Hugo Pinto is a Permanent Researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra (Portugal). He is invited Professor at the Faculty of Economics - University of Algarve and an associate member of the Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics. His research interests regard regional innovation, S&T policy, knowledge production and transfer, and blue growth. He is also interested in the discussion of Economics as a science. He has participated in the development and evaluation of several RIS3 - smart specialization strategies in peripheral territories. Recent research was published in Regional Studies, European Planning Studies, Industry & Innovation, Technological Forecasting & Social Change or Marine Policy.Teresa Noronha is Full Professor of Economics of Innovation and Regional Development at the University of Algarve (Portugal) and director of the Ph.D. program in Innovation and Land Use Management. Also, she is Presidentof the Consulting Commission of the Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics, after having been President for the past years of that same organization. In the last two decades, she was invited professor at the University of Paris I - Sorbonne, University of Gent, University of Bologna and the University of Toronto. She is an expert in regional economics and related public policies, in particular, the use of instruments to implement innovation in lagging areas. Among her most significant works, there is the three-book series: “The New European Rurality”, “Traditional Food Production and Rural Sustainable Development”, and “Towns in a Rural World”, published by Ashgate.Eric Vaz is tenured Associate Professor for Geographical Analysis at Ryerson University, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies and Director for the Laboratory for Geocomputation, Toronto, Canada. He has published over seventy scientific contributions in the field of regional science, Geographic Information Systems and Science, and spatial analysis. In 2015, he was distinguished with the Dean's SRC Award. Between 2015 and 2018, Professor Vaz held the position of Vice-President of the Research Centre for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics (CIEO). He was in that time frame also Associate Editor of Elsevier’s Habitat International, where he presently serves as a member of the editorial board. Professor Vaz focuses on using spatial analysis methods, and complex system modeling approaches as well as Geographic Information Systems and Science to understand regional dynamics and integrate a better understanding of policy within the Anthropocene.
