Its members contribute independent insights, ensuring alignment with EU priorities and enhancing the project’s impact.
Professor Emeritus
Innovation Economics and Policy | Knowledge economy | Innovation & development | Smart specialization
Obtained his PhD in economics in 1984 and his “habilitation à diriger des recherches” in 1992 from the University Lumière of Lyon.
Appointed as researcher at CNRS (Lyon) in 1985, Professor at Ecole Centrale de Paris in 1992, Research Director at CNRS (Paris Dauphine) in 1995, then as Principal Analyst at the OECD in 2000, he joined EPFL in 2004 as full Professor in economics & management of innovation.
2004 - 2007 and 2019 - 2022: Director of the College of Management of Technology
2007 - 2017: Director of the Doctoral School in Management of Technology EDMT
2008 - 2016: Member of the Swiss National Research Council
2010 - present: Many engagements and activities in the area of the EU cohesion policy
2016 - present: Member of the Swiss Science Council
2017 - 2022: Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Swiss Economic Research Institute (KOF – ETHZ)
2025 - present: Member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of System Management and Public Governance at the University of St Gallen
Team Leader on “Transforming Territories” at the Joint Research Center (JRC)
Karel Haegeman has been working on R&I policies within the Joint Research Centre over the past two decades. Currently he is a Team Leader of SHIFT – Transforming Territories at the Joint Research Centre, considering societal challenges as a source of competitiveness and a key driver of industrial transformation. The team links territorial analysis to transition pathways and actionable knowledge to support innovation portfolios for transformative innovation. Areas of research include transformative innovation and 4th generation universities, industry 5.0, less advanced innovation ecosystems, interterritorial collaboration, anticipatory intelligence and resilience for competitiveness.
Karel holds degrees in economics and in Marketing from Ghent University, Universidad de Zaragoza and Vlerick Business School. He has 4 daugthers.
Co-Chair of the EUSDR PA7 “Knowledge Society”
Ľubica Pitlová studied international relations at the University of Economy in Bratislava, Slovakia.
After several years of experience in the private sector, she worked at the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic in the field of science policy since. She held the position of Director of the Department of European and International Science Policy. She was a member of several working groups in the Council of the European Union, such as the Research Working Group and the European Research Area and Innovation Committee (ERAC). She participated in the implementation of several European projects (Erasmus+, Horizon 2020) focused on European cooperation in the field of research and education.
Since 2012, she has been involved in the coordination of activities under Priority Area 7 of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region. The Minister of Education of the Slovak Republic appointed her as the coordinator of this priority area for the Slovak Republic in 2017. Together with her Serbian colleague Viktor Nedovič, Ľubica Pitlová coordinates the cooperation of 14 Danube countries in the field of research, innovation and higher education. The main goal of the cooperation is to support the building of a knowledge society in the region and to further integrate the Danube region into the European Research Area.
Deputy Chair of the Department of Climate Resilience at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK e.V.)
Expertise: Systems Analysis | Urban Climate Modelling | Advanced Statistics | Urban Transformation Challenges
Deputy Chair: Research Domain “Climate Resilience” & Head Research Area “Urban Transformations” (ret. since 2025), Partner/Power of Attorney of the “Bauhaus Earth gGmbH” (since 2021), Scientific expert for several national/international bodies, project director for EU Horizon/FP7 projects and author/co-Author of more than 120 ISI papers.
2025 - 2026: Global Calculator 2.0 Advisory Board on behalf of UK Dept. Energy Security and Net Zero
2018 - 2024: Member of Board of Governors, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal
2021: Jury Member: “German Sustainability Award – Cities & Communities”
2009 - 2020: Founder and CEO of the price awarded “Climate Media Factory UG”
2013 - 2018: Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Climate Change and Development Research Centre COMSATS University/Islamabad. Pakistan
2009: Professor University of Potsdam, Dept. Environmental Sciences & Geography
2008 - 2010: Visiting Professor: Mahidol University, Bangkok/Thailand
1999: Dr. rer. nat. in Theoretical Physics, University of Potsdam/Germany
1976 - 1984: Police Officer/Operations Staff of Mobile Police, State Police of Lower Saxony/Germany
