Manager for Research and Information services for the Iberia Office. He has been also the first Secretary General of the Competitiveness Institute from 1998 until 2001. Mr. Pezzi holds a degree in Economics by the University of Bologna and a postgraduate Diploma in European Studies by the European College of Parma.

Michael E. Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School, is a leading authority on competitive strategy and the competitiveness and economic development of nations, states, and regions. Professor Porter's 1990 book The Competitive Advantage of Nations developed a new theory of how nations, states, and regions compete and their sources of economic prosperity, which has guided economic policy throughout the world. His ideas on strategy are taught in virtually every business school in the world and he currently leads Harvard's programs for chief executive officers of billion dollar and larger corporations. In 2001, Harvard Business School and Harvard University jointly created the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, led by Professor Porter, to further his work. He co-chairs the Global Competitiveness Report, an annual ranking of the competitiveness and growth prospects of 80 countries. Professor Porter has served as an advisor to numerous foreign nations and groups of neighboring countries. He has led major studies of the economy for the governments of such countries as India, New Zealand, Canada, and Portugal, and advised national leaders in Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand, among others. His ideas have inspired national competitiveness initiatives and programs in more than a dozen other countries including Ireland, Finland, and Norway and subnational regions such as Catalonia, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. His thinking about economic development for groups of neighboring countries has led to a long-term initiative with the heads of state of the Central American countries to develop and implement an economic strategy for that region, including the formation of the Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development (CLACDS), a permanent institution based in Costa
Full biography:
http://dor.hbs.edu/fi_redirect.jhtml?facInfo=bio&facEmId=mporter
http://www.isc.hbs.edu/

Luis Ramis has joined Competitiveness in 1995. He has participated and led consulting projects with a cluster approach in advanced manufacturing industries (Consumer electronics; home appliances, Mould making, plastic parts, motorcycles, Railways, automotive and aerospace) and the more traditional ones (textile, ceramic tiles, furniture and utilities). The projects have been carried out in Spain, France, Italy, Japan and Portugal and he also has work experience in Argentina, Colombia and Singapore.He has acted as advisor to hundreds of Small and Medium Enterprises, providing them with strategic advice and specialized e-services, through projects sponsored by local banks, Governments, as well as multilateral institutions (European Commission -SMEs and Enterprise DG- and for United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). Luis holds a Master in Business Administration from IESE (University of Navarra, Spain), and originally is an Economist from the Barcelona University. He is fluent in English, Italian, Spanish and Catalan.

Frédéric Richard started his professional career in 1968 as auditor with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell. In 1974, he joined the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris as professor in strategic management and organizations development at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA), France. Since 1982, he has been working with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, UNIDO. He started as manager of technical assistance projects in industrial strategies and policies. Then he became Director of the Small and Medium Enterprises Branch where he established the UNIDO SME Cluster and Network Programme. He is now Director of the Strategic Research and Economics Branch responsible for undertaking action-oriented research and providing policy advisory services on sustainable industrial development. He was responsible for the preparation of the UNIDO Industrial Development Report 2002/2003 on Competing through Innovation and Learning. Frédéric Richard holds a diploma from the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris, a Master in Business Administration (MBA) and a Master in Philosophy (MPhil) from Colombia University, New York. He is a French citizen, born in 1945, married, with 3 children.

Dr. Stuart A. Rosenfeld is founder and president of Regional Technology Strategies, Inc. RTS devises and supports practical network- and cluster-based strategies with an emphasis on less populated and less advantaged regions. Previously Rosenfeld has had a loosely-knit cluster of careers including chemical engineering, operations research, elementary school principal, education policy research, and rural and technology development policy.  He has published on clusters, networks, and other policy topics such as education and technology diffusion.

Brane Semolic, Program Manager of the Toolmakers Cluster of Slovenia, professor (project management, value management and engineering economics) at the University of Maribor, Vice president of the International Project Management Association, President of the Slovenian Project Management Association and owner of the INOVA Consulting company. He has more than 25 years of working experiences as expert, researcher, manager, director and consultant in industry and for the Slovene government. Project or program manager of the several development projects on the national and international level.

Dr. Holger Schiele has prepared a Ph.D. on innovative clusters. After working in industry he is now with h&z Unternehmensberatung AG, a consulting firm specialised in purchasing optimisation and company restructuring. On top of this he is visiting lecturer at Hanover University and has recently published "Der Standortfaktor" (The localtional factor), an introductory volume on clusters dedicated to a management audience.

Indira Singh has held senior management positions in two of Canada's provincial public services, the Ontario Public Service and the Alberta Public Service, for twenty years.  For the past two years she has been involved with cluster strategy, knowledge management and other executive projects at the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. Indira presented a paper ÏNatural Resource Based Clusters in the New Economy Theory and PracticeÓ at the 5th TCI Conference in 2001

Peter Rudolf Skupch (born in Buenos Aires/Argentina in 1945 - German national) Present functions : Senior Industrial Development Officer. Coordinates Policy Tools Section of UNIDO's Strategic Research and Economics Branch, including UNIDO's network of innovative and learning regions. Previous relevant experience: from 1996 to 2002 - UNIDO Representative and Director of Regional Office in Colombia, covering Central America and Andean countries. Responsible for programming and monitoring UNIDO's technical cooperation activities in the region. P.Skupch @ unido.org

Peter Tamas Szilasi, Cluster Manager of the Pannon Automotive Cluster of Hungary. He assumed his current position in 2001, as the first manager of the newly established PANAC. His responsibility was to establish the cluster's organizational framework and to build up the PANAC service portfolio, and to build up PANAC's corporate image. Prior to this assignment he worked 5 years in the automotive industry as logistics and quality manager of a joint venture company of a multinational company. Mr. Szilasi is MBA from Ohio University in Athens, OH, USA. He is graduated in Economics at Janus Pannonius University, Pécs, Hungary

Örjan Sölvell is Professor of International Business at the Stockholm School of Economics, SSE, and Senior Institute Associate at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, ISC, Harvard Business School. During 2003 örjan Sölvell acts as ITPS Visiting Professor of Social and Economic Geography at Uppsala University, Centre for Research on Innovation and Industrial Dynamics, CIND. Dr Sölvell has published extensively in the areas of Clusters, Competitiveness and International Strategy. The concept of clusters and the diamond model was launched in Sweden in 1991 through the book "Advantage Sweden" written together with Michael E. Porter and Ivo Zander (2nd edition 1993 and paperback edition 1999). "Microcompetitiveness of Wireless Valley" was published with Michael E Porter and Ivo Zander by Invest in Sweden Agency. Dr Sölvell was a co-author of "kluster.se" (SNS, 2001).

José-Ramón Tiscar, Principal Administrator, Innovation Policy Unit of Directorate - General Enterprise, European Union. Dr Tiscar is Principal administrator (Grade A5) in the Innovation Policy Unit of Directorate - General Enterprise of the European Union, handling follow-up and analysis of policy on innovation matters with a view to maintenance and continuous improvement of the Commission's analytical framework in this field. This involves identification of areas on innovation matters for further analytical research to support Community policy analysis and monitoring, as well as the drawing up of terms of reference and management of public call for tenders and management of selected contracts. The follow-up also includes the drafting of reports, policy briefs and evaluating/commenting on third party surveys and reports and maintenance of dialogue with the various stakeholders of innovation policy and its implementation: public authorities at national and regional level, think-tanks, research and business support organisation, firms, representatives. He has had previous positions as Administrator in Directorate General XIII (Telecommunications, Information Industries and Innovation), Credit Analyst Manager in Banco Intercontinental Espanol (Bankinter) and Assistant Lecturer at the Madrid Autonomous University.

Claas van der Linde is an Institute Associate at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. He is also an Associate at the University of St. Gallen's International Management Research Institute (FIM) in Switzerland. His interest in competitiveness dates back to 1987 when he joined Prof. Porter's research team on the original study for The Competitive Advantage of Nations. He currently conducts the Cluster Meta-Study, which systematically aggregates data from clusters worldwide to learn more about their locational and economic characteristics, their competitiveness, and their evolution over time. Dr. van der Linde has written the book Deutsche Wettbewerbsvorteile (German Competitive Advantage) and is author or co-author of articles in professional publications, among them the Harvard Business Review and the Journal of Economic Perspectives. He holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School in New York and a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of St. Gallen.

Dr. Elisabeth Waelbroeck-Rocha is Chief Executive Officer of BIPE, one of the leading providers of forward-looking economic analyses and consulting services.  Elisabeth Rocha has over the course of her career specialised in industry analysis and changes in industrial organisation at national and local level, as well as measuring the impact of regulatory change and public policies on industrial organisation systems. She provides decision support and strategy advice to companies, and helps government organisations to identify the needs for, design and assess public policies. Prior to joining BIPE as CEO in 2000, Dr. Rocha was Chief European Economist and Director of European Research at Standard & PoorÌs DRI. She has a Masters' Degree in Econometrics and a PhD in Economics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, in Belgium.

Alfred Watkins is a Lead Private Sector Development Specialist in the Europe and Central Asia region of the World Bank. He is currently preparing a number of science and technology commercialization projects for the World Bank and working on cluster development strategy with regional officials in the Urals and Western Siberia. Most recently, he is the author of several World Bank Policy Notes including, "From Knowledge to Wealth: Transforming Russin Science and Technology for a Modern Knowledge Economy" and "Creating a 21st Century National Innovation System for a 21st Century Latvian Economy."

Hans Wigzell is President of Karolinska Institutet, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Swedish Government and Chairman for the WHO-UNAIDS Vaccine Advisory Committee. He has been conducting research, published articles and edited at various levels in, for instance, International Immunology, Molecular Medicine, AIDS, Human Retrovirology and International Archives of Allergy and Immunology. He has acquired several prestigious awards, such as the Russel Weiser Lecturer Prize (Seattle, 1979), the San Marino Award for outstanding medical research (1997) and the Smith Lecture Award, MD Andersson, (2001).

David A. Wolfe is Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto and Co-Director of the Program on Globalization and Regional Innovation Systems (PROGRIS) at the Munk Centre for International Studies. PROGRIS is the node for one of five subnetworks of the Innovation Systems Research Network (ISRN), funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and serves as the national secretariat for the network He is National Coordinator of the ISRN and the Principal Investigator on its Major Collaborative Research Initiative grant on Innovation Systems and Economic Development: The Role of Local and Regional Clusters in Canada, a comparative study of twenty-six industrial clusters across Canada.
He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Political Science from Carleton University and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. From October, 1990 to August, 1993 he served as Executive Coordinator for Economic and Labour Policy in the Cabinet Office of the Government of Ontario. Upon his return to the University of Toronto from 1993 until 1997, he was a research associate in the Canadian Institute for Advanced ResearchÌs Program on Law and the Determinants of Social Ordering. He is editor or co-editor of five books, most recently, Clusters Old and New: The Transition to a Knowledge Economy in CanadaÌs Regions from McGill-QueenÌs University Press, and numerous scholarly articles.

Anders Östhol, PhD (1996) and a U.S Master of Arts. Dr. Östhol is senior manager and policy analyst at the ITPS - The Institute for Growth Policy Studies, a governmental agency specializing in industrial policy, policy evaluation and policy intelligence. His current project is focusing on strategies for promotion of business and innovation in biotech regions. Paper available at www.itps.se