Skip to content
Kostas Galanakis

Kostas Galanakis

Associate Professor

Nottingham Business School

Role

Kostas is Associate Professor of Innovation Systems and Entrepreneurship. He joined NBS in 2009. Between 2009 and 2020 served as Programme Leader for Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship.

Kostas designs, delivers and disseminates collaborative research at international level, that provides pathways for impact in practice in the area of Regional Innovation Systems and the Energy Transition.

Career overview

Kostas has a PhD on Modelling Innovation Systems from University of Warwick, Warwick Manufacturing Group. In the years that Kostas works at NBS, he has led research and developed projects with a budget that exceeds €6.5mil.

Kostas was the Program Leader of the MSc Entrepreneurship and MSc Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at Nottingham Business School, between 2016 and 2020. He designed and developed the course, coordinating the teaching efforts of a group of eight senior lecturers, two professors, six external guest lecturers and engaging external organisations (e.g. BIoCIty, European Innovation Academy, Toulouse Business School).

Other activities, include:

  • Head of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management subject group, Management Department.
  • PhD/DBA supervisor. Currently 3 PhD and 1 DBA as Director of Studies, 1 PhD and 1 DBA as 2nd supervisor. Brought in successful completion 5 PhD and 1 DBA as Director of Studies and 2 PhD as 2nd supervisor.
  • Head of the Special Interest Group for research, Innovative Business Models for Sustainable Futures, Sustainable Futures Research Theme.
  • Scientific Advisor, MSc Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship.

Before joining NTU, Kostas was senior research fellow at the Science & Technology Park of Crete (STEP-C) for five years before joining NBS. Spearheaded more than €8M in research efforts, orchestrating the engagement and contributions of nearly 100 collaborative national and international organisations as the central point for defining, developing, conducting, and leveraging research objectives. Maintained a strategic focus on bridging the gap between science and business as a noted subject matter expert in the area of incorporating technological advancements into public policy and business development.

In parallel, Kostas established a Business and Technology Consultancy (2004-2009). The consulting operation focused on supporting clients in business and internationalisation strategy, from planning the new business venture to driving operational change programmes (Lean Management), IT automation, and new product/service development initiatives. Coached organisations through the complexities of business start-ups, financing, and growth.

Research areas

Kostas’s research focuses on analysing the complex world of Innovation at different levels: enterprises, regional, national and intra-national. In order to unveil the complexity of these systems, Kostas uses a Systems Thinking approach that illustrates the plurality of inter-relations among different actors. Furthermore, this approach unveils “hidden” relations. The latter are often taking place as consequence of unintentional results and influences of well-intended actions or are masked because of time-lags.

His research has explored cases from a wide range of sectors, such us the automotive, food, industrial electronics, biotechnology and currently the energy sector, published in Journals such as: Regional Studies, Technovation and Omega: The International Journal of Management Science. Under the latest stream of research Kostas’ work explores the transition towards a sustainable energy and mobility future that is led by local actions and practices.

External activity

  • Expert Panel Member for Horizon Europe, MSCA-ITN Evaluator.
  • International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM) Member
  • Innovation and Entrepreneurship external advisor for the University of West Macedonia’s Management of Technology Research lab (MATER).

Sponsors and collaborators

Recent Projects:

Smart-BEEjS - Human-Centric Energy Districts: Smart Value Generation by Building Efficiency and Energy Justice for Sustainable Living (Horizon2020, MSCA-ITN), Project Coordinator, budget €4mil.

STARTENT - Fostering Business-University Partnerships for Entrepreneurship Education in Europe (ENTR/CIP/09): Provided support to young entrepreneurs to start their own ventures and internationalise their activities. Disseminated good practices and ideas to support entrepreneurial activity. Developed case studies and action-based activities for enterprise education. Budget, €625K.

Creative Trainer II (Life long Learning / Leonardo): Produced innovative training material for creativity, innovation and marketing. Trained more than 300 individuals on innovation related themes. Budget, €400K.

REMPART+ (ENT/ERA/10): Provided support to young entrepreneurs to mobilise and internationalise their activities across Europe. Budget, €200K.

KBB Trans (Life long Learning / Leonardo): Developed innovative training material for Business Models development and Technology Transfer. Trained more than 200 professionals across Europe. Budget, €335K.

Course(s) I teach on