Strategic Advisor, Global Institute on Innovation Districts
For 25 years, Dennis has been a practitioner creating innovation communities that position regions to be competitive in the national and global technology economy. He has headed development of three US technology districts, all with multi-stakeholder sponsors that include universities, corporations, start-ups, business and community organizations, and government representatives.
Before stepping down in May 2020, he was the President and CEO of the Cortex Innovation Community in St. Louis for ten years. The 200-acre initiative involved transforming a tired largely abandoned industrial zone into a nationally and globally recognized innovation district that is now home to over 400 companies. During his Cortex tenure, Dennis was responsible for nearly three million square feet of completed and under construction development that supports over 8,500 direct and indirect jobs that annually generate over $2 billion of regional economic output.
Dennis now leads Innovation Community Strategies to assist regions in their pursuit of technology-based development strategies that create vibrant entrepreneurial economies. He focuses on all aspects of developing, managing, and sustaining knowledge-based innovation districts, both in the US and internationally. He also serves as Strategic Advisor to The Global Institute on Innovation Districts to support a network of established and emerging innovation districts. He continues to serve on the boards of community nonprofits and has been recognized for his commitment to inclusive community development.
Strategic Advisor, Global Institute on Innovation Districts
Paulina has spent her career conceptualizing and advancing transformative urban projects in the South American city of Medellín in Colombia. She played an instrumental role in advancing Medellín Digital, a city-wide program that fosters the development of the ICT sector in Medellín, and also in developing Ruta N, the business and innovation center of Medellín, which anchors the city’s innovation district.
From 2013 to 2021, Paulina led the design and implementation of the Medellinnovation District, which seeks to build and grow the innovation ecosystem in Medellín. As part of her role, she spearheaded the attraction program, which led to over 400 tech companies locating in Medellín and which resulted in the creation of over 14,000 tech jobs in the city. Paulina also led the Job 4.0 Program, a project aiming to advance digital talent in Medellín by training more than 100,000 young professionals in career paths related to technology, and placing them into upward-building employment.
Paulina is currently supporting other districts in Latin America, advising cities on how to strengthen their innovation ecosystems in an inclusive way. Given that inequity is one of the main problems in the region, Paulina’s work places an emphasis on creating tools that include all segments of the population to generate more opportunities for those parts of local populations which have been excluded in the past.
Paulina studied architecture at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana and received a postgraduate degree in urban management and processes at the Escuela de Ingenieria de Antioquia.
Strategic Advisor, Global Institute on Innovation Districts
Philipp is a co-founder of the Urban Age program at the London School of Economics, where he is executive director of LSE Cities and associate professorial lecturer in the School of Public Policy. Since 2003, he has been leading interdisciplinary programs at the LSE in urban development and transport, sustainable urbanism and climate change, as well as city policy and governance. He is co-director of the LSE Executive MSc in Cities, and visiting professor at the University of St Gallen’s Institute for Mobility. Across his work, Philipp is interested in multi-dimensional aspects of global urbanization, sustainability and urban change.
His research has been widely published in, for example: Transport Policy; Journal of Urban Affairs; and Journal of the British Academy. His recent books include Governing Compact Cities: How to connect planning, design and transport and Shaping Cities in an Urban Age, which he co-edited.
Philipp co-led the UN Habitat III Policy Unit on Urban Governance which informed the UN’s New Urban Agenda (2016) and co-directed the cities’ workstream of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate in the run-up to the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris. His current and past work with public, private and third sector organisations has included many national ministries as well as over 50 city and metropolitan governments from across the world.
Philipp holds degrees in transport systems (Dipl. Ing., TU Berlin), city design and social science (MSc, LSE) and cities/urban governance (PhD, LSE). He was awarded the Schinkel Urban Design Prize 2000.
Strategic Advisor, Global Institute on Innovation Districts
Fiorenza is Director General at Milano & Partners and co-founder of PlusValue Advisory Ltd. Her research fields of specialization are impact investing, impact assessment, urban regeneration, EU RDI programs and policies, and participatory research.
Fiorenza has extensive experience in urban regeneration projects in Italy and in the UK, specifically public-private partnerships. She leads the work on ecosystem analysis, managing a broad network of stakeholders and intermediary organizations, as well as developing the business model and specifically the financial models.
Before joining PlusValue, Fiorenza worked for The Young Foundation as EU policy senior analyst. She had been a policy analyst in Bruxelles for Intesa San Paolo for the previous four years, and in 2010 she served as a policy analyst for Atomium Culture. Today, she is regularly consulted by the European Commission on innovation (social and technological) and socio-economic development. Fiorenza is a research fellow at UCL’s Institute of Finance and Technology.
She holds a Ph.D. in linguistics and is the author of numerous articles, reports, and books. Her track record of relevant publications includes “Impact investing innovation: Bringing together public, private and third sectors to create greater value: The case of the public private partnership initiative for the new public hospital of Treviso,” in Social Impact Investing: Beyond the Social Impact Bonds, Palgrave, 2018 (Addarii, Lipparini, Medda); and “Vision and trends of social innovation for Europe,” in DG Research and Innovation, European Commission, 2017 (Addarii, Lipparini).”
Strategic Advisor, Global Institute on Innovation Districts
Miquel is director of Masters in Business Innovation at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. For over 30 years, he has participated in the definition, implementation, and execution of policies and both public and private projects in the fields of innovation, R&D, technology transfer, clusters, innovative urban development, industry, and quality.
In the past, Miquel has served as general director and president at the TEC Foundation (2007–2011); as a member of the Abertis Telecom Council (2004–2011); as executive president at 22@ Barcelona (2004–2007); as an independent member of the Parlament de Catalunya (1999–2003), where he presided over the Industry and Energy Commission; as general director at the Instituto Catalán de Tecnología (1987–1999); as general subdirector of industrial safety, technical norms, and regulations at the Ministry of Industry and Energy (1985–1987); as founding president of the Red Española de Laboratorios de Ensayo (RELE); and as a founding member of AENOR (Asociación Española de Normalización y Certificación).
Miquel holds a Ph.D. in industrial engineering conferred by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), and he has earned undergraduate degrees in economic sciences from the Universidad de Barcelona (UB) and in social sciences from ICESB (UB).
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