Louise Kempton is Professor of Urban and Regional Policy and Director of the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) at Newcastle University, UK.  She has over 30 years’ experience as a researcher, policy maker and practitioner in local, regional and international economic development. Her main research interest is centred on the role of universities as ‘anchor’ institutions in local/regional economic growth and innovation, and the effects of place in shaping this role. She also interested in the process of building local collaborative leadership to develop innovative solutions to meeting local challenges and opportunities.  In recent years this has been focused  on the process of building better links between university research and policy needs which has resulted in the creation of Insights North East, a £5.5m programme connecting researchers and policy-makers in the North East of England.

Rikard Eriksson is a Professor of Economic Geography at Umeå University, Sweden. Eriksson’s research focuses on regional transformation, labour market dynamics and structural change. His research combines advanced micro-data analysis with institutional and policy perspectives to explain how technological change, industrial restructuring and policy interventions interact to produce uneven development trajectories across regions, with particular emphasis on employment systems, skill formation and the geography of opportunity. His current research topics deal with the social, economic and political challenges and opportunities of large-scale “green” investments in northern Sweden. Key note topic: ”Regional dimensions of the green transition”.