Anna Athanasopoulou is Head of Unit, ‘Proximity, Social Economy and Creative Industries’, at the European Commission. An EU official since 2002, she has held different positions at services and Cabinet-level at the European Commission and the Council of the EU, relating to tourism and textiles, culture and media policy, creative industries, and external relations. Before joining the EU civil service, Anna worked as Adviser to two Ministers of Culture in Greece and as Director of Programme Planning for the Athens 2004 Cultural Olympiad. In parallel, she lectured on History of Art and Cultural Management. Anna studied Archaeology (University of Thessaloniki), specialised in History of Art, where she holds an M.A. (George Washington University) and a Ph.D (Courtauld Institute of Art), and is the author of publications on History of Art and cultural policy.

Hubert Gambs is the Deputy Director-General & SME coordinator in the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission since July 2020. Before he was working in various areas of the Commission (maritime affairs and fisheries, regional policy, external relations and competition policy). Hubert is Austrian and studied law in Innsbruck, Paris and Madrid.

Patrizia Toia is an Italian politician and Member of the European Parliament, part of the group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. She graduated in political science from Università degli Studi in Milan, Italy and later complemented her studies with a degree in strategic planning from the Bocconi University in Milan. 

Ms Toia’s career started off as Municipal Councilor of Vanzago (Milan), then Director of Planning Service at Lombardy Region and regional Councilor in charge of different portfolios (Health; Social Services Coordination; Budget). She was then Member of the Chamber of Deputies and subsequently Member of the Senate between 1996 to 2004. During her national mandates, she held various governmental positions: Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs; Minister for European Affairs and Minister for Relations with Parliament. In 2004, she was elected to the European Parliament, then confirmed in 2009, 2014 and 2019 as a Member of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). 

She is currently Vice-Chair of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) as well as substitute member of the Committee on Development (DEVE) and the Committee on Transport (TRAN). In addition, she is Co-Chair of the Intergroup on the Social Economy. From 2021 to 2022, she was part of the European Parliament's Delegation to the Conference on the Future of Europe (COFOE).

“I am Jordi Gil Balagueró, Economist from Universitat de Barcelona, and since 2006 CFO of group Sorigué, and the activity is in maintenance of cities, projects of construction and buildings. I have experience in alternative finance and structured financing”.

Bianca Faragau is an Institutional Policy Officer at the Permanent Representation of the European Investment Bank. She is responsible for urban development policy, cohesion policy and just transition policy. Her role is to liaise between the EU institutions and the EIB services to ensure close interinstitutional cooperation to deliver on EU investment priorities, in particular in cohesion regions and in cities. 

Previously, Bianca worked for Eurocities, the network of over 200 big cities in Europe, where she coordinated the work of municipalities on social innovation and social investments, including in skills, employment, housing and active inclusion. Bianca also has experience in working with the European Commission on employment, education and gender equality as well as working with research, consultancy and NGO sectors. 

As an EU public policy expert with 12 years of work experience, Bianca is driven by improving people's lives through EU policies. She is committed to bringing the EU closer to people and dedicated to achieving local impact. 

Bianca is native in Romanian and fluent in English, French and Portuguese with good knowledge of Spanish and Italian.

Experienced in the intricacies of EU policies and regulations, Catrine Norrgård serves as the Director of Gothenburg European Office, where she acts as the representative of the City of Gothenburg and its vital stakeholders in Europe. With an extensive background spanning over seven years in EU legislative work on the highest level of the EU Commission, and in the European Parliament, and five years at the helm of the Gothenburg EU office, she possesses a profound understanding of the complex dynamics of EU policy-making. Prior to her tenure in Brussels, Catrine NORRGARD served as a legal and policy advisor to mayors and directors of three different Swedish cities and towns. Her expertise and insights garnered during this period have further enriched her capacity to navigate the intersection of local and European interests effectively.

In 2012, as a policy advisor, she played a pivotal role in the drafting of a groundbreaking political proposal for the City of Gothenburg, aiming to establish a local climate protocol in collaboration with the local organizations and businesses, a local green deal. This initiative laid the foundation for fostering meaningful cooperation between the city and companies, driving sustainable and impactful climate action.

Having parents from Finland, a French university education, a German partner, having lived in Belgium for 12 years, a summerhouse in Spain, Catrine NORRGARD is a strong believer in the European idea and ideals of cooperation. European cities are in the Union together.
 

Pantelis Koukos, MEng, MPhil, MBA, has worked as a Construction Engineer, Project Manager, and Technical Consultant in the Infrastructure Sector, Industry, Lignite Mines, Energy, Water Management, Telecommunication, and New Technologies. He has over 30 years of experience in Management Consulting projects in the Public and Private Sectors concerning Strategy, Public Policy, Reorganization, Technology Integration, PPPs, Privatizations, and Co-financed Programs. He was also an Associate Professor and Dean of the Engineering Faculty of Chalkida’s Technological Insitute.

He serves on several Boards of Companies, Committees, and Councils, being a member of the Board of SESMA (Greek Association of Management Consulting Firms) since 2001, President of SESMA (2011- 2015), and a member of FEACO ExCo (European Federation of MC Firms) 2013-2018. Also, he was member of the Athens Stock Exchange, the Council of Alternative Market for Innovative Companies, the Council for National Strategy of Greece for the Information Society and Digital Transformation, and the board of the Cooperative Bank, Euboea Region, Greece.
 

Philip HAWKINS is a Policy Officer at the European Commission, Directorate General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA), unit “Low Carbon Solutions: Research & Low-Carbon Technology Deployment”. He contributes to the management of the Innovation Fund, and works on the coordination and programming of Horizon Europe (in particular Cluster 5 – “Climate, Energy & Mobility”). Previous to joining the Commission, Philip worked in investment management. He holds an MSci degree in Chemistry with Molecular Physics from Imperial College London.
 

Piero has 13 years of experience in climate change policies and urban resilience planning. Currently he is the Milan Chief Resilience Officer and the City Lead for the H2020 Lighthouse project Sharing Cities at the Municipality of Milan. He is an advisor of the Italian Ministry of Ecological Transition for the National Adaptation Plan to Climate Change. In recent years was the Co-Founder of Climalia, specialised consulting company providing climate services in Italy, where he operates as Resilience Specialist. Piero was an Acclimatise Associate and researcher at the Planning Climate Change Unit at IUAV Venice. Piero is a member of the SISC Italian Society for Climate Science and European Commission Mayors Adapt Practitioners Work Group. He has extensive expertise in projects financed by the European Commission, including the LIFE+ project BlueAP Bologna Local Urban Environment Adaptation Plan for a Resilient City (Senior Expert), LIFE+ RECOIL Recovered waste cooking oil for combined heat and power production (Technical Director), MED Greenpartnerships as Senior Expert and MED ZeroCO2 Small communities for big changing. He further specialised in Urban Resilience, Environmental Economic Accounting, Energy Scenario and Climate Change Impact Models through his working experience at the Stockholm Environment Institute – Tallinn Office. In past years he collaborated with EU MP, Umberto Guidoni. He writes for different specialised magazines and web-portals on climate change issues

RICARDO RIO was born in November, 1972, he is married and father of three daughters. He graduated in Economics at the Faculty of Economics of Porto, where he also completed the coursework of the MSc in Economics. He also completed the Advanced Course in Political Studies of the Institute of Political Studies at the Catholic University of Lisbon.

He was the General Secretary of the Portuguese Association of Financial Analysts and Director of the Capital Markets Institute of Euronext Lisbon. At the same time, he worked for several years as a public and business consultant, including in multiple Programmes of Porto Business School. He was also teacher in several universities.

At a public level, Ricardo Rio is Mayor of Braga since 2013. Before he was a Council member since 2005 and a member of the Braga Municipal Assembly, from 2001 to 2005. He is the Chair of the Global Parliament of Mayors, a member of the Excom of Eurocities, a member of the Steering Group of OECD Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth and the Vice-Chair of the Forum of Mayors of UNECE. He is currently Vice-President of the Board of the cross-border association of municipalities “Eixo Atlântico do Noroeste Peninsular”, President of the Executive Council of the Intermunicipal Community of Cávado and chairs the Boards of Directors of Municipal Companies Theatro Circo and InvestBraga. He is a member of the Committee of the Regions and rapporteur on the SDGs and Social Economy. In 2021, he was awarded the “World Mayor for Sustainability” title, given by The City Mayors Foundation.

Gergana Miladinova, Dr. is currently deputy Head of Unit in a unit in DG REGIO responsible to develop/follow initiatives on urban and territorial development and advice on inclusive growth matters in Cohesion policy. She has been working and leading teams in the European Commission for more than 15 years on sustainable growth funding and developing new policies and legislation in the area of the European Green Deal. Before joining the Commission, she worked as a researcher and consultant on energy and environmental policies for several organizations in Hungary, the UK, Bulgaria, and Germany. She did her Doctoral research on sustainable energy policies at the Central European University and at the University of Oxford.

CV Prof. Dr. Diana Pretzell

• since August 2023 First Deputy Mayor City of Mannheim and permanent deputy of the Lord Mayor
• since January 2021 Mayor for Climate, Environment and technical services and agencies
• areas of responsibilities: implementing the Local Green Deal, local environmental and climate protection service, public service, funeral services and cemeteries, city drainage service and municipal waste water department, local climate protection agency
• member of the Climate and Environment Committee of the German Association of Cities as well as member of the Climate and Environment Committee of the Association of Cities Baden-Wurttemberg
• prior being elected as Mayor: Director for biodiversity World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Germany as well as head of Nature Conservation
• since 2017: Honorary Professor for Public Relations for the Environment and Nature Conservation at the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development
• she holds an PhD in Journalism and a MA in Forestry
• since 2021: member of the Executive Committee of the Green Party in the State of Baden-Wurttemberg 
   

Henric Rhedin is director at Volvo Cars AB working with initiation and coordination of external research and exploration. The assignment include early stage research program establishment in areas such as digitalization, electrification, safety, and sustainability but also intellectual property dimensions across all areas. 

Before joining Volvo Cars he has been working with research and innovation in a number of disciplines and in various roles both in academia and industry. Henric has been a board member of several Swedish and international companies and organizations over the last 10 years.  

Dr Henric Rhedin is former President and Vice President Policy of ASTP, Europe’s knowledge exchange organization. He has long experience from the university sector as a researcher in Theoretical High Energy Physics as well as in utilization. In addition to this he has substantial experience from leading positions in industry, as well as technology transfer.
 

• Received a diploma in mineralogy and engineering at the Technical University of Braunschweig
• 23 years in business development and technical consulting in international companies
• since 2008 member of the Economic Development Agency - City of Dortmund working on innovation projects:
  • Interreg projects „nano4m“ and „clusnet“
  • Project management in e-mobility projects (national lighthouse projects „metropol-e“ and „ELMO – urban e-mobile logistics“)
  • Coordinator „masterplan energy transition“ inculding topics such as mobility, renewable energies, climate actions or ressources
  • Coordinator „masterplan sustainable mobility“ (emissionfree city actions)
  • Coordinator „masterplan energy future“ (special focus on hydrogen, mobility, mobility, climate and buildings)
  • Member of the board „Alliance Smart City Dortmund“, network of 150 companies and institutes which organize living labs for the city
  • Co-organizing city climate activities such as „100 climate neutral cities“, energy usage plan or other climate actions
     

Louise Storgaard Nielsen is Project Coordinator for Sustainability in Aalborg Congress & Culture Centre, Denmark.  

She is responsible for green transition and sustainable business development, which includes management of ISO20121, actions to decrease CO2-emissions, organizational processes etc. 

Adrienn Bokányi is a Hungarian professional with a background in economic development and urban planning. Born in 1988, she currently serves as the Deputy Mayor Responsible for Economic and Urban Development at the Municipality of Szombathely City with County Rights. In this capacity, she oversees the city's 10-year economic and urban development strategy (Szombathely2030), coordinates development projects of the city on national and EU level, local cooperations, and foreign direct investments. She actively contributes to the city's social-economic cycle program, sustainable urban development strategy and other territorial planning documents.

In terms of education, Adrienn is an Economist in Business Development, completed a postgraduate specialist training in Digital Regional Development and is currently a Ph.D. student in Regional Sciences, focusing on regional economics, territorial policies, spatial planning, and more. Her main research area is the creation of a resilient urban knowledge economy. 

As a Ph.D. student, she is also a published researcher, contributing to publications on topics ranging from Szombathely City's microclimate to the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. She is dedicated to encouraging the creation of a resilient knowledge economy and fostering innovation ecosystems in Szombathely.

Kieran McCarthy is a born and bred Cork City man. Growing up in Ballinlough he developed a great love for his hometown and today remains dedicated to promoting the past, present and future of this city and region.

After attending Colaiste Chríost Rí, Kieran went on to study Archaeology and Geography at University College Cork. On completing his Joint Honours BA degree, he went on to undertake a Masters in Geography. Even after devoting four years to furthering his knowledge of the city, Kieran wasn’t satisfied to leave his love of all things Cork and has completed a PhD on Cork’s River Lee Valley and the importance of remembering, collective memory, identity and protecting our historic landscapes.

Since 1999, Kieran has written his well-known weekly column, Our City, Our Town, in the Cork Independent. It has addressed the local history of Cork City but also the River Lee Valley and Cork Harbour. He is also an occasional heritage columnist with the Irish Examiner. He also written 30 books dedicated to Cork and its region, and Irish history.

Kieran’s commitment to instilling a sense of pride in the community is demonstrated through his involvement in a well-established school project currently running in Cork. The ‘Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project’, was founded by Kieran in 2003 and is now 
annually implemented in 25 schools across the city.

Kieran also hosts walking tours across Cork’s City Centre and historic suburbs. Currently his walking tours focus on the landscapes, histories and memories within 25 neighbourhoods. He was awarded Cork Person of the month for his heritage work in January 2017 and the Mary Mulvihill Publication/ Media Award in 2019.

Kieran was elected to Cork City Council in June 2009, May 2014 and May 2019 as an Independent City Councillor. He sits on the Roads and Transportation Strategic Policy Committee, the Culture, Community and Place-Making Strategic Policy Committee, the City Council’s Arts Committee, Heritage Forum, and the Commemoration Committee.

In January 2015 and January 2020, Kieran was appointed by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to be an Irish member on the European Committee of the Regions (COR - an opinion body of local authorities and regional assemblies) to the European Parliament. He holds membership of the CoR’s Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture (SEDEC) and has personal interests in the new Skills Agenda, informal and formal education, lifelong learning, the Digital Single Market, smart specialisation, science and innovation in regions and cities, cities and regions of the future, youth and sport, socio-cultural effects of IoT. Kieran also sits on the CoR’s COTER Commission (Cohesion Policy and Territorial Development) with interests in the role and voice of small cities within the EU and the EU Urban Agenda.

Kieran is CoR Rapporteur on the opinion documents, New European Bauhaus, Small to Medium Sized Cities and the Just Transition, Digitising European Industry, Building a European Data Economy, and An Implementation Assessment of the EU Urban Agenda.

Kieran was President of the European Alliance grouping in the Committee of the Regions from January 2020 to June 2022. He is currently First Vice-President. Kieran was also a delegate member on the Conference on the Future of Europe, 2021-22. 

To learn more about Kieran’s political work, click here: www.kieranmccarthy.ie 

To learn more about Kieran’s heritage work and tours, click here: www.corkheritage.ie

Emmanuel Buttin, is Policy Officer in the European Commission's Recovery and Resilience Task Force, where he specializes in country-specific plans and sustainability issues. In his previous positions, he led the European Commission Strategy for Financing the Transition to a Sustainable Economy (DG FISMA) and played a key role in launching the Network of central banks and supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) at the Banque de France. He also held a teaching position in Economics at the Université de Paris Descartes. Emmanuel also holds a Master's degree in Public Affairs from Sciences Po Paris.

Deputy Executive Director, Cleantech for Europe

Suzana Carp is an established EU climate and energy policy specialist, supporting Cleantech for Europe as its Deputy Executive Director. Previously, Suzana worked in an advisory capacity for several international, European and local based NGOs as well as for EU institutions. In the past, Suzana has helped launch a transatlantic climate initiative and has overseen the development of a EU Green Diplomacy report for the European institutions.

Most notably, Suzana led several successful campaigns on behalf of various international NGOs which contributed to fixing the EU’s Carbon Market EU ETS pricing mechanism, to securing a EU Climate Law with an ambitious 2030 target and not least to the creation of a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. As part of Cleantech for Europe, Suzana has contributed to making the EU’s cleantech response to the Inflation Reduction Act rise to the top of the political agenda. She has authored and co-authored several reports relevant to EU Green Deal and contributes to the Green Deal Industrial Plan closely. Lastly, Suzana has taught courses on EU Climate policy and the EU public agenda at Universities in France, the UK, Belgium and Romania.
 

Igor Kalinic works for the European Commission. He is Head of Sector for Competitiveness and Internationalisation in the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency. He is also affiliated with Turku School of Economics as visiting senior fellow. He has more than 20 years of private sector experience and policy-making expertise in international economics with focus on international entrepreneurship, SMEs and sustainable economy.
Previously, he worked as assistant professor at University of Groningen and as Marie Curie research fellow at Leeds University Business School. He has earned his PhD from University of Padova in collaboration with King’s College London and Darden School of Business (University of Virginia).

Patrick CHILD is currently Deputy Director-General in DG Environment at the European Commission with particular responsibility for the EU’s zero pollution strategy, chemicals legislation, urban agenda, research and innovation for environment and communication. He is also the Mission manager for the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, which aims to reach 100 climate-neutral cities by 2030.

From 2016-2021, he was Deputy Director-General in DG Research and Innovation (R&I) at the European Commission. As member of the Board of DG R&I, he followed in particular research and innovation in clean energy and climate technologies as well as the R&I dimension of the post-COVID recovery and resilience strategy and Horizon Europe mission on Cancer. His international roles included Commission representative and chair of the steering committee of Mission Innovation (a coalition of 24 countries and the EC working to accelerate global clean energy innovation) and lead co-chair of the Group of Earth Observations (GEO).

Until April 2016, Patrick Child was Managing Director of the European External Service with responsibility for administration and finance, covering human resources policy, security and the budget. Before he took up this post in 2011, he was director in the EC External Relations Directorate-General in the responsible for managing the network of Commission delegations. He has previously served as head of cabinet for External Relations Commissioners Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Chris Patten.

With a background in the UK Finance Ministry, he joined the European Commission in 1994, where he started in the Economic and Monetary affairs Directorate General before becoming Commission press spokesman for economic and monetary union from 1995-1999. Mr Child studied mathematics at Cambridge University. He is married with two children.

Lauri Inna (b. 1979 Vammala ) is a Finnish municipal leader and the mayor of Pori . He served as mayor of Salo in 2017–2020. Previously, Inna served as the municipal director of Hattula and Punkalaitum. In addition, he has worked as the information manager of the Finnish Armed Forces and the communications manager of Teollisuuden voima . By education, Inna has a master's degree in political science. On June 15, 2020, Inna started as Kesko's Southwest Finland regional manager. In November 2022, he was elected mayor of Pori . He took up his position on March 1, 2023. 

Sascha is an experienced non-linear transition leader with a background in climate change, renewable energy, circular economy and data science in both business, government and higher education. She passionately works on systemic change and applies a landscape and network approach. Her specialty is covering unknown territory and bringing people and organizations together to realise innovative solutions for societal challenges. 

Sascha is Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Action Network ‘GasTerug’ which is realizing energy savings in the larger Amsterdam Metropolitan region. She is also Director Marketing & Sustainability at Covestro Niaga® where she leads the development and implementation of a circular infrastructure that enables material transparency through digital product passports, product return for material reuse and a discernible brand and scannable tag to distinguish circular products from the pack and really get them back for product-to-product reuse at the end of each use-cycle.