Giovanni Battista Dagnino (PhD) is an award‑winning economist, management scholar, and influential academic specializing in digital strategy, artificial intelligence management, corporate governance, and sustainable leadership. He serves as Chair of Management and Professor of Digital Strategy & Artificial Intelligence at the University of Rome LUMSA, where he also founded and is directing the LUMSA International Research Center for Artificial Intelligence Management (LICAIM).

Professor Dagnino holds various leadership roles in academia, including Director of the LUMSA Executive MBA, Co‑Director of the LUMSA‑BIP Executive Course in Sustainability Management, and Founding Director of the MSc in Economics and Management. He is also Coordinator of the Italian Society of Management "AI in Management" Interest Group. Internationally recognized for his foundational contributions to coopetition strategy and the study of temporary advantage, he is an active contributor to global research networks and a frequent keynote speaker. His work bridges academic research and business practice through governance and advisory roles, executive education, and public engagement. His research has been published in leading journals such as Academy of Management Perspectives, California Management Review, Global Strategy Journal, Journal of Management, Organization Studies, and Strategic Management Journal.

Canon Foundation in Europe 2021 Research Fellow at Yokohama National University – Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) and Graduate School of Environment, she is Professor of Management at the University of Catania. She holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration and a laurea in Economics and Business (110/110 summa cum laude) from the University of Catania. Her research is situated at the intersection of innovation management, strategy, and entrepreneurship, with an emphasis on standardization and patent strategy applied in 3GPP, action groups for smart robotics standardization, standards-based competition, innovative start-ups, and technology transfer. She has held visiting positions at INSEAD, Columbia Business School, Southampton Business School, Yokohama National University, University of Economics in Prague, Université de Montpellier, and Montpellier Business School. She has extensive experience in leadership and scientific evaluation for European programs and serves as an expert for international organizations and governmental bodies on innovation and standardization initiatives. She teaches advanced courses on Innovation Management, and Responsible Research in Business and Management.

Masanori Yasumoto is a Professor of Innovation Management of the Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences and College of Business Administration and a Principal Investigator of Institute of Multidisciplinary Sciences (IMS) at Yokohama National University. He received Ph.D. and M.S. in Sociology from The University of Tokyo.  He previously held joint/visiting appointment research fellowships at The University of Tokyo, University of Pennsylvania, and UC Berkeley. He, as an award-winning expert, has also served as committee members and advisories of governmental bodies and international industrial organizations on innovation and standardization initiatives.  His recent research focuses on platform governance in meta-organizations, particularly in ecosystems of collaborative standardization, and firm-level knowledge management that drives such ecosystems. He has extensively investigated how firms shape their industrial and technological leaderships with a specific emphasis on intellectual property, technological standardization, and inter-organizational networks in ICT and automotive sectors.

Professor of Strategy and Business Economics at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA, she also serves as Senior Director of Programs at Dyson and has held visiting positions at Aalto University in Finland and Imperial College Business School in London. She earned her Ph.D. from the Helsinki Graduate School of Economics at Aalto University and holds an M.S. from the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration. Her research focuses on organizational strategies for innovation, particularly inter-organizational collaboration, contractual arrangements, and firm-level structures that enable innovation. She has extensively studied intellectual property rights and collaborative innovation networks in digital industries, exploring how cooperation and conflict shape the development of standards in wireless telecommunications. More recently, her work examines emerging markets for big data and their economic implications.

She has published extensively in leading journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Management Science, and Research Policy. Beyond her academic roles, she is a frequent consultant for international organizations and governmental bodies on issues related to innovation policy and the evolution of digital platforms.

Arturo Capasso, gained a B.A. in Economics at the University of Naples in 1984, a Masters in Business Administration at Columbia University, New York in 1988 and a Ph.D. in Corporate Finance at University “Cattolica” Milan in 1990. In 1990, he was appointed as Adjunct Professor at University Parthenope Naples, and in 1994, an Assistant Professor at University of Naples Federico II. Then in 1998 he became Associate Professor at Università di Salerno and in 2002 Full Professor at University of Sannio. From 2015, he is Professor of Advanced Corporate Finance at Luiss University in Rome. In 2023 nominated Research Fellow at the WSB Merito University in Wroclaw.  Was also Visiting professor at Columbia University and Gdansk School of Banking and Finance. Main research interests concern the relationship between corporate governance and corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital. Business consultant, held governance positions in public and private companies, banks, and financial institutions. Authored monographs on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and project financing, as well as over 80 scientific publications in books and international journals

Dr. Dong-hyu Kim is a Senior Lecturer in Strategy and Technology Management at the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow. He holds a PhD in Strategy and Organisation from Yonsei University—where he was a Global PhD Fellow—and a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Computer Engineering from Hanyang University. His research integrates social systems theory with the study of platform strategy, technological standardization, and AI-driven digital transformation. A widely published scholar, Dr. Kim serves as Associate Editor of Kybernetes and has held visiting positions at the London School of Economics (LSE), Hitotsubashi University, and the Technical University of Berlin. His work focuses on bridging technical engineering principles with strategic management to analyze global innovation ecosystems and patent trajectories. His research has been published in leading journals, including Research Policy, the International Journal of Information Management, Telecommunications Policy, Management Revue, and Systems Research and Behavioral Science. His teaching portfolio includes Digital Technology and Strategic Management, Technology Strategy and Patent Analysis, and Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship.

With a distinguished career originating at NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation), he has become a leading authority in international ICT standardization. Mr. Iwata notably served as the Chairman of ITU-T Study Group 15, where he oversaw the development of global standards for optical transport and access technologies. Under his leadership at TTC, he currently focuses on aligning Japanese technological innovation with global standards, emphasizing sustainable digital transformation and the advancement of next-generation network architectures. He has also contributed to regional standardization activities within the Asia‑Pacific Telecommunity (APT), where he has presented TTC’s education and human‑resource development initiatives for ICT standardization. Dr. Iwata’s work focuses on fostering international collaboration, enhancing the global competitiveness of Japan’s ICT sector, and promoting standards that support secure, interoperable, and future‑ready communication infrastructures. He holds academic degrees in engineering from Japan (associated with Osaka University for his research studies), providing him with a profound technical foundation that supports his strategic and diplomatic decision-making at an international level.

Dr Howard Benn is an independent telecommunications consultant and an Honorary/Visiting Professor at the University of Bristol. He began his career in 1982 in fixed telecommunications at Plessey, later earning both his bachelor’s degree and PhD from the University of Bradford.

Since 1989, he has specialized in radio communications, and from 1993 onward he played a central role in the development of GSM standards. He was one of the early contributors to the creation of 3GPP, serving as Chair of the RAN4 working group from 1998 to 2007.

Dr Benn has held influential positions in major international standardization bodies. He served on the ETSI Board from 2008 and contributed to ICANN as a mobile technology expert. In industry, he held senior leadership roles including Vice President of Communications Research at Samsung Electronics R&D UK, where he led teams active in ETSI, 3GPP, GSMA, and EU Horizon 2020 programs.

Today, he focuses on strategic consultancy and education in telecommunications standards, collaborating with academic institutions and global organizations to advance next‑generation communication technologies.

Jiamin Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Strategy and International Business at the Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. She holds a PhD in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from Tsinghua University. Her research primarily examines how firms navigate technological change and institutional complexity, with a specific focus on technological standardization, , venture capital, and innovation ecosystem in emerging markets. Her scholarly contributions have been published in top-tier journals such as the Strategic Management Journal and Academy of Management Journal. At Peking University, she teaches advanced courses on innovation, strategic management and global business.

Ram Ranganathan is an Associate Professor of Management at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin. He holds a PhD in Strategic Management from The Wharton School and possesses a technical background in Computer Science and Engineering. His research is situated at the intersection of strategic management, innovation, and technology ecosystems. A leading expert on technological standardization, he investigates how interdependent organizations align their strategies within consortia and standards-setting environments, while also exploring ecosystem coordination and strategic networks. His scholarly work has been published in premier journals, including the Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, and Academy of Management Journal. Furthermore, he serves in key leadership roles within the Academy of Management’s Technology and Innovation Management (TIM) division.

Richard Tong is Chair of the IEEE Artificial Intelligence Standards Committee (IEEE AISC), where he leads global standardization initiatives on AI interoperability, evaluation, governance, and trust across foundation models and agentic AI systems. He serves as the IEEE Computer Society liaison to ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 42, coordinating international alignment on AI standards, and is a former Chair of the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee (LTSC). His work positions AI standards as economic and organizational infrastructure that enables scalable, responsible, and sustainable AI ecosystems. His research focuses on agentic systems, AI-empowered software engineering, and AI-enabled education, examining how standardization reduces adoption friction, lowers total cost of ownership, and integrates AI technologies into organizational processes, regulatory frameworks, and social systems. He holds a PhD in Intelligent Systems and Science and is particularly interested in how AI standards shape learning ecosystems and the future of human–AI collaboration in education and knowledge work.

Mr Cadzow is a senior expert in cybersecurity, telecommunications security, and standards development, with a long-standing leadership role within the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Scott was elected Chair of ETSI’s Securing AI group in 2023, where he leads the development of standards addressing the security, trustworthiness, and governance of AI and machine‑learning systems. Under his leadership, the group transitioned into a full Technical Committee (TC SAI) in 2023 to support European regulatory frameworks such as the AI Act and the Cyber Resilience Act. He is also recognized as an ETSI Fellow, an honor awarded in 2023 for his outstanding personal contributions to the organization and to international standardization efforts. With decades of experience in secure communications, cryptography, and safety‑critical systems, he has contributed to numerous ETSI work items, including reports and specifications on secure‑by‑design AI development and cybersecurity frameworks. He is a frequent speaker at ETSI security conferences and international industry events, where he provides expert insight into emerging threats and the evolution of security standards.