Faculty

Meet the 2026 Competitiveness Summer School Faculty

Click on photos to see the profiles

Pascual Berrone

Pascual Berrone is professor of strategic management and Schneider Electric Chair of Sustainability and Business Strategy at IESE Business School. Also, Prof. Berrone is the academic director of the Executive MBA in Madrid. He is also vice-president of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management. Prof. Berrone earned a B.Sc. in business administration from the Universidad Católica de Córdoba, holds a senior degree in management and international business from the FUNCER Business School, and completed his Ph.D. in business administration and quantitative methods degree at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

Maria Luisa Blazquez

Maria Luisa Blazquez is a Professor at the University of Comillas and a Research Associate at the International Center for Competitiveness (ICC), IESE Business School, where she lectures on strategy and leads several projects for public and private institutions on the competitiveness of regions and countries. She has participated as a lecturer in Foundation's projects in more than 15 countries. Her research and publications mainly focus on competitiveness and cluster' roles. She holds an MBA from MIT and a Ph. D. from ICADE in clusters and their role in regional competitiveness.

Emiliano Duch

Emiliano Duch recently retired from the World Bank, where he was the Global Lead in Private Sector Development. Before joining the bank, he was in the IESE Business School, as Director of its Competitiveness Summer School and Coordinator of the European Union's Cluster Excellence Initiative (ECEI). He was also the CEO of The Cluster Competitiveness Group and the founding chairman of The Competitiveness Institute (TCI). He has a degree in Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, an MPA and an MBA from Harvard University.

Christian Ketels

Dr. Christian Ketels is currently serving as Lead Economist in the World Bank and is a global expert on competitiveness, cluster-based economic development and strategy. 20+ years faculty member at Harvard Business School, leading the the research team at Prof Michael E Porter's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. His specialties include: Consulting to governments, international organizations, and business networks on regional and national competitiveness, cluster development, and microeconomic policies. Consulting to companies on business unit strategy, evaluations of market structure and attractiveness, and locational choice.

Tomislav Rimac

Tomislav Rimac is Director of two entrepreneurship research centres at ESCI-UPF School of International Business in Barcelona. His work focuses on using entrepreneurship for social change and sustainable development, especially business models, strategies, institutions, and governance for social innovation. He has led major EU-funded projects (SELUSI, SEFORÏS), collaborated with the OECD, and previously founded a social enterprise in Toronto, with experience in Canadian banking and international IT and engineering consultancy. Tomislav holds a PhD from IESE Business School.

Inés Sagrario

Inés Sagrario is a Partner at COMPETITIVENESS. She has worked in South and South-East Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. Ms. Sagrario has extensive experience leading competitiveness projects in a broad array of sectors, although over the past decade she has specialized significantly in agro and food-related projects. Her expertise in agtech has led her into entrepreneurship, co-founding Ekonoke, an indoor farming start-up in Madrid.

Martin Scholten

Martin Scholten Dr. Martin C. Th. Scholten (Wageningen University; Aarhus University, Scotland's Rural College) is principle 'science to policy' advisor. Amongst many other positions, he was in the board of Wageningen University, first president of the European public-private innovation platform "Animal Task Force" and co-chair of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases.

Meriem Ait Ali Slimane

Meriem Ait Ali Slimane is a Lead Economist in the Innovation Department of the World Bank Group. Previously, Meriem co-led the Jobs Accelerator in South Asia, an initiative designed to support governments in unlocking growth and employment in job-rich sectors through sectoral analytics and public-private dialogues. Meriem holds master’s degrees from the Harvard Kennedy School (MPA/ID) and École Centrale Paris, as well as an Industrial Engineering degree from École Nationale Polytechnique in Algeria.

Reza Zadeh

Reza Zadeh is a Trustee of the Foundation for Clusters and Competitiveness. He has extensive expertise on cluster-based economic development, globally. A former UK public servant, his professional background encompasses over three decades of experience in designing and implementing policies that drive competitiveness and economic development through innovation systems. Reza is a technologist with a joint MBA from Cranfield School of Management, UK and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

This Year's Visiting Speakers

Kincsö Izsak

Partner at Technopolis Group Belgium

Kincsö Izsak

Partner at Technopolis Group Belgium

Kincsö is a Partner and thematic lead on industrial transformation at Technopolis Group Belgium, with more than 15 years of experience in delivering European research studies and projects. She specialises in economic and market analysis, digital technologies, and technology assessment. She is currently coordinating studies for the European Commission on critical digital technologies, as well as on industrial ecosystems, industrial technology uptake and investments. Profile

Glenda Napier

CEO, Energy Cluster Denmark

Glenda Napier

CEO, Energy Cluster Denmark

Glenda Napier is the CEO of Energy Cluster Denmark, the national cluster organization for the Danish energy sector.

The Danish cluster is a neutral, value-creating and member-driven innovation platform with 500+ members among SMEs, large companies, knowledge institutions and public entities throughout the energy sector. Mrs. Napier has worked in the field of innovation for more than 20 years, both regionally in RegX, nationally in various clusters and internationally such as UNCTAD in Geneva. She also has a background the national business authorities in Denmark and the Danish Growth Fond with the development of startups and new companies.

Werner Pamminger

CEO, Business Upper Austria – OÖ Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH

Werner Pamminger

CEO, Business Upper Austria – OÖ Wirtschaftsagentur GmbH

Werner Pamminger is an international and renowned expert in cluster management.

Business Upper Austria is the State agency promoting investment and regional development through funding for research, technology, innovation, technology transfer, cluster collaboration, collaborative R&D and high-tech start-ups and is considered as a role model of excellent and successful cluster management within Europe.
He is on boards of international organizations for competitiveness and clusters, he is also a former board-member of TCI network.
Werner holds an M.Sc. in Automation Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Wels (Austria) and an MBA in International Finance from the University of Toronto (Canada).

Ásta Kristín Sigurjónsdóttir

CEO, Iceland Tourism Cluster

Ásta Kristín Sigurjónsdóttir

CEO, Iceland Tourism Cluster

Ásta Kristín is an experienced cluster manager with a strong background in international trade, innovation, and development. Her work focuses on building and strengthening innovative ecosystems through cross-sector collaboration between industry, government, academia, and communities. She has extensive expertise in international project management, business planning, sustainability, and policy engagement. Ásta Kristín has managed the Iceland Tourism Cluster since 2016 and has served on boards at both national and global levels of cluster development. She has led and hosted numerous seminars, workshops, and international conferences.