Global value chains and dynamic specialization: Upgrading through FDI

Riccardo Crescenzi is a Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics and is the current holder of a European Research Council (ERC) Grant. He is also an Associate at the Centre for International Development, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Riccardo has also been a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute (EUI) and a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Taubman Centre, and at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).

Riccardo has served as the Rapporteur of the High Level Expert Group on Innovative Cities established by the European Commissioner of Research and Innovation. He has also provided academic advice to, amongst others, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Inter-American Investment Bank (IADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the OECD and the World Bank. Riccardo is currently part of the National Infrastructure Commission of Italy recently established by the Government to plan investment in sustainable mobility until 2050.

His research is focused on regional economic development, innovation, ForeignDirect Investment (FDI) and multinationals and the analysis and evaluation of European Union policies. His 5-year ERC research project looks at the location strategies of FDI around the world, at their impacts on the host economies and at the evaluation of policies for the attraction and retention of FDI.

Oliver Harman is a Cities Economist for the International Growth Centre’s (IGC) Cities that Work initiative based at Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford and Associate Staff at London School of Economics.

He is also a Clarendon Scholar studying the financing and governance of Sustainable Urban Development in low-income and fast-growing cities. In these roles, he attempts to help bridge the gap between research and policy translating economic literature into clear urban policy guidance for emerging country city governments.

Oliver engages with local government Ministries and Mayoral teams primarily across sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Latin America & Caribbean and Europe. Examples include local government reform in Guyana, urban resilience and waste management in Ghana, municipal finance in Malawi, Senegal, Somaliland and sustainable urbanisation in Bangladesh. His three thematic interests include financing sustainable urban development, global value chains for regional upgrading and climate change in cities.

Roberta Rabellotti is a Professor of Economics in the Department of Political and Social Science at University of Pavia (Italy).

After graduating in Economics at Università Bocconi, she got a Master of Science in Development Economics at the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s College) and a Doctor of Philosophy at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex.

Prof. Rabellotti has widely published in international outlets on issues related with innovation, clusters and global value chains with a special focus on China and Asia. Throughout her career, Roberta participated in and leaded several research and consultancy projects. She has provided academic advice to, amongst others, the European Commission, the IADB, ADB; OECD; UNIDO; UN-CEPAL, UNCTAD, and various national and regional governments. 

Akhmad Bayhaqi holds a PhD in Southeast Asian Studies from the National University of Singapore. Before APEC, Mr Bayhaqi was a Researcher with the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies, Brunei Darussalam working on Education and Social Policy issues.

Previously, Bayhaqi was a Consultant (Economist) at the World Bank Office in Jakarta, working on public finance programs within the eastern Indonesia provinces under the Public Expenditure and Capacity Enhancement/ Harmonization (PEACH) program.

Bayhaqi has also worked at the University of Indonesia as a Researcher/Lecturer focusing mostly on issues related to economics and public policy.

Martin Wermelinger is the Head of the Investment Qualities and Incentives Team at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France.

He also serves an advisor for the Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade (ARTNeT) on FDI. Prior to joining the OECD, he was a Research Fellow at the Swiss Institute for International Economics and Applied Economic Research, University of St. Gallen.

Martin holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. His areas of specialization are FDI quality, sustainable investment, investment incentives, global value chains, FDI-SME linkages, low-carbon investment, gender-inclusive investment, and investment for quality jobs.