- John Goddard is emeritus professor of Regional Development Studies at Newcastle University UK. He was previously the Deputy Vice Chancellor with responsibility for the University's links with the city and region, in particular the development of Newcastle as one of the UK's six Science Cities and the development of a cultural quarter opening out the campus to the city. Prior to that he founded and led the University's Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) from 1977 to 1998. Academic leader of an OECD program that led to the publication of the document Higher Education and Regions: Globally Competitive, Regionally Engaged, he is currently working with OECD on a future round of evaluations of links between universities and regions. He is the academic leader for a European Commission-funded program which is designed to improve regional co-operation between universities, companies and local governments in order to enhance the capacity of European universities to contribute to innovation. He is also member of the Steering Committee for the European Universities European Commission funded project and member of the 'Mirror Group' established by DG Regio to monitor its 'Smart Specialization Platform'.
- Ellen Hazelkorn is director of the Higher Education Policy Research Unit (HEPRU) and of the Dublin Institute of Technology, and policy advisor to the Higher Education Authority (HEA). She is also president of EAIR (European Higher Education Society), and on the Management Board, ESRC/HEFCE Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE), Institute for Education, UCL. She has had over 20 years' experience, and has held such positions as vice-president of Research and Enterprise, dean of the Graduate Research School, (2008-2014), and vice-president and founding dean of the Faculty of Applied Arts, Dublin Institute of Technology (1995-2008). She works as a higher education policy consultant and specialist with international organizations and governments, and regularly undertakes strategic and research evaluations and peer review assessments. She has chaired the Aalto University Teaching Evaluation (2011) School of Art and Design and the audit of Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences (2012-2013). She has been a board member of the National Digital Research Centre (2008-2014) and the chairperson of the Dublin Regional Higher Education Alliance (2011-2012) among many other positions. Ellen was rapporteur/author of Assessing Europe's University-based Research (EU, 2010).
- Francisco Michavila Pitarch is Education Advisor in the Permanent Representation of Spain to the OCDE, the UNESCO and the Council of Europe. Michavila is professor of Applies Mathematics at Universitat Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), director of UNESCO's Chair for Management of Higher Education and University Policy until 2017, Honorary Rector of Universitat Jaume I and director of INCREA's Chair. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Mining Engineer in Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, where he also obtained his P.hD. in 1974. He receives the Extraordinary Award on the P.hD. after finishing Advanced Studies on Numerical Analysis in Université Paris-Sorbonne and his diploma on Nuclear Engineering at Instituto de Estudios Nucleares de la Junta de Energía Nuclear. From 1984 to 1990 he was director of Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Minas de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. In 1991 he was the first rector of Universitat Jaume I, Castelló de la Plana (1991 - 1993). Two years later, he was appointed General Secretary of the Spanish University Council. In November 2009, the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria awarded him with Doctor Honoris Causa. He is Officier of Ordre national du Mérite of French Republic, permanent member of European Academy of Arts and Science and member of Real Academia de Doctores of Spain. Also, he is honorary member of Alexander von Humboldt Association, member of the Club the Rome and member of Managing Board of former students of Institución Libre de Enseñanza. He has been also member of the French Council d'Évaluation Scientifique des activités de recherché des Écoles Nationales Supérieures des Mines et des Écoles Nationales Supérieures de Techniques Industrielles et des Mines. He also took part in the Scientific Committee in representation of Europe and North America in UNESCO's Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge of Paris.
- Jaana Puukka is an international expert in higher education, innovation and knowledge-based development. She has over 15 years' experience in strategic and management roles at the international, national and institutional levels bridging academia, industry and government. Before establishing Innovation Engage in 2013, she worked in the OECD for nearly eight years of her career. She is currently collaborating with the EC, OECD, Council of Europe, Association of University Research Parks as well as ministries of education and individual universities worldwide. She has management experience from the higher education sector in Finland and corporate sector experience in the biomedical industry.