Adam Markszk is assistant professor at the Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdansk University of Technology, Poland. He is CFA charterholder and member of the CFA institute. He has authored and reviewed many publications in local and international journals (including Journal of Macroeconomics and Technological Forecasting and Social Change), focusing on financial innovations, linkages between financial markets and economy, financial systems in underdeveloped economies, economic integration, and portfolio management. He has served as coordinator and investigator in research projects financed by national and international institutions and was the winner of the 2015 Jan Uphagen's Award for the Best Young Scientists; in 2017 he was awarded the START scholarship of the Foundation for Polish Science. Ewa Lechman is associate professor of economics at the Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdansk University of Technology, Poland. Her extensive research interests concentrate on economic development, ICT, and its role in reshaping social and economic systems and various aspects of poverty and economics in developing countries. She was the 2013 winner of an Emerald Literati Network Award for Excellence and is a member of editorial boards of international journals on technology diffusion, the digital economy, and economic development. She coordinates and participates in international research and educational projects and works as an independent expert assisting with innovation assignments, including the evaluation of small and medium enterprise proposals, EU-financed programs, and policy design regarding innovativeness, digitalization, education, and social exclusion.