The permanent staff of URENIO is about 20 people, and external contract research personnel varies between 15 and 50 people. Qualifications of the permanent staff cover urban and regional planning, mechanical and chemical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, architecture, sociology and economics, applied mathematics and statistics.

Nicos Komninos is currently a professor of Urban Development and Innovation Policy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He holds a Master’s Degree of Architect-Engineer from the Aristotle University and a PhD from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. He teaches courses on ‘Learning Regions’, ‘Technopoles’, ‘Digital Cities’, and the postgraduate seminar ‘Intelligent Cities: Systems and Environments of Innovation’.

He is founder and director of Urban and Regional Innovation (URENIO) Research and has co-ordinated about ninety research projects under the European Innovation (CIP), Research (FP), and Territorial Cooperation Programmes. His research interests are on innovation ecosystems and intelligent cities (virtual innovation environments, intelligent clusters and technology parks, living labs, smart ecosystems and future Internet). For his research activity he received an honorary distinction of Aristotle University “Awards for Excellence and Innovation” in 2008. In parallel to research, he has been involved in the development of technology parks and regional innovation strategies in Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Lithuania; in UNIDO activities on regional innovation in developing countries; and in the OECD innovation strategy. He has been member of the committee for the design of regional innovation poles in Greece, the Board of the ‘Regional Innovation Pole of Central Macedonia’ and the Board of ‘Innovation Zone of Thessaloniki’. He is member of the editorial board of the “International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development” and the “International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development” and associate editor of the “International Journal of the Knowledge Economy”, the “European Journal of Innovation Management”, and the “Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship”.

His research has been published widely. He has authored more than one hundred papers in international journals and conference proceedings, co-edited four books, and authored eleven books, including ‘Technopoles and Development Strategies in Europe’ (Gutenberg 1993); ‘The Innovative Region’ (Gutenberg 1998); ‘Intelligent Cities: Innovation, knowledge systems and digital spaces’ (Routledge 2002); ‘Intelligent Cities and the Globalisation of Innovation Networks’ (Routledge 2008).
E-mail contact: komninos@urenio.org

Theodoros CHADJIPANDELIS is a professor of Applied Statistics in the Department of Political Sciences of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He was awarded his Doctorate by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is a member of the board of the University of Western Macedonia and appointed head of the Department of Balkan Studies. He is head of the laboratory of Applied Political Research.

Theodoros Chadjipadelis is member of the board of the Greek Statistical Institute since 1993, head of the section of Central Macedonia of the Greek Mathematical Society since 2002. His main areas of interest are applied statistics, modelling electoral behaviour, urban and regional planning, and statistics in education. He has about 60 publications in major statistical and political journals in Greece and abroad. As a private consultant he has been involved in many major projects on social exclusion, electoral behaviour, urban and regional planning and innovation.
E-mail contact: chadji@eled.auth.gr

Elias G. Carayannis is Senior Visiting Professor affiliated with URENIO. He is full Professor of Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, as well as co-Founder and co-Director of the Global and Entrepreneurial Finance Research Institute (GEFRI) and Director of Research on Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, European Union Research Center, (EURC) at the Department of Information Systems & Technology Management, George Washington University in Washington, DC. His teaching and research activities focus on the areas of strategic Government-University-Industry R&D partnerships, technology road-mapping, technology transfer and commercialization, international science and technology policy, technological entrepreneurship and regional economic development.

He has published thirteen books to date on science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship with CRC Press, Praeger/Greenwood, Palgrave/MacMillan and Edward Elgar. He has also published working papers with the World Bank and given invited lectures on a number of occasions at the World Bank, the IADB, the European Union, and several universities. Dr. Carayannis is Editor-in-Chief of the Springer Journal of the Knowledge Economy; the Springer Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A Systems View Across Time and Space; the IGI International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development; the Edward Elgar Book Series on Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship; and the Springer Book Series on Innovation, Technology, and Knowledge Management. He can be reached at: caraye@gwu.edu

Yiannis FALAS is a Mining Engineer, graduate of National Technical University of Athens (1990). After graduation, he worked in the Region of Western Macedonia, as Assistant Co-ordinator of Transport Infrastructure program (1st and 2nd C.S.F.). He has then been the project manager of the Regional Innovation Strategy, RIS and RIS+ Projects and the “Knowledge clusters” Innovative Actions Program of W.M.

He works as an expert for the Regional Innovation Office of W.M. He also worked as an expert in cross-border cooperation with FYROM and Albania. He has long experience with SMEs. His main interests are innovation and regional development, interregional and cross-border development strategies, namely for clusters and SMEs.
E-mail contact: thessis@otenet.gr

Nikolas GOUNTARAS has studied Engineering of Planning, Urban Planning and Regional Development at the University of Thessaly, in Volos. He is an MSc in Real Estate Economics and Finance graduate from the London School of Economics (LSE).

He has worked as part-time planner and designer in the design department of an oil company in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, as a part-time planner in the laboratory of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Thessaly working on a field survey based on the land use of the buildings in the city of Volos, and as a surveyor assistant of technical works in summer resort construction site in Greece. As a member of the Urenio research and innovation unit, since 2003, he was at first involved in three innovative web portals referred to the three major sectors (textile, metallurgy, dairy products) of the Region of Thessaly, an Innovative Actions project (INVENT). Then, he developed with other colleagues two roadmaps regarding the youth employment and agrotourism in Western Thessaly region, a project called LES for West Thessaly and was partly funded by European Social Fund. More recently, he participated in ISTOS project dealing with tourism in the Region of South Aegean, by gathering, evaluating and illustrating primary data. At the time being, he is working on FUTURREG project (Interreg IIIC), putting future tools into practice and develop a common futures toolkit with other partners. Furthermore, he is currently also involved in SUPER-SME project that supports potential and existing research intensive in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs), funded solely by ERDF.
E-mail contact: ng@urenio.org

IOANNIS KOMNINOS is an Electronic Engineer, with studies from the University of Leeds – UK. He has also a M.Sc. degree form the same University in Radio Communications and High Frequency Engineering. From 1999 to 2006 he worked as a RF Design and Development Engineer in the R&D wireless group of Intracom S.A. in Greece, designing hardware for wireless access telecommunications systems. In early 2006 he joined Theta Microelectronics SA as RF Lab Manager.

In parallel with his employment he has been working as a researcher for Urenio Research Unit of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – Greece since 2000. He has also worked with Innovatia S.A. and Research Institute of Urban Environment and Human Resources of Panteion University (IAPAD) as an external consultant.

His main research interests at the Urenio Research Unit are the development of methodologies and tools for New Product Development (NPD) and the management of most of the aspects of creating new products. He has written papers, on Product Outsourcing, Product Life Cycle Management and NPD. He was also responsible in the research and in the design of the NPD Roadmaps for Invent and “NPD-Net” EU funded projects.
E-mail contact: ikom@otenet.gr

Stratos MANOS is an Architect Engineer and PhD candidate at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Thesis title: The Urban Regeneration and Internationalisation of Cities in Europe).

Since 1993 he is working as researcher at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and participated in various projects of the European Union, including the RITTS of East Macedonia and Thrace, the Urban Pilot Project of Thessaloniki, and national projects on urban renewal, innovative spatial development, urban planning and regional development. He participated in European urban planning competitions.

Since 1997, he is member of a consulting group responsible for Regional and Local Development projects and Industrial Parks Development projects. He participated in the Evaluation of Central Macedonia”s Regional Operational Programme (especially in Technical Infrastructures and Local Development measures), the Cross-border cooperation projects (Euroregion “NESTOS-MESTA”-LACE), and the development of GIS applications.
E-mail contact: efmanos@gnomon.com.gr

Dimitris MILOSSIS is electrical engineer with studies in the School of Technology, University of Patra, Greece. He has a Diploma in Electronics for Telecommunications from the University of Southampton, England and a Masters cource in Business Adninistration (MBA) in University of Macedonia (Thessaloniki, Greece). He is a PhD candidate at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki on the topic of “Regional Innovation Systems”.

Since 1999, his is working as a researcher at the URENIO research unit in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and participates in various European projects. His scientific interests are in business performance assessment (benchmarking), web development, and networking in Innovation Management Tools and New Product Development.
E-mail contact: dmilosis@auth.gr

Nitsa PAPADOPOULOU received a Masters in Business Administration from St John”s University U.S.A, specializing in strategic business planning and marketing. Her undergraduate studies are in Linguistics and Education.

Prior to her current position, she worked for consultancy companies and was responsible for the development of services and coordination of product delivery to clients, and training and monitoring of personnel. She has participated in research projects concerning regional development in the Health Network (Rhine Esprit Project DGXIII) and Interborder Development (ADAPT). Her scientific research interests are mainly focused on knowledge management and innovation management techniques.

Since April 2002, she is an active member of URENIO and participates in the implementation and coordination of research projects related to Regional Development and Innovation Technology for the regions of Thessaly, West Macedonia, and Ionian Islands.
E-mail contact: nitsa@urenio.org

Maria PARASKEVA studied at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Before her current position, she was a project manager at the Vocational Training Centre (VTC) for seven years. She was also the head of the department that was responsible for combating people’s exclusion from occupation, and for the department that aimed at promoting graduates to labor.

During her career, she has worked at the “Organization of Cultural Capital of Europe Thessaloniki “97″, and at Macedonian Press Agency. She has taught “Greek as a foreign language” and “vocational guidance” at the Vocational Training Centre, where she has also written the handbooks on both subjects. She also taught English (as a foreign language) at various coaching schools.
E-mail contact: mparaskeva@urenio.org

Isidoros A. PASSAS has a Bachelor of engineering on computer systems from the School of Engineering of University of Sussex in U.K. He is in the process of accomplishing his M.B.A. in University of Sheffield in the U.K. His scientific interests are in the application of information technology in business processes of SMEs, business and cluster intelligence, innovation measurement and benchmarking, and web 2.0 new product development, and website assessmenmt.

Since 2001, he has been working as a researcher at the URENIO research unit. He is currently involved in the development of web-based roadmaps concerning New Product Development and the creation of Spin-off companies and supports the URENIO web platform and applications related to benchmarking.
E-mail contact: iapassas@urenio.org

Maria S. Schoina is a graduate of the Department of Civil Engineering of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. After graduation she was involved in several structural design studies as self-employed or in cooperation with a design and construction firm. She has also been working as a scientific researcher at the Universities of Thessaly and Western Macedonia, in a series of projects and studies in the fields of Regional Development, Innovation, Management of Technology and Tourism Management.

Since 2000 she has been working for the Urenio Research Unit of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, participating in the implementation and the management of research projects such as: InnoRegio: Dissemination of Innovation and Knowledge Management Techniques, InVent: Innovative Actions in Thessaly, Istos: Innovative Actions in the South Aegean, Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS) in Southwest Bulgaria, Medi-Cube: Mediterranean Technology Led Incubator Co-operation.
E-mail contact: mschoina@arch.auth.gr

Elena SEFERTZI received a master of sociology from the University of Paris Rene Descartes-Sorbonne, a post-graduate degree (DEA), and a doctorate from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales, Paris.

She has taught as specialist scientist at the Department of Economic Sciences of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1985-89) and as assistant professor at the Technical University of Crete (1990-99). Her research interests focus on regional innovation policy, technology transfer and industrial development. She has participated and co-ordinated many research projects funded by research organisations and the European Commission .

She is the author of numerous articles, including “Flexibility and alternative corporate strategies” (Industrial Relations, vol. 51, no 1, 1996), “Neo-industrialisation and peripherality” (Geoforum, vol. 29, no 1, 1998), “Innovation in the every day life of libraries” (Technovation, no 20, 2000), “Changing regional systems of innovation in Greece” (European Planning Studies, September/October 2003), and co-editor of Innovation: system-areas, technology transfer, and innovative development in Greece (Athens, Gutenberg,1998), Innovation Development Technologies in Regions and Production Complexes (Athens, Gutenberg, 2001).
E-mail contact: esef@arch.auth.gr

Paraskevi TARANI studied architecture at the School of Engineering in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is a PhD candidate at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, on the topic “The European Cities in the New Economy of Knowledge”.Her research interests include the area of urban and regional innovation, urban theory and planning.

As member of the URENIO research unit since 1994, she has been involved in several research projects dealing with city and regional development and innovation diffusion, such us: Regional Technological Project (RTP) of Central Macedonia, Regional Innovation Strategy (RIS+) Central Macedonia, Agropolis Technology Park of Thessaloniki, Innovation in Ionian Islands. Her experience in the field of urban planning includes several projects on urban renovation and planning, technology parks, and new areas development. A number of her projects and articles on the urban condition have been published in international magazines for architecture and urban planning (Techniques & Architecture, D” Architectures, Architecture in Greece, Threshold).
E-mail contact: tarani@arch.auth.gr

Achilleas TSAMIS holds a chemical engineering degree from the National Technical University of Athens and a MS in Technology Policy from Massachusetts Institute of Technology,USA. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of Geography of London School of Economics working on Science and Technology Parks in South Europe and their role in the innovation systems of the regions.
Prior to his current position, he worked in the Technology Park of Thessaloniki as a coordinator of the Initiative for Technology cooperation with the Balkan countries and managed the project of a feasibility study for the development of a Technology Park in Bitola, FYROM. He has also been employed for a short period in the European Commission DG Enterprise working in the development of a new environmental directive.E-mail contact: a.tsamis@lse.ac.uk

Panagiotis C. TSARCHOPOULOS received his Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1992 and he has been working as a multimedia and web developer since 1993. He has an extensive experience with all parts of a Web site”s building process: Information Architecture, Web Design, Content Creation, Web Development, and Usability Evaluation.

During his career, Panagiotis worked, as a web and multimedia developer, at various institutions and companies including the Institute of Informatics and Telematics, the Laboratory of Information Processing of Aristotle University, the Macedonian Press Agency, the School of Architecture of the Aristotle University, and ALTANET S.A. Throughout this process he has produced several web sites and multimedia CD-ROMs.Actually, he supports the URENIO Research Unit web presence, and he took part in many R&D projects dealing with digital innovation spaces. He also teaches, with Professor Komninos, “Telematics and Digital Cities” at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
E-mail contact: patsar@auth.gr

Sotiris ZIGIARIS has an MSc in Computer Science graduate of Lamar University USA. He also has studied Business Administration Management. He received his PhD from Aristotle University in 2009 with a thesis of EU regional systems of innovation. His area of specialization is regional development and public innovation support measures.

He has engaged in major re-engineering projects in the United States as well as in Greece, such as the BPR project in the National Telecommunication Organisation of Greece. He is participating in regional development projects in the region of Thessaly, Western Macedonia, Peloponnesus, Ionian Islands, Southern Aegean, working mainly in the design of regional innovation policymaking and the development of public support mechanisms for innovation management. He is a member of the technical assistance team for the regional development of the Bulgaria Ministry of Development.
E-mail contact: sotzig@urenio.org