Alessandro has over 20-years of experience in academic research and policy evaluation in the area of R&I, technology transfer and university-industry interaction. He is a Full Professor in Applied Economics at the University of Foggia (Italy). Alessandro worked as Science & Technology Policy Specialist at Technopolis Group, UK Office, is board member of the European Future Innovation System Centre (EFIS), Brussels and associate researcher in the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Brussels.

As part of his professional activity, he carried out several studies and policy evaluations for the European Commission (EC) and national government bodies such as the Office of Science and Technology (DTI – UK), VINNOVA (SE), FORFAS (IE), Innovation Norway. He was the rapporteur of the EC Policy Support Facility “Specific Support to Tunisia” and national expert in the EC Regional Innovation Monitor Plus initiative. He carried out for the World Bank initiative “Europe 4.0: Addressing the Digital Dilemma” an analysis of Industry 4.0 and digital transformation based on “enriched” Horizon 2020 data. Alessandro is currently a Member of the Emilia-Romagna (Italy) Innovation Policy Expert Committee and worked on the evaluation of the local economic impact of research infrastructures (JRC) and industrial investments (TOTAL EP).

As part of his academic activity, he carried out extensive scientific empirical work on innovation activities in SMEs and clusters, on university knowledge transfer, academic entrepreneurship and on EU-level regional innovation policy. He is proficient in the use of qualitative methodologies as well as advanced statistical techniques (econometrics, social network, cluster analysis).