Keynote Speakers and lectures

Monetary policy: how to deal with fragmentation

by Mário Centeno, Governor of Banco de Portugal and member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank since July 2020.  He served as President of the Eurogroup and Chair of the Board of Governors of the European Stability Mechanism, and for over four years he was Finance Minister of Portugal. An experienced economist, Mr Centeno has held several positions in Banco de Portugal, where he started his career in 1993. He has a strong academic background with a PhD in Economics, from Harvard University, and has published several academic papers.
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    Collective Actions and Territorial Development: From Innovative Milieus to New Commons

Abstract
The literature territorial production systems has extensively demonstrated the role of collective action in fostering innovation and local development. Anchored and structured by local production actors in the form of, for example, innovative milieus, such collective action can mitigate opportunistic behaviours, facilitate the creation of specific knowledge and resources etc. More critically, it can enable regions to face industrial crises and preserve local production systems over time.

Today, we observe the emergence of new forms of collective action and organization within territories: the “commons.” Rooted in self-organized communities, commons provide goods and services that contribute to the productive, residential, and domestic economies of territories. The aim of this conference is to explore the factors behind the resurgence of commons, particularly in urban settings, and to examine their contributions to current development dynamics. Additionally, we will assess how these emergent forms of collective action both engage with and challenge existing literature on territorial collective action.

by Leïla Kebir, Associate Professor in tourism and territorial economy at University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Trained as an economist, she works in the field of territorial development in the context of globalization and, more recently, ecological transition.  Over the last few years, She has been developing a new line of research in the analysis of the new commons. In particular, since May She has had the opportunity to coordinate the COMMOUNT project (FNS), which focuses on new mountain commons.
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   What Can We Learn From an Emerging Global Definition of Urbanisation?

Abstract
To overcome the wide variation in national definition of urban areas, six international organisation developed a global methodology called the Degree of Urbanisation. It was developed to facilitate international comparisons and not replace national definitions. This methodology was endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in 2020. Since its endorsement, a growing number of countries has implemented the definition. This implementation is supported by a wide range of international agencies including UN Statistical Division, UN Habitat, UN FPA, OECD and the World Bank.. This key note will give a brief overview of the methodology, its development and implementation by countries across the globe. In response to comments from statistical offices and researchers, the definition has been improved and expanded to also cover functional rural areas and urban agglomerations. In parallel to the implementation by individual countries, a growing amount of data by Degree of Urbanisation based on surveys, censuses and satellite imagery has become available. The combination of the new definition and new data allows us to gain new insights. The key note will show how natural change, net-migration and reclassification have affected cities, towns and rural areas in different ways. It will highlight the big differences in density and land use between cities and urban agglomerations in high and low income countries. Last, it will show how life in cities differs from that in rural areas across the globe using the latest results from the Gallup World Poll.

by Lewis Dijkstra, Team Leader Urban and Regional analysis at Joint Research Centre, European Commission and Visiting Professor in Practice at the London School of Economics and Political Science
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Persistence and Change of Regional Entrepreneurship
in the Long Run

Abstract
Entrepreneurship can be an important source of economic prosperity and well-being. As a consequence, entrepreneurial activity may represent a key target of a policy aimed at promoting economic growth. The pronounced differences in the level and type of entrepreneurial activity between regions clearly suggest that the main underlying determinants and levers for fostering entrepreneurial activity can be found at the regional level. Furthermore, region-specific conditions may be responsible for differences in the effect of entrepreneurial activity on regional development. The lecture provides an overview of the recent research on the long-term persistence and change in regional entrepreneurship, i.e., self-employment and new business formation. One of the key results of this research is that regional entrepreneurial activity may have important historical roots. Such historical roots can lead, in particular, to a pronounced tendency of regional entrepreneurship to be rather persistent and to change only slowly and over a long period of time. Alternative explanations of these patterns are discussed. A main focus is on the implications for theory development and for regional-level policy. Finally, main open questions and promising avenues of further research in this important new field are identified

by Michael Fritsch, Professor of Economics and Chair of Business Dynamics, Innovation, and Economic Change at the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany. He is author of numerous books and more than 200 articles in scholarly journals and edited volumes. He is Associate Editor of Small Business Economics – An Entrepreneurship Journal and is Member of the Editorial Board of several scholarly journals.
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Proximity in the New Economic Geography:Smiling and Crying Cities

Paul Krugman (born February 28, 1953, Albany, New York, U.S.) is an American economist and journalist who received the 2008 Nobel Prize for Economics for his work in economic geography and in identifying international trade patterns. He is also known for his op-ed column in The New York Times.

Robin Wells is an economist and co-author, along with Paul Krugman, of several economics texts. A Fellow of the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive think tank, Robin has written several articles for the New York Review of Books, and was a contributer and guest editor for the Occupy Handbook (2012). She has taught at Princeton University, Stanford Business School, MIT and University of Southampton. Robin also teaches Forrest Yoga in Princeton, New Jersey

Carlos Moreno is renowned for his vision of the smart city. Associate Professor and Scientific Director of the ETI Chair at the Sorbonne Business School, he is special Smart City envoy for the Mayor of Paris, Chevalier of the Legion of Honor (2010), and medallist for Prospective by the Academy of Architecture (2019).

Regional Development for Sustainability and Peace:
The Role of Entrepreneurship

By David Audretsch, Distinguished Professor and Ameritech Chair of Economic Development at Indiana University. He is ranked as the top scientist globally, according to the World Top 100 Business & Management / Entrepreneurship Scientists 2024. He also is a Professor of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Klagenfurt, and an Honorary Professor of Industrial Economics and Entrepreneurship at the WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany.
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   Old and New Regional Inequalities

by Joaquim Oliveira Martins, Special Advisor of the EU Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms and Counsellor at the Center for Prospective Studies and International Information (CEPII, Paris). He was previously Deputy-Director of the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. He was also Head of the OECD Structural Economic Statistics Division. He authored many academic articles and coordinated several OECD projects, namely on Policy Response to the Threat of Global Warming, Competition, Regulation and Performance, Ageing & Growth, Investment in Tertiary Education, and Public Health Expenditure Projections. He coordinated the first OECD Economic Surveys of Brazil, Chile and several transition countries. 
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   Regional Development and Sustainable use of the Sea

Ricardo Serrão Santos, Principal Scientist at Institute OKEANOS, University of the Azores.He studies marine biodiversity and ocean ecosystems. He was the director, chair and CEO at several research centres and institutes. He was a former member of the European Parliament [2014-2019] and a former Minister of the Sea of Portugal [2019-2022]. He was an “Executive Planning Group” member supporting the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. RSS is a “Comité Éthique en Commun - INRAE-Cirad-Ifremer-IRD” member and Chair of the Scientific Council of the International Panel of Ocean Sustainability (IPOS).Ricardo Serrão Santos is an Emeritus Member of the Portuguese Navy Academy, Full Member of the Portuguese Academy of Sciences and Member of the Portuguese Geographic Society.
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   ERSA Prize 2024 Keynote Lecture:
Technological Transitions and Critical Raw Materials.
Multinationals, Geopolitics and Spatial Inequality. 

Abstract

Over the past thirty years I have explored the role of multinational corporations (MNCs) and technological innovation in shaping regional economic development. My current research projects on Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) bring these three themes together in the context of the ongoing digital and green economic transitions.