Professorial Fellow at UNU-MERIT, Visiting Professor of Practise at LSE and Assosciated Professor at University of Athens
Economist with extensive experience in academia, policy relevant research and development finance. He has worked on financial systems, corporate investment, and innovation dynamics combined with real-life exposure to investment decisions and financial markets during his tenure as executive board director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. His current research focus is on finance and innovation for sustainable development and is motivated by the erosion and the differential impact of global public goods, the prominent role of financial structures in innovation dynamics, and the value added of policy relevant research findings for sustainable investment decisions. At UNU-MERIT he is pursuing research on (a) the diffusion of financial innovations and development finance institutions, and (b) transition challenges for sustainable development. Also, he is actively involved in policy networking with the UN system, financial institutions and policy makers on Innovation and Finance for Sustainability. His conviction is that the challenges arising from financial constraints and investment capacity gaps in “building back better” call for interdisciplinary research, capacity building and better integration between scholars of innovation, policy makers and the private sector.