Paul Davidson  Raynolds

Honorary Professor of Entrepreneurship

Aston Business School, Birmingham, UK                       

Degrees were earned in engineering [U. Kansas, BS, 1960], and from Stanford University in business administration [MBA, 1964], social psychology [MA, 1966], and sociology [PhD, 1969]. In 1988, after two decades in three sociology departments, Reynolds shifted focus to firm creation and growth and was subsequently on the faculty of five business schools. With David Story he coordinated a six country comparison of regional factors affecting firm births in 19 91-93. He was, along with Richard Curtin, a coordinating principal investigator for the US Panel Studies of Entrepreneurial Dynamics [PSED] from 1994 to 2010. Refining this research paradigm, which involves tracking the business creation process in a representative sample of pre-profit start-ups, involved consultation with eight other national projects to facilitate cross national comparisons. This experience led to the role as the founding coordinating principal investigator of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor [GEM] initiative from 1998 to 2004; the GEM project has now collected harmonized data on the prevalence of business creation in a hundred countries. He is currently involved in a variety of analysis with the GEM data set and coordinating PSED projects in five EU countries [Finland, Latvia, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK]. Reynolds received the Swedish Award for contributions to SME research in 2004 and the Academy of Management Entrepreneurial Division award for exceptional activities advancing entrepreneurship scholarship in 2012. 

Prof.David Anthony Kirby 

 British University in Egypt, Cairo

David Anthony Kirby (born 1945) is a British academic working in the area of business administration and entrepreneurship. He is a former Director of the UK Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the Association of Business Schools, and  a former Senior Vice President  and Director of the International Council for Small Business. In recognition of his consultancy and training work with small businesses he has been elected to  a Fellowship of the Institute of Business Advisers and was elected as a Fellow of the  Royal Society of Arts (RSA) for his contribution to the Society’s Education for Capability Programme.he has published 150 journal articles and 18 books and research monographs, including “Entrepreneurship” (McGraw-Hill, 2003). His research is currently focusing on Entrepreneurship Education  and  Entrepreneurial Universities, and the role of universities in the Innovation process in Egypt.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Andersson

Chairman of the International Entrepreneurship Academy

Thomas Andersson, Thomas Andersson, Prof. Ph.D, holds a number of international advisory and board positions. He is the Chairman of the International University Association (IUET), the Swedish Partner Institute of the Centre for Global Competitiveness and Performance of the World Economic Forum, in partnership with Deloitte Sweden. In this capacity he is responsible for the Survey for Swedish Executives in the Global Competitiveness Report. He is also the Chairman of the International Entrepreneurship Academy (Intentac), through which he engages in the development of pioneering approaches to entrepreneurship training. Further, he is the Chairman of he Organisation for Knowledge Economy and Enterprise Development (IKED), and of the Global Identity Networking of Individuals (GINI), a previous support action for the Information Society and Media Directorate-General, European Commission, now in an implementation phase with side-events at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos 2014 and 2015. Currently he is engaged as the lead expert of UNCTAD's Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (STIP) Review of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Prof.Scott Shane

Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies 

The author of over 60 scholarly articles on entrepreneurship and innovation management, Dr. Shane's work has appeared in Management Science, Organization Science, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Decision Sciences, and Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, and International Journal of Industrial Organization, among other journals. Dr. Shane has served as editor of special issues of Research Policy on “Technology Entrepreneurship” and Management Science on “University Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer”. He currently serves as editor of the R&D, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Division of Management Science. Dr. Shane's Ph.D. is from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His previous faculty appointments include University of Maryland, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Georgia Institute of Technology. Shane is the A. Malachi Mixon III Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies chair. He is also supported by the A. Malachi Mixon – F. J. Callahan Jr. Program in Entrepreneurial Management. 

Prof.Alistar Anderson

Professor of Entrepreneurship, Robert Gordon University, UK

Alistair R Anderson, BA, MSc, PhD is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University in Scotland. He is also an honorary professor at Aberdeen University; honorary adjunct pro- fessor at Ballarat University, Australia and visiting professor at Aarhus Business School. From a very practical entrepreneurial background involving starting and running pubs, hotels, a knitwear manufacture, construction and house building, he became  interested in understanding how and why people become entrepreneurs.  This curiosity seemed best addressed in a formally rigorous intellectual context and de- cided to study rural entrepreneurship for a PhD. In the course of his PhD, he discovered that rather than answering the seemingly simple questions about how and why, many more difficult questions arose. So in many ways he is still discovering what might be the best questions to ask about entrepreneurship and trying to find the best way of asking them.   He is particularly interested in the social aspects of entrepreneurship. Current themes being explored are rural entrepreneurship, social capital, entrepreneurship in China. He favours a social constructionist approach to addressing these and associated topic areas. Although he has published in a range of entrepreneurship and managerial journals, pre- sented keynote speeches, seminars, written book chapters and taught about entrepre- neurship, he remains uncertain and curious about what are the critical issues in entre- preneurship and the best ways of understanding them.

Dr.Sunil Shukla

DirectorEntrepreneurship Development Institute of India

Dr. Sunil Shukla, Director of Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India is a distinguished entrepreneurship educator, researcher and institution-builder. His modules and researches in entrepreneurship have been successfully adapted in the form of various developmental interventions, to ensure sustainable results for different target groups. He visits several prestigious institutions in India and abroad and has worked with prominent international agencies on various projects. Widely travelled, Dr. Shukla has also been well recognized for highlighting the dimensions of Indian entrepreneurship, on international arena. Several organizations, Government Ministries and departments have him on their Governing Board and are benefitting from his guidance and experience. His Research Projects include ‘Review of Entrepreneurship Curricula in Higher Learning Institutions’; and also ‘Entry Barriers to Entrepreneurship: As Perceived by Youth’, which helped Government of India in framing a policy to establish Entrepreneurship and Business Development Centers at Universities.Dr. Shukla is the National Team Leader of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), India, since 2012.

Prof.Donna J. Kelley

Professor of Entrepreneurship

Frederic C. Hamilton Chair of Free Enterprise

Donna Kelley is a Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College, and holds the Frederic C. Hamilton Chair of Free Enterprise. She is a frequent presenter on the topic of global entrepreneurship for executive, policy and academic audiences around the world. Prof. Kelley is a board member of the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association (GERA), the oversight board of GEM, and leader of the GEM U.S. team. She has co-authored GEM reports on global entrepreneurship, women’s entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education and training, and entrepreneurship in the U.S., Korea, and Africa.Prof. Kelley’s research has been published in the Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, Journal of Product Innovation Management, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management,Human Resource Management, and others. Her current research interests include examining the impact of policy and other ecosystem conditions on the rate and nature of entrepreneurship in a society.Besides teaching a variety of entrepreneurship courses at Babson College, Prof. Kelley has taught seminars and courses at top universities in China and Korea, and worked in Bandung, Indonesia as a Fulbright Specialist. She received her Ph.D. in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Her early career involved work as a chemist and in entrepreneurship ventures in the health/fitness, computer hardware and education fields.

Prof.Galina Shirokova

Professor, Strategic & International Management Department, AND Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship

St. Petersburg University, Russia

 Galina V. Shirokova, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor at Strategic and International Management Department, St.Petersburg University Graduate School of Management, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship was awarded with St. Petersburg State University award in 2014 for research papers in nomination “For Fundamental Achievements in Research” for her series of papers “Factors of Creation, Development and Growth of Entrepreneurial Firms in Russia”.

Prof.Siri Roland Xavier

 Deputy Dean Global Entrepreneurship Research Association Board Member, GEM National Team Leader

Dr.Mohammad Razali

Nusantara Technologies Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia

 Dato’ Mohamed Razali is the Executive Chairman of an engineering services company, NUSANTANA Technologies Sdn Bhd, a company which he founded in 1983, prior to that, he was heading the Arab Malaysia Bank Group Chief Executive. In his illustrious career he was also working at Dunlop Malaysia Indystries Berhad for 13 years and held the position of General Manager before he left the organization in 1981. He was also active in the international business community, having held key positions namely; past Chairman of ASEAN-EEC Business Council; President of Malaysia-Canada Business Council; Director of Malaysia-German Business Group; Vice-President of the Malaysia-French  Economic and Trade Association and Chairman of Malaysia-India Joint Consultative Committee.

Prof.Kamariah Ismail

UTM Technology Entrepreneurship Center (UTMTEC), Malaysia

Her main research focus is related to commercialisation of university technologies. The research that she has involved include commercialisation of university patents, the roles of Technology Transfer Office (TTO) and to develop a best practice model of spin-off formation process. she also involved in entrepreneurship/technopreneurship, SMEs and innovation, technology park,university-industry links, and franchising research.

 Prof.Melati Ahmad Anuar

 Department of Accounting and Finance, Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Prof.Zoltan Acs

London School of Economics, & George Mason University, USA

Zoltan J. Acs Ph.D., author, writer, scholar, teacher and social entrepreneur is the leading advocate of the importance of entrepreneurship and philanthropy for economic growth and social development. Professor of Management at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and University Professor in the School of Policy, Government and International Relations (SPGIA) and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship (CEP) at George Mason University. He is also a visiting professor at Imperial College Business School in London, and affiliated with the College of Business and Economics at the University of Pecs in Hungary. 

Prof.Richard Lackes

 Technische Universitaet Dortmund, Wirtschafts- und, Iranian - UK

Prof. Reza Asghari

  Technischen Universität Braunschweig und der Ostfalia Hochschule,Iranian - Germany

Reza Asghari is Professor of Entrepreneurship at Engineering School of Technical University of Braunschweig and holds the joint  Entrepreneurship Chair of TU Braunschweig and Ostfalia University for Applied Sciences. He is also Director of Entrepreneurship Center of this university. His research is focued on Technology Entrepreneurship, Business Model Innovation, Entrepreneurial Mindset and Entrepreneurial Univerity.He studied Business Adminstration Computer Scineces (1994) and finished his PhD 1997 at Institute for Economics at TU Braunschweig. He worked several years as E-Business Consultant bevor he moved to the academic life.Prof. Asghari deals with Schumpeterian Theory of Innovation and Etrepreneurship and published several articles in this field.Prof. Asghari leaded the task force for development Entrepreneurial University Concept for both universities which was honoured by Federal Government of Germany(2011)  and won besides few German Universities the EXIST-IV  „Entrepreneurial University“ grant.Prof. Asghari is a stinguished educator and trainer and has breeded a plenty of start-ups relyed on his experimental didactics through his classes. He is founder and CEO of  the first university owned Venture Capital Corporate, Academic Ventures GmbH & Co KG, in Lower Sachsony in Germany.Prof. Asghari  is strongly engaged in the process of commercilization of research results from Engineering and  Life Sciences Schools. 

Prof. Pooran Wynarczyk

Newcastle University Business School

Pooran Wynarczyk, Professor at Newcastle University Business School, UK and Founding Director of Small Enterprise Research Unit (2000-2015), specialises in the small and medium-sized enterprise  (SME) sector.  She is an elected ‘Fellowship Councillor At Large’ of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce (RSA), Adjunct Professor at the University of Tehran, and a former Board Director of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE). She has been the  award holder and principal investigator of numerous UK government  (e.g., Economic and Social Research Council) and  European Commission sponsored: research;  policy;  and business enterprise  support and training  projects.  She has published widely in key areas of the SME sector, with particular focus on:  economic performance; high growth/high technology ventures;innovation/open innovation; internationalisation;  business incubators;  science parks; women in commercialisation; and  enterprise,  science and technology policies. Professor Wynarczyk has recently led a number of special issues, including one on science and technology for the Journal of ‘New Technology, Work and Employment’ and another on open innovation in SMEs for the ‘International Small Business Journal’. Her recent publication on open innovation in SMEs has achieved the  Emerald Literatie Network Awards  of Excellence, a  'Highly  Commended Paper  of 2014'. Two of her previously published  co-authored books, 'The Performance of Small Firms: Profits, Jobs and Failure'  and 'Managerial Labour Markets in SMEs' have been selected, by Routledge publisher,  for re-issue in 2016. She is currently in the process of finalising an internationally focused  co-edited book on women in commercialisation. 

Senator h.c. Andreas Schweitzer

Senior Managing Director, Arjan Capital Ltd, Switzerland

Andreas Schweitzer is the Managing and Founding Partner of Arjan Capital Ltd an Iran focused merchant house. Since 2009 years, he has had an active presence in Iran, advising industrial and investment companies about the Iranian market, as well as facilitating non-sanction industrial and commercial activity. Schweitzer is also part of a Swiss-Iranian investor group that procured licenses for wind farms in Iran (3x100MW). Mr. Schweitzer co-founded a company that developed a hydro-electronic power drive systems for mid-sized, on- and off-grid wind turbines.

 Andreas Schweitzer has been named Honorary Senator of the European Senate to promote Economy and Technology in Europe and world wide.

Prof. Dr.Utz Dornberger

Leipzig University, Germany

Professor Dornberger was born in Weimar in 1970. He studied biology at various universities in Jena, Bilbao (Spain) and Paris (France) and graduated with a PhD in biochemistry from Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. He then took a postgraduate course in Small Enterprise Promotion and Training (SEPT) at Leipzig University, which he completed with a Master's degree in Small Business Studies. He worked at Leipzig University as a research assistance and lecturer until 2004. After this, Professor Dornberger was active as a project manager for international research projects in the area of development and promotion strategies for high-tech industries. Professor Dornberger became the head of the international SEPT program (SEPT – Small Enterprise Promotion & Training) at Leipzig University in 2004. Currently, he is a professor for business development, especially the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. His key responsibilities include analyzing, advising, implementing, training and coaching in the area of small and medium-sized enterprise promotion and support. He is also head of "Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Development Cooperation" unit at Leipzig Fraunhofer Center for international management and knowledge economy.