Martin Heidenreich is Jean-Monnet-Professor of European Studies in Social Sciences and director of the Jean-Monnet Centre of Excellence on Europeanisation and Transnational Regulations (CETRO) at the University of Oldenburg, Germany. His research interests are the Europeanization of national societies and regional and national patterns of work, management and innovation. He has published nearly 100 articles and books on regional innovation systems and regional experimentalism and the organization of work, technologies, management and innovation in knowledge societies. Past and current research has been funded by numerous agencies including the German Research Council, the European Commission, the Volkswagen-Foundation and different regional and national ministries.Christoph Barmeyer is Professor of Intercultural Communication, director of the Centre of Core Competences at the University of Passau, Germany and affiliated professor at the French Business School Ecole de Management de Strasbourg/Université R. Schuman and member of the research-center CESAG (Centre d'Etude des Sciences Appliquées à la Gestion). He has received a number of national and international research awards. He has authored and co-authored seven books and 100 articles about Intercultural Management, French-German Management, the French Business System, International Human Resource Management, and Organizational Culture.

Research projects were funded by the European Commission.Knut Koschatzky is Professor in Economic Geography at Hanover University, Germany and since 2007 also Visiting Professor at the Learning & Innovation in Networks and Communities Laboratory, Ecole de Management Grenoble. He served as assistant at the Department of Economic Geography and of the President's office at Hanover University. Since 1988 he has worked at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI). During the same year he worked in the scientific administration at the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs. Since 2008 he has been responsible for the new Competence Center "Policy and Regions" with around 25 researchers and 15-20 additional staff members. He authored and co-authored 19 books and published around 100 articles on technological change, patent information, genetic engineering, regional development strategies, regional networking and innovative activities, cluster formation and innovation governance.