Luca is a Professor of Urban Innovation at Edinburgh Napier University’s Business School, where he leads both the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Subject Group and the Urban Innovation Policy Lab. This research lab hosts over 25 academics whose expertise connects social sciences with engineering and technology disciplines. Additionally, Luca holds the position of Professor of Urban Innovation at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech), where he supports the development of the FinEst Centre for Smart Cities, a €32 million investment through the European Commission’s Horizon Europe program. With 15 years of experience in conducting multidisciplinary research that bridges urban studies, computer science, and innovation management, Luca has been introducing new theoretical and practical advancements in the field of smart city development. His scholarly work has been widely published in prestigious journals, including Organization Studies, Regional Studies, Public Administration Review, Information System Journal, Technovation, Government Information Quarterly, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, and Cities. Luca has been serving as an academic consultant for several intergovernmental organizations such as the European Commission, the United Nations, and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean. In this capacity, he authored three major United Nations reports on digital transformation governance in urban areas. Luca's efforts have contributed to generating over €43 million through research and consultancy projects, predominantly supported by European funding schemes. In addition to his research and consulting work, Luca is an active member of the editorial board for the Journal of Urban Technology and serves as Executive Editor for Technological Forecasting and Social Change. He has also been a guest editor for seven Special Issues on smart city development in notable academic journals.
Paolo Gerli is a Lecturer of Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Edinburgh Napier University. He holds a PhD in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Strategy from Newcastle Business School, where he also worked as Lecturer of Digital Entrepreneurship between 2018 and 2021. Paolo’s research interests lie at the intersection between digital transformation, technology adoption and regional development focusing on governance of smart places, bottom-up approaches to innovation, and diffusion of digital technologies in rural and peripheral regions. His work has been presented at international conferences and published in top journals such as Government Information Quarterly, World Development and Telecommunications Policy. In January 2019 he was among the recipients of the Young Scholar Programme of the Pacific Telecommunications Councils, an award for early-career researchers studying ICT markets and policies.
Prior to joining academia, Paolo worked as a regulatory analysist and policy advisor for both public and private organisations in the Italian ICT sector.
Dominik Beckers is a research associate at The Business School of Edinburgh Napier University and PhD student at the Academy of Architecture of Urban Studies of Tallinn University of Technology. He previously worked in policy consulting for more than four years. His academic background comprises a Master of Science Degree in Human Geography from Lund University as well as a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics and Business Economics from Utrecht University. Over the past years, Dominik has been involved in the development and execution of multiple national and EU-wide strategies, evaluations, and studies. In this context, topics such as governance, urban and regional development, sustainable development, circular economy, eco-innovation, and entrepreneurship have all featured highly on his agenda.
In his PhD, Dominik builds on this experience and focusses on the governance of smart city transitions by investigating issues such as adaptive governance, multilevel governance or scale.
Sara Thabit has more than six years of experience as an urban and sustainability expert with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). Sara is currently a research associate at The Business School of Edinburgh Napier University and PhD student at the Academy of Architecture of Urban Studies of Tallinn University of Technology. Her academic background includes two Masters and one Specialist Diploma in the fields of architecture, urban planning, and data-driven analysis through Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Since 2015, she has been working with local and national governments in various countries and regions around the world. Overall, her roles included program management activities, negotiation and development of projects, technical advice, and urban and territorial analysis.
The focus of her PhD research lies on partnerships and governance models for the implementation of smart city projects, particularly investigating the creation of social, democratic, and environmental benefits.
Francesco Tonnarelli is an urban planner and architect with almost ten years’ experience working with intergovernmental organizations and planning firms across Europa, South and South-East Asia, Northern and East Africa. Francesco is currently Research Associate at The Business School of Edinburgh Napier University and a PhD student at the Academy of Architecture of Urban Studies of Tallinn University of Technology. He has managed and supported high-profile and complex projects for different agencies of the United Nations, such as UN-Habitat and UNHCR, providing technical and policy advice to national and local governments in areas of scarce resources and rapid change, with specific focus on capacity building and innovation as an enabling tool for the implementation of sustainable urban projects. As a doctoral student, Francesco conducts research on the governance mechanisms of smart city transition and their impact on urban planning and service delivery in the Global South and small urban contexts.
