The executive committee is INGINEUS' decision-making body. The collegial body oversees the implementation of the project activities and their progress toward the objectives. It is composed of the following 5 members.

Alireza Naghavi (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics of University of Bologna (Italy), adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, and senior researcher at FEEM. He holds a PhD in Economics from University College Dublin (Ireland, 2004), a Master degree in Economics from University of Konstanz (Germany, 2000) and a BS in Business Administration from Louisiana State University (US, 1995). His research interests focus mainly on international trade, industrial organisation, growth, innovation systems and activities. Other fields of research interests are intellectual property rights and international political economy. He publishes in books and international refereed journals including Economic Theory, European Journal of Law and Economics, Review of Development Economics, Review of World Economics, and Resource and Energy Economics.

Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei) received his BA in Economics at Bocconi University Milan, his M.Sc. in Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and his PhD in Economics at the Université Catholique de Louvain. He was Professor of Economics at the University of Bologna since 2002 before moving to Bocconi University in 2008. He is research fellow of CEPR London in the International Trade Programme, non-resident senior fellow of Bruegel Brussels, external research fellow of CReAM London and senior fellow at FEEM in the Research Programme "Global Challenges". He is co-author of many works in international trade, urban economics and economic geography, including "Economic Geography and Public Policy" (Princeton University Press, 2003) and "Agglomeration and economic geography" (Handbook of Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2004). He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Economic Geography (Oxford University Press) and Regional Science and Urban Economics (Elsevier). In 2008 the Nobel Prize Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy praised him for his research of "Agglomeration and Trade Rivisited" (with G.T. Tabuchi and J-F. Thisse, 2002, international Economic Review 43, 409-436). 

Jo Lorentzen (Human Sciences Research Centre) is Chief Research Specialist in the Education, Science, and Skills Development Research Programme. He studied in Washington (MA, American University) and Florence (PhD, European University Institute) and taught at universities in Eastern Europe, Italy, France, and the US. Before joining the HSRC, he was associate professor of international business at Copenhagen Business School. 
Jo is mainly interested in the role of innovation in economic development. He focuses on micro-economic perspectives on technological learning and its implications for innovation and industrial policy in latecomer countries. He is currently running a study on the determinants of innovative activities in the Western Cape, focusing on the wine industry, boatbuiding, medical devices and IT.  At home he works closely with the Western Cape provincial government on its Microeconomic Development Strategy (MEDS). Internationally he collaborates mainly with colleagues from other advanced latecomer countries (Brazil, Mexico, India, China, South Africa) and with European and US scholars of innovation systems.

Helena Barnard (Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria) teaches in the areas of innovation, strategy and international business. She completed her PhD at Rutgers University in New Jersey in the USA in 2006 with a dissertation on how firms from developing countries use investment in the developed world as a strategy to increase their competitiveness. She has published academic research in Advances in Qualitative Research, the Journal of Management and Governance, and the International Journal of Technology Management. She has presented her work at numerous competitive conferences, e.g. the Academy of Management, the Academy of International Business, European Academy of International Business and GLOBELICS (Global Network for the Economics of Learning, Innovation, and Competence-building Systems).

Cristina Chaminade (University of Lund) is Associate Professor in innovation studies at CIRCLE, University of Lund, Visiting Professor at the MBA program of the Leipzig Graduate School of Management, Germany and affiliated to LEAP4D (Learning Economy Analysis for Development) at the Research Policy Institute of Lund University. She obtained her PhD in Economics from the Autonomous University of Madrid, her thesis being awarded as Best Thesis in Economics. From 1997 till 2003 Cristina has been the Spanish delegate in OECD groups on innovative clusters and international scientific cooperation. Her research focuses mainly on globalisation of innovation, innovation policy and innovation systems. She is now editing, together with BA Lundvall, KJ Joseph and Jan Vang a Handbook on Innovation Systems in Developing Countries (Edward Elgar). Cristina is currently involved in the FP6 project on “Dynamics for institutions and markets in Europe (DIME)”, project leader of “Innovation as a driver for development: supporting the development of innovative clusters in South Africa” and coordinator of the project (with Bjorn Asheim) on “Emerging trends in Asia: from cost-based producers to global suppliers of innovation”.