BIOGRAPHIES

REGIONAL WORKSHOP

NATIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEMS:

INPUT, OUTPUT, AND IMPACT

25TH - 26TH November, 2013

Royal Scientific Society (RSS)

El Hassan Science City

MARSEILLE CENTER FOR MEDITERRANEAN INTEGRATION (CMI)/ EIB

UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR WESTERN ASIA-

TECHNOLOGY CENTER (ETC)

Gernot Hutschenreiter

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development (OECD), France

Gernot Hutschenreiter is Head, Country Reviews of

Innovation Policy, Country Studies and Outlook Division of

the OECD‟s Directorate for Science, Technology and

Industry (STI). He has, among others, been engaged in

managing and contributing to a series of OECD Country

Reviews of Innovation Policy, including the first review of

China, and led the OECD Review on Innovation in

Southeast Asia. Before joining the OECD, Gernot

Hutschenreiter was a Deputy Director of the Austrian

Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) in Vienna. He has

worked as a consultant for a number of international organisations such as UNIDO, the

OECD and the European Commission and visiting scholar at renowned research

institutions in Europe and Asia.

Simon Bell

The World Bank, Washington

Simon Bell is Sector Manager in the Finance and Private

Sector unit of the Middle East and North Africa region

(MENA) of the World Bank. Prior to joining the MENA

region he held a similar management position in the South

Asia region. He works on all the countries of the MENA

region on Financial Sector, Private Sector and, increasingly,

Innovation issues. While working in South Asia his remit

also included ICT issues – at a time when the ICT and ITES

industry was booming in India. Simon has also worked

extensively in Africa – spending four years working in the

World Bank‟s Mozambique Field Office during the very

exciting times of the mid-1990s. In addition to working

extensively on Mozambique, he has also worked on most of

the countries of Southern Africa – as well as extensive work

on Tanzania and Eritrea in Eastern Africa.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Simon worked in the Central Bank of Botswana, working

on monetary policy and financial sector issues. He also worked in the Ministry of Finance

in Papua New Guinea and for four years and at the Australian National University. Simon

has a Masters Degree in Economics. He is keenly interested in innovation and the

development of Knowledge Economies in the Middle Income region of MENA.

Jean-Eric Aubert

Senior Consultant for International Organisations,

France

An international expert in innovation policies and in

development strategies, Jean-Eric Aubert worked at the

World Bank for ten years (2000-2009). He has managed

the World Bank Institute in Paris and the World Bank office

in Marseille, France, of which he initiated the

transformation into the Centre for Mediterranean

Integration, a multi-partner, intergovernmental platform

for North/South collaboration.

Prior to joining the World Bank, Jean-Eric Aubert worked at

the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and

Development (OECD) in the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry, where he

entered in 1973. Throughout his career, Jean-Eric Aubert has operated as policy

evaluator and advisor in more than 40 countries of all development levels. He is the

author or director of some 50 international publications and books. A French national,

Jean-Eric Aubert holds Post Graduate Diplomas in Economics and a PhD in Applied

Mathematics (Docteur de Troisième Cycle) from Paris Universities.

Katrin Männik

Senior consultant at Technopolis group, Estonia

Dr Katrin Männik is the senior consultant of the Tallinn

office of Technopolis Group. Katrin began working with

Technopolis at the beginning of 2006 in the Brighton

practice. She launched the Technopolis office in the Baltic

region in 2006. She has more than 10 years of experience

in projects on innovation systems and policies. Prior to

joining Technopolis, she undertook teaching and research

in the research and innovation policy field at the Science

and Technology Policy Research Unit (SPRU) of the

University of Sussex and at the Faculty of Economics and

Business Administration, at the University of Tartu. She

worked from 2000-2004 in the field of innovation and

technology for the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs

and Communications in Estonia.

Katrin is specialised in performing research and advising public sector in the fields of

R&D and innovation and entrepreneurship. Her experience includes comparative

research projects and international benchmarking as well as strategy and programme

design and evaluation (EU Structural Funds, R&D and innovation strategy "Knowledge-

based Estonia", Innovation and Entrepreneurship Policy, Foreign Direct Investment

Policy). She has a long-term experience in funding and evaluating of public-private R&D

and innovation cooperation initiatives. She has been involved in the analysis of the

existing R&D competitive funding schemes and proposed alternatives for competitive

financing of the Valleys in Lithuania (for MOSTA).

Daniela Benavente

Consultant, Switzerland

Daniela Benavente is a consultant in international trade,

intellectual property, innovation, and international metrics.

She was Lead Researcher and Project Manager of the last

three editions of The Global Innovation Index (2011-13), an

annual Report co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD,

and the World Intellectual Property Organization

(www.globalinnovationindex.org).

She previously worked in Chile as Economic Advisor at the

cabinet office of Ricardo Lagos Escobar, President of Chile

(2001-02), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1998-99), and

the Ministry of Economy (1996-98). She also held teaching

assistant positions at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in

Geneva (2005-09), among others in Econometrics with Professor Jaya Krishnakumar. In

2013, the Graduate Institute published her ebook The Economics of Geographical

Indications.

She holds a Master and a PhD (obtained with highest honors) in International Economics

from the Graduate Institute, a Master's degree from Columbia University (Fulbright and

Dean‟s Scholar), the Diplôme of the Institut d‟Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences-Po

Paris), and a BA in Economics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She is a

Chilean citizen and a Swiss resident.

Sirin Elci

Director at Technopolis Group, Turkey

Sirin Elci is the founding director of Technopolis Group

Turkey. She has a professional experience of 22 years,

around 17 in the design, implementation and evaluation of

S&T and innovation policies, SME and private sector

development, entrepreneurship, and innovation-based

development actions. She is also a part-time faculty

member at the S&T Policy Studies Programme of the

Middle East Technical University in Ankara.

During her career, she has provided advice and support to

international organisations (European Commission, OECD,

World Bank, UNESCO, UNDP, etc.), government

organisations and regional authorities mainly in developing

and transition countries. Previously she worked as a manager for the Technology

Development Foundation of Turkey –established by the World Bank and the Turkish

Treasury- where she mainly dealt with the design, implementation, and monitoring and

evaluation of innovation programmes and policies.

Sirin was the national correspondent for Turkey in INNO-Policy TrendChart and

ERAWATCH, she supported the TrendChart project board concerning liaison with the

MEDA innovation policy programme (2007-2010) and was senior policy analyst for the

Mediterranean countries in ERAWATCH.

Ghaith H. Fariz

Project Director at the United Nations Development

Program (UNDP), Lebanon

Dr Ghaith Fariz is the director and coordinator of the Arab

Knowledge Report-a joint initiative of the UNDP and

Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, as well as

the director and coordinator of the Arab Water

Governance Report- UNDP. Dr Fariz is a strategic planner

with extended international experience in the Arab and

Asia regions in providing policy advice, planning,

programming, managing large portfolios in the fields of

“knowledge societies/economies”, poverty alleviation, and

socioeconomic development. Also, he is an expert, with

hand-on experience in change management and in

piloting UN reform with special emphasis on evaluation of

impact, effectiveness and efficiency.

He has coordinated, authored, and substantially contributed to several land mark

publications and papers as well as regional and international level developmental reports

including the Arab Knowledge Reports (AKRs) and the Arab Human Development

Reports. (Director/Coordinator of the “Arab Knowledge Report 2012/2013 –under

publication; “Arab Knowledge Report 2010/2011: Preparing Future Generation for the

Knowledge Society”; “Arab Knowledge Repot 2009: Towards Productive

Intercommunication for Knowledge”; the “Arab Water Governance Report- under

publication; Coordinator of the “Arab Human Development Report 2005: Towards the

Rise of Women in the Arab World”; and the “Arab Human Development Report 2004:

Towards Freedom in the Arab World”; substantially participated in writing AHDRs of

2002 and 2003; and several other socioeconomic/cultural initiatives). He is the author

of the first Arab Millennium Development Report 2003 and supervised and tangibly

contributed to the formulation of several other developmental reports all over the Arab

region. He has also publications in socio-economic/population-environment dynamics. In

addition, he is an expert in gaming and simulation.

Ghaith Fariz has a Ph. D. in Planning from the University of Michigan, USA, with a

research emphasis on socioeconomic development, socioeconomic-environment

dynamics, and gaming & simulation for research and training.

Maged Al Sherbiny

President of the Academy of Scientific Research and

Technology, Egypt

Prof. Maged Al Sherbiny obtained his PhD in diagnosis of

infectious diseases and vaccines from Cairo University in

1992 and professorship in immunology in 2004. Since 2004,

Prof. Maged has occupied several important positions in

Science and Technology System in Egypt, such as Assistant

Minister of Scientific Research and Higher Education,

Assistant Minister of State for Scientific Research, and

Secretary General of Supreme Council of Research Institutes

in Egypt. In April 2010 he was appointed as the president of

the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology.

Salient achievements of Prof. Maged included active participation in reforming the

science and technology system in Egypt, establishment of a national body for funding of

science, technology and innovations, internationalization of scientific Egyptian Journals in

collaboration with Elsevier, establishment of a unit for science, technology and

innovation indicators in Egypt (Egyptian STI observatory) and preparation of a national

plan for STI. He is well-known for his outstanding research in the field of immunology

and infectious diseases (schistosomiasis) and has published over 40 International

scientific papers and two patents in the field of Immunology.

Omar Hammami

Head of France-Tunisia committee of the French

cluster of competitiveness Systematic, France

Omar Hammami is Head of France-Tunisia committee of the

French cluster of competitiveness Systematic and Professor

with ENSTA PARISTECH. Omar Hammami received a PhD in

computer science from University of Toulouse (France) and

an HDR in Physics from Université Paris-Sud Orsay (France).

He has more than 20 years of experience in collaborative

R&D projects with industry worldwide with emphasis on

Japan and France. He has been involved in numerous

research and industrial large scale projects involving private

and public funding and managed several R&D laboratories

and research teams. His research interests are in System

Engineering, Applied mathematics/optimization and Embedded systems. He is a

consultant for several companies and startups involved in defense/security, embedded

systems/chip designs and investment funds.

Omar Hammami is regularly involved in the organization of several international

conferences in system engineering such as CSD&M 2013 (Complex System Design and

Management 2013, Paris) and MENA INCOSE 2014 EMEA Systems Engineering

Conference (EMEASEC) 2014 (Cape Town, South Africa). He is a member of several

scientific organizations worldwide. He is currently heavily involved on strategic R&D

strategy for the MENA region and organization of industrial and economic architectures.

Samir Raouf

Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Science and

Technology, Iraq

Dr. Samir Raouf completed his undergraduate education in

engineering from University of Baghdad (1977), obtained

his MSEE degree from Georgia Institute of Technology,

USA in1983 and his Ph.D degree in electronics and

communications from Al-Nahrain University in 1996. He

has a long career of research and R&D activities of over

thirty years. He priviously worked in the Council For

Scientific Research, Al-Battany State Company and in the

Ministry of Science and Technology. His work has been

published in scientific journals and conferences and he has

supervised several M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses during his work at Al-Nahrain University.

Dr. Raouf recognized the wide gap between research institutions and other socio-

economic sectors in Iraq. It was a strong motivation to work towards bridging this gap

and act to bring the benefits of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) to the socio-

economic development of Iraq and to facilitate transition to Knowledge Economy. He is

now leading projects to empower the role of (STI) in governance, disaster risk reduction

(DRR) and economy diversification in Iraq. He initiated several projects aimed at linking

research to the practical needs of society and economy. He chairs an inter-ministerial

committee to create incubators in Iraqi universities and local governments and he is also

leading a project to draft a national STI strategy in Iraq. Within the framework of these

projects, he has been collaborating with international agencies including UNDP, UNESCO,

UNCTAD, UNOPS and US-DoC/CLDP among others.

Yousef Nusseir

Independent ICT Consultant, Jordan

Yousef Nusseir graduated from England and worked with

the Royal Scientific Society in Jordan from 1977 to 1993.

He was the Director of Information Technology and

Training Centre, and Dean of Princess Sumaya College for

Informatics. Between 1990 and 1991 he worked with

UNESCO as Chief Technical Advisor on Informatics in

Education and in 1993 established the National Information

Technology Centre and became its President until 2006.

Mr Nusseir chaired and participated in several national,

regional and international committees on ICT and the

information society, and has designed and implemented

several national ICT systems, set ICT policies and strategies and conducted institutional

and national studies. He has been Internet Top Level Domain Administrator for (JO)

domain from 1995 until 2006, and has many publications in ICT and related areas.

In 2006 he joined the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-

ESCWA) as Director of the ICT Division, planning, implementing and supervising national

and regional initiatives, including analytical studies, ICT policies and strategies, STI

strategies, and ICT for development initiatives to meet the needs of member countries.

He then established the UN- ESCWA Technology Centre for regional integration in

Jordan. In September 2011 he retired from the UN and currently operates as an

independent international ICT for development consultant.

Nizar Al-Halasah

Innovation Consultant at United Nations–Economic

and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)

Technology Centre, Jordan

Nizar Al-Halasah is an Innovation Consultant at the

UNESCWA- Technology Centre through memorandum of

agreement between UN ESCWA and the Royal Scientific

Society of Jordan since May 1, 2011.

He is an experienced engineer with a proven track record in

economic development and SMEs support, and help in

creating entrepreneurial enterprises: expertise in innovation

management, intellectual property, commercialization, and

business incubation. He has more than 20 years of professional experience in

establishing entrepreneurial links between research institutions and industry and

relevant programs.

Mr Al-Halasah has more than 8 years of experience in the field of development and

support of innovation of start-up projects and SMEs, including innovation policy,

innovative industrial processes and their applications in the industrial environments.

He published papers in international journals and conferences in the areas of:

Innovation, intellectual Property, and Water Resources. He received his M.Sc. and B. Sc.

in Civil Engineering from University of Jordan.

Reem N. Bsaiso Al-Shahed

International consultant, Jordan

Reem is a leading authority on knowledge Economy for

Human Capital having served as CEO of World Links Arab

Region covering 22 countries and World Links International

thereafter covering 35 countries, a non-profit organization

initiated by the World Bank Group. She was part of the

Prime Ministerial National Agenda of Jordan, and initiated

the Jordanian national strategy for merging ICT in

education, and established the first ICT department at the

Ministry of Education.

She currently serves on several boards and panels such as

the Panel of Experts on Debt Swaps, Innovative Approaches

to Education Financing, and Private-Public Partnerships

(PPP) at the UNESCO Headquarters, World Economic Forum (WEF), the Global Education

Initiative (GEI) and is a member of the Technical Advisory Group and Partnerships for

Education (PfE) at the UNESCO-Paris, and the International Standard Classification of

Education (ISCED) review committee of Arab Countries (Qatar). She is an Advisory

Board Member of the United Planet, United States and the Global Thinkers Forum (GTF)

United Kingdom.

She has received several Awards and Honors including the 2010 nomination for the

World Economic Forum (WEF) Social Entrepreneurs of the Year for the Middle East &

North Africa (MENA) Region 2010.

Catherine Bentley

Consultant at the Higher Council for Science and

Technology, Jordan

Catherine holds a BA in political science from the University

of Texas at Austin, USA and an MBA from the Global Social &

Sustainable Enterprise (GSSE) program at Colorado State

University, USA. She has worked in East Africa, Southeast

Asia and in the Middle East on various private sector

development initiatives focusing on support to micro, small

and medium enterprises. Her experience in providing

technical assistance and work in development finance

brought her to engage with the National Fund for Enterprise

Support (NAFES) hosted through the Higher Council for

Science and Technology (HCST). She also works directly with the HCST, representing an

intimate understanding of private sector dynamics in transitional economies in order to

help facilitate the execution of Jordan‟s innovation priorities.

Ayoup Ghrair

Researcher, the Royal Scientific Society, Jordan

Ayoup Ghrair is a scientific researcher at the Royal

Scientific Society, Jordan. He holds a PhD degree in

Geochemistry and nanomaterial from Hohenheim University

in Stuttgart-Germany. His PhD thesis was on

Immobilization of Heavy Metals in Soil by Amendment of

Nanoparticulate Zeolitic Tuff. He completed his B.Sc. and

master degree in Earth and Environmental Science from

Yarmouk University and Jordan University, respectively.

Dr. Ghrair published over 12 publications in international

journals, Conference Proceedings and books as well as four

patents. He was awarded from DAAD (2004-2009) and

from The German Soil Science Society (DBG) for the best

poster at the soil science conference, Dresden Germany in 2007. Ghrair worked about

five years (1999-2004) at the University of Jordan/UMS and taught environmental,

mineralogy, geology and mapping courses in addition to contributing to developing the

Jordanian national curriculum.

Da’san M. M. Jaradat

Researcher, the Royal Scientific Society, Jordan

Da‟san M. M. Jaradat is a chemist holding Ph.D Degree in

Bioorganic Chemistry and M.Sc. degree in Chemistry and

Crystallography from Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. He

held several posts at Royal Scientific Society of Jordan (RSS)

since 2001 and the latest is a research scientist and a

consultant in bioorganic chemistry and instrumental analysis

field. His current research interests involve the synthesis of

antidiabetic and antimicrobial peptides by solid phase

peptide synthesis (SPPS) and chemoselective approaches to

produce peptide-based drug candidates for the treatment of

Diabetes Mellitus and some infectious diseases.

Adnane Akber

Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), Water Research Center, Kuwait

Mr Adnane Akber is currently the director of Science and Technology Division, at the

Water Research Center of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research. Previously he was

program manager for Natural Water Resources Development and Protection (2010-

2013), acting program manager for Water Resources Management and Allocation (2012-

2013), and a research scientist in the Water Resources Division from January 1992 at

KISR. He has also been project leader for several contract projects at KISR between

1983 and 1992.

Mr Akber holds an M.Sc. in Hydrology (Honors), from the Department of Civil

Engineering and Environmental Sciences at the University of Oklahoma, USA, 1989, and

a B.Sc. in Geology from Kuwait University, Kuwait, 1981. He is affiliated to a number of

scientific associations including: International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH),

American Water Resources Association (AWRA), National Ground Water Association

(NGWA), and Hydrological Society of Oklahoma. He has also published over 30 reports in

his field of specialisation, 20 artcicles in refereed journals, and a book in arabic.

Chadi Abdallah

Researcher, Lebanon

Chadi Abdallah (Lebanon, 1972) works in the research field

at the National Council for Scientific Research-Remote

Sensing Center in Lebanon since 1998. He holds a BS in

geology-applied geophysics (1997), a master degree in

remote sensing, GIS and geo-information from the

University of Paris VI (2003), a PhD in GIS and RS for

hazard assessment from Paris VI university, a Post-doc in

Radar Interfermotery from the University of Missouri-USA.

He is qualified from the Ministry of higher education and

research (France) as a „Maître de conférences‟ (Associated

professor).

In addition to eight years of teaching experience in GIS, Remote Sensing, Environment,

Hydrology and geology at several Lebanese Universities, and the University of Missouri

Columbia-USA, he is involved in many national, regional and international scale projects.

He has a Wide experience with EU funded projects (ResManMed, SMART, the European

research network NOSTROM (FP6), World Bank – NASA (including 5 countries), AUF,

CEDRE, SIDA, UNEP, FAO and ACSAD projects in the area of remote sensing and GIS in

environmental studies.

Mr Abdallah authored and co-authored over 50 scientific papers in peer-reviewed

international scientific journals, and conference proceedings, and participated in the

editing of several national and international scientific reports.

Mohamed Ahmed Alaswad

Science, technology & innovation policies advisor for

the Libyan government, Libya

Mr Alaswad (Gherian, 1957) is currently an advisor for the

Libyan government in Science, technology & innovation

policies. In the past he worked in a variety of roles including

in the Libyan public sector in the field of energy, industry,

and technical & vocational education. Mr Alaswad was deputy

minister for Education and Scientific research and a Libyan

ambassador to UNESCO. Besides, he is the founder of the

Libyan Incubator for technology & innovation and the

national Libyan SME‟s program.

Mr Alaswad holds an engineering degree from the University of Tripoli (1981), and has

undertaken during the last four years a number of executive education programs in the

field of Science, Technology, and Innovation strategies & policies (MIT Executive

Education Program, Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education Program, Twente

University, Manchester and IMD).

He is a member of a number of committees including the Libyan innovation initiative, the

national strategy for science, technology & innovation, the SME‟s national strategy, the

Libyan Science park committee, and the Libyan vision 2030 policies planning committee

and member of no. of International organizations, like TCI , SPICE , NBIA, Alumni of (

MIT, HKS and IMD)

Abubaker Haddud

The Libyan Innovation Initiative (LII) steering

committee, Libya

Dr. Abubaker Haddud works at the Ministry of Oil and Gas in

Libya. He is also a member of the Libyan Innovation Initiative

(LII) steering committee. In addition, Dr. Haddud works as

university lecturer teaching mainly postgraduate programmes.

He has more than 12 years of working experience within the

Libyan Oil and Gas sector and more than 7 years of university

teaching experience.

Dr. Haddud holds a BA in Management from Libya, an MBA

from England and a PhD from the U.S.

Selma DINIA

National Center for Scientific and Technical Research,

Morocco

Mrs Dinia is head of relations with enterprises unit at the

National Center for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST)

since 2004. She is also the national coordinator of Morocco

Incubation and Spin off Network activities (RMIE). Her tasks

include technology Transfer through business creation, funding

innovative projects during their incubation stage, encouraging

entrepreneurial culture within universities, training of would-be

entrepreneurs and incubators managers. Previously she was a

researcher at the Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing

Lab in the CNRST (1993-2003).

She is a member of Industrial Engineering Network and Technology Diffusion Network,

and has conducted and contributed to a number of studies and projects related to

innovation, marketing, incubation, and entrepreneurship at national and international

levels.

Mrs Dinia is a civil engineer specialised in Hydraulic and a graduate of Mohammadia

School of engineering (1993, Rabat).

Abdullah Mohamed Al Mharuki

Director of Innovation at The Research Council of

Oman, Oman

Dr. Abdullah Mohamed Al Mharuki is a PhD holder in

Environmental Sciences with more than 20 years of

experience in academia and research at public and private

universities. Over the last three years he embarked on policy

making and got appointed as Director of Innovation at The

Research Council of Oman. His work involves developing

national innovation related strategies and programmes to

enable Oman to progress towards knowledge and innovation

driven economy.

Currently, he is directing the implantation of various

innovation programmes under the innovation hub project after he developed its strategy.

In addition, he is directing the development of the National Innovation Strategy and

acting as the national focal for the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Review

(STIP review) conducted by UNCTAD.

Based on his involvement and participation in various events at global level he developed

a very good understanding and expertise in very important issues related to

entrepreneurship, knowledge and innovation driven economy, FDIs related policies and

reforms, models of developing SMEs, managing IIAs, develop pro-poor policies, wealth

generation and job creation, investment policies and reforms, national innovation

systems and global competitiveness.

Hasan H. Omar

Director of the Palestine Business & Innovation Centre,

Palestine

Mr Omar is the Director of the Palestine ICT Incubator (PICTI)

and the Palestine Business & Innovation Centre (BIC). He is

an expert in entrepreneurship, innovation, ICT4D and

business incubation.

Mr Omar assessed more than 1000 business ideas and ICT

projects and is a member of many local and regional jury

panels. He has extensive experience in providing technical,

business, marketing advisory, mentoring and coaching

services to hundreds of high-growth start-ups and SMEs. He is also a Medibtikar

Innovation Expert and a certified trainer to incubators‟ managers (Business Incubation

Management – BIM) by the infoDev - World Bank.

He is a board member and a member in many associations and related communities

such as ISOC-Palestine Chapter, the Canadian Professional Engineers Association, NBIA,

MENA Incubators Network (MENAinc), YEN Marketplace and others.

Mr Omar holds a Bachelor Degree in Computer Engineering from Jordan University of

Science & Technology (1995) and a Master Degree in International Cooperation and

Development from Bethlehem University.

Mondher Khanfir

CEO & Co-Founder at Wiki Start Up, Tunisia

Mondher Khanfir is a Senior Consultant in Private Equity,

Innovation Strategy and Business Development. Associate

Partner at Colombus Consulting, Mondher Khanfir is also an

Impact Entrepreneur and Angel Investors. He co-founded in

2011 WIKI START-UP the first private Business Incubator fully

dedicated to Innovation in Tunisia (www.wikistartup.tn).

His achievements, in the arena of Business Consulting and

Strategy planning and execution, made him a reference in

business development and policies advocacy in the region. Thanks to his international

background and economic studies and publications track record, he was appointed in

2006 as Foreign Trade Counselor by the Tunisian Government.

Mondher Khanfir is Engineer graduated from Arts & Métiers ParisTech High School in

1990. He holds an Executive MBA from the Mediterranean School of Business of Tunis as

well as a Corporate Governance Certificate from International Finance Corporation. He

benefited in 2004 from a special training program on Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Management training at RPI New York – USA.

Amira Ben Mohamed

Ministry of industries, Tunisia

Ms Ben Mohamed (1983, Tunisia) graduated as qualified

computer technician in 2005 and earned degrees in Industrial

Engineering in 2008. She joined a large national car wires

company in 2008 and worked as Project Leader in enterprise

resources planning project. Since 2011 she is the Principal

Industrial Engineer in charge of the service of technology

watch in the Ministry of industries. Her main activities are

Innovation scoreboard, Support of innovative projects,

Technological exports, National innovation strategy, Financing

of innovation.

Mustafa Abbas

Intellectual property and competitiveness department,

League of Arab states

Mustafa Abbas hold an MBA in Business Administration from

Arab Academy for science, technology and maritime

transport- Cairo, he reserved an B.A bachelor of Language

and Translation in English from October 6th university- Cairo ,

he attended a program on American culture and English

language at Winona State university- USA. Mustafa worked as

strategic and Marketing manager in many local companies

from 2009 till 2012 currently he works at the department of

intellectual property and competitiveness at the league of

Arab states.

Fuad Ahmed Al-Hada

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research,

Yemen

Mr Al-Hada is the general director of projects in the Ministry

of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Yemen since

2009. From 2001 to 2006 he was a general director of the

vice Minister's office at the Ministry of Higher Education and

Scientific Research, and coordinator of the training program

for leaders in Higher Education and Universities, Maastricht

School for Management (2006-2007). Since 1996 he has

been involved in the implementation of several projects

related to the education sector with the International

Development Association (IDA)/World Bank.

Fuad holds a Master in Public Administration (MPA) at the Center of Business

Administration Development in Sana'a University (2010), a Higher Diploma in Public

Administration by the Public Administration Institute in the Netherlands (2005), and a

B.A of Law from Yemenia university in Sana‟a (1999).

UNESCWA Technology Centre (ETC)

Fouad Mrad

Executive director of UNESCWA regional Technology

Center, Jordan

Dr. Fouad Mrad joined the United Nations in December 2009

and is currently the executive director of ESCWA regional

center for technology in Amman, Jordan. Dr. Fouad leads

the regional support center for the consecration of science,

technology, and innovation in social and economic

development.

He received his Ph.D. and Masters degree in electrical

engineering from the Purdue University, West Lafayette,

Indiana, and a BSc in electrical and computer engineering

from State University of New York, Buffalo.

Dr. Mrad was a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the American

University of Beirut from 1993 to 2009. Prior to his academic post in Beirut, he worked

for IBM in the division of magnetic storage in Rochester, Minnesota, USA from1990 to

1993.

Dr. Mrad consulted in technological innovation for several local and international

organizations, including the TV program "Stars of Science", sponsored by the Qatar

Foundation, the Industrial Research Institute in Lebanon, the Euro-Lebanese Center for

Industrial Modernization, Indevco., the Lebanese Minister of Industry, Modern Electronic

Industries Co, and the National Council for Scientific Research in Lebanon.

He authored several publications on various specialized fields in professional journals and

contributed to international conferences on manufacturing, industrial equipment and

robotics. He co-authored the book "Applied Mechatronics" with Oxford University Press,

New York

Nael Al Mulki

Technology Transfer Consultant at the UNESCWA

regional Technology Center, Jordan

Mr. Nael Al Mulki holds the M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from

University of Missouri, USA (1993), B.Sc. in Civil

Engineering from Yarmouk University (1987). Currently he

is Director of Business Development at the Business Park/

El Hassan Science City, in addition to a Technology

Transfer consultant with ESCWA Technology Center (part

time).

Formally he was the Director of Training Center, and

Director of Technology Transfer Center at the Royal

Scientific Society. He has also worked at the

Environmental Research Center as Assistant Director, Researcher, and Quality Officer,

and worked as a trainer and consultant for ISO 9001, 14001, 17025.

European Investment Bank (EIB)

Jacques van der Meer

Managerial Adviser at the European Investment

Bank and CMI program leader on Innovation

Capacities, Luxembourg

Dr van der Meer is a Managerial Adviser at the European

Investment Bank‟s (EIB) Project Directorate, where he is

in charge of the assessment of R&D and Innovation

projects that are proposed for EIB-financing in industrial

sectors (in particular automotive, steel, glass, fine

chemicals and pharmaceuticals) as well as in the public

sector research infrastructures (like Syncrotrons, Laser

Installations and the European Extreme Large Telescope)

and S&T-parks, in line with the Bank's support for

Europe's Lisbon Strategy and the Horizon 2020 policy.

In 2010, Jacques was seconded to EIB's technical assistance unit JASPERS (Joint

Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions), where he led a team of experts

that provide technical assistance for project preparation in the Knowledge Economy

(Education and Research Infrastructures, Science Parks, specialised healthcare, ICT and

e-society projects).

His interest in Intellectual Capital and R&D dates back from his Ph.D.-study (1987),

which addressed the key issues for successful R&D-strategies in the semiconductor and

pharmaceutical industries. Before joining the EIB in 1991, Jacques van der Meer lectured

Strategic and Innovation Management at the Rotterdam School of Management of the

Erasmus University and the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Lyon (nowadays EM de

Lyon).

Jihane Hakimi

Consultant at the European Investment Bank,

Luxembourg

Jihane Hakimi (1985, Rabat) is currently a consultant

working on the CMI Innovation Capacities program led

by the European Investment Bank (EIB). She holds an

MA in Development Economics from the University of

Westminster (2011) and a BA in Political Sciences from

Al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane (2008).

Prior to joining the Bank, Jihane worked in a non-profit

grassroots incubator that offers co-working space and

community-based support for entrepreneurs and social

entrepreneurs; she co-managed the start-up phase and

contributed to its business plan and revenue model. Back in 2009, she had spent a year

within the EIB in the Directorate of operations outside the EU and candidate countries

supporting the activities of the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and

Partnership (FEMIP).

She is a certified microfinance expert from the Frankfurt School of Finance and

Management (2013), and holds a certificate in Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation

from Luxembourg University (2012). Her interests include start-ups, innovation, and

public development policy.