Dr Yannis Pierrakis

About

I teach Entrepreneurial Finance and Innovation Management and my research interests include Venture Capital, Business Angels, Startup creation, Crowdfunding and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).  Before joining Kingston, I worked as an Innovation Consultant for The World Bank, Finance and Private Sector Development Department in Europe and Central Asia and as a Senior Expert for multimillion EU Pre-Accession Assistance projects. I was previously Head of Investments Research at NESTA, the UK Innovation Agency (London, UK), and before that, I worked at Intrasoft International (Luxembourg) and in Cardiff Business School. I received my PhD from Cardiff University in 2012. My thesis examined the role of different types of venture capital, public and private, in fostering innovation at the regional level. 

Invited expert positions

  • International Expert Advisory to the Development of the ICT Sector Strategy for Palestine, funded by GIZ, 2022
  • Corporate Finance Expert Advisory to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Equity Crowdfunding Project in Jordan, 2021
  • Member of the Advisory Group for the UK Prosperity Index, Centre for UK Prosperity, Legatum Institute, United Kingdom, 2021
  • High Level Evaluator of the Pan European Fund of Funds Venture Capital  program (£300m), European Commission  (DG Research & Innovation) and European Investment Fund, Brussels, 2017
  • Academic Expert in Evaluation of the Horizon 2020 SME instrument, workshop organised by the in the European Court of Auditors, Brussels 2018
  • Invited Expert in the study on "Planning the future of Entrepreneurship and business support. A study to inform the Welsh Government's future direction of the support provided to aspiring entrepreneurs and established SME's, Welsh Government, 2018
  • Invited Expert - Publicly Guaranteed Debt to VC Funds, workshop organised by the European Commission (Economic & Financial Affairs), Brussels - 13 July 2017

Academic responsibilities

Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Qualifications

  • 2017 - Higher Education Academy Fellow
  • 2012 - PhD in Investments and Innovation, Cardiff University, UK
  • 2002 - MSc in European Regional Development, Cardiff University, UK
  • 2000 - BSc in International and European Studies, Panteion University of Athens, Greece

Teaching and learning

BS7601 - Innovation Management and Entrepreneurial Finance

BS7033 - Innovation Management

BS7567 - Innovation Finance

Undergraduate courses taught

Postgraduate courses taught

Research

PhD supervision

  • Yohanna Babangida,  "Cross-regional Venture Capital Investments", 2015 - 2020

Research student supervision

Publications

Number of items: 33.

Article

Pierrakis, Yannis, Berbegal-Mirabent, Jasmina, Gil-Doménech, Dolors and Colombo, Massimo G (2023) Academic institutions and the changing entrepreneurial finance landscape. Venture Capital, ISSN (print) 1369-1066 (Epub Ahead of Print)

Owen, Robyn, Botelho, Tiago, Mac an Bhaird, Ciarán, Ghulam Hussain, Javed, Pierrakis, Yannis, Scott, Jonathan M. and Lodh, Suman (2023) Editorial : Entrepreneurial finance for green innovative SMEs. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 70(3), pp. 942-949. ISSN (print) 0018-9391

Pierrakis, Yannis and Owen, Robyn (2022) Startup ventures and equity finance : how do business accelerators and business angels' assess the human capital of socio-environmental mission led entrepreneurs? Innovation: Organization & Management, ISSN (print) 1447-9338 (Epub Ahead of Print)

Harrison, Richard T, Yohanna, Babangida and Pierrakis, Yannis (2020) Internationalisation and localisation : foreign venture capital investments in the United Kingdom. Local Economy, 35(3), pp. 230-256. ISSN (print) 0269-0942

Pierrakis, Yannis (2019) Peer to peer lending to businesses : investors' characteristics, investment criteria and motivation. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 20(4), pp. 239-251. ISSN (print) 1465-7503

Pierrakis, Yannis and Saridakis, George (2019) The role of venture capitalists in the regional innovation ecosystem : a comparison of networking patterns between private and publicly backed venture capital funds. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 44(3), pp. 850-873. ISSN (print) 0892-9912

Pierrakis, Yannis and Saridakis, George (2017) Do publicly backed venture capital investments promote innovation? Differences between privately and publicly backed funds in the UK Venture Capital Market. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 7, pp. 55-64. ISSN (online) 2352-6734

Pierrakis, Yannis (2013) Venture capital in crisis: the impact of the economic downturn in company’s time to exit. Journal of Alternative Investments, 15(3), pp. 62-71. ISSN (print) 1520-3255

Mason, Colin and Pierrakis, Yannis (2013) Venture capital, the regions and public policy: the United Kingdom since the post-2000 technology crash. Regional Studies, 47(7), pp. 1156-1171. ISSN (print) 0034-3404

Pierrakis, Y. and Price, S. (2003) Towards a sustainable knowledge-based region (TASK). WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, 67, pp. 505-512. ISSN (print) 1746-448X

Book Section

Pierrakis, Yannis (2015) Public policies and public programs with a regional impact in promoting entrepreneurship: the case study of government backed venture capital schemes in the UK. In: Carvalho, Luisa, (ed.) Handbook of research on entrepreneurial success and its impact on regional development. Hershey, U.S. : IGI Global. pp. 122-150. ISBN 9781466695672

Conference or Workshop Item

Bhimireddy, Nishanth Sai Reddy, Pierrakis, Y. and Vecchiato, R. (2023) ICOs : how to measure success of an ICO. In: Economics of Financial Technology Conference 2023; 21-23 Jun 2023, Edinburgh, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Bhimireddy, Nishanth, Pierrakis, Yannis and Vecchiato, Riccardo (2022) Can Twitter sentiments predict success of initial coin offerings? In: Paper development workshop (PDW) for PhD students and early career researchers; 25 Nov 2022, Held online. (Unpublished)

Bhimireddy, Nishanth and Pierrakis, Yannis (2021) Social media sentiment analysis and initial coin offerings (ICOs). In: Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) Conference : SME finance for building back better; 01-02 June 2021, Held online. (Unpublished)

Babangida, Yohanna and Pierrakis, Ioannis (2019) The cross-regional flow of venture capital investments in the United Kingdom. In: 10th Annual Faculty Research Conference: Contemporary Issues in Business and Social Sciences in a period of uncertainty; 03 - 04 Jun 2019, Kingston upon Thames, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Yohanna, Babangida and Pierrakis, Ioannis (2018) The geography of foreign venture capital investments (FVCI) in UK regions. In: 9th Annual Faculty of Business Research Conference: Contemporary Issues in Business; 04 Jun 2018, Kingston upon Thames, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Pierrakis, Ioannis (2017) Do Business Accelerators invest in ‘lemons’? A comparison of the founders’ characteristics of Business Accelerator and Business Angels backed companies. In: 40th Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) Annual Conference: 'Borders', prosperity and entrepreneurial responses; 8-9 Nov 2017, Belfast, U.K..

Pierrakis, Yannis and Saridakis, George (2016) Do publicly backed venture capital investments promote innovation? Differences between privately and publicly backed funds in the UK Venture Capital Market. In: 39th Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) Annual Conference: Institutional Voids, Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development; 27-28 Oct 2016, Paris, France.

Pierrakis, Yannis (2015) Publicly backed venture capital funds and business innovation: empirical analysis of venture capital backed firms in the UK regions. In: European Academy of Management (EURAM) Annual Conference 2015: Uncertainty is a Great Opportunity; 17-20 Jun 2015, Warsaw, Poland. (Unpublished)

Pierrakis, Yannis (2013) The academic/research view on financing. In: European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Roundtable of Entrepreneurs 2013: Matching Entrepreneurship with Venture Capital; 11-13 Jul 2013, Grundlsee, Austria. (Unpublished)

Mason, Colin and Pierrakis, Yannis (2009) Venture capital, the regions and public policy: the United Kingdom since the post-2000 technology crash. In: 32nd Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) Conference: Celebrating 3 decades of excellence in education, research and practice: at the cutting edge of international entrepreneurship; 3-6 Nov 2009, Liverpool, U.K.. ISBN 9781900862165

Mason, Colin and Pierrakis, Yannis (2009) Venture capital, the regions and public policy: the United Kingdom since the post-2000 technology crash. In: Regional Studies Association (RSA) Winter Conference 2009: Global Recession: Regional Impacts on Housing, Jobs, Health and Wellbeing; 27 Nov 2009, London, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Pierrakis, Yannis (2006) Regional growth poles: regional ingredients and innovative recipes for growth in European regions. In: 46th Congress of the European Regional Science Association: Enlargement, Southern Europe and the Mediterranean; 30 Aug - 3 Sep 2006, Volos, Greece. (Unpublished)

Rhisiart, Martin and Pierrakis, Yannis (2003) Knowledge based approaches to sustainability: the TASK programme. In: 11th International Conference of the Greening of Industry Network (GIN): Innovating for Sustainability; 12-15 Oct 2003, San Francisco, U.S.. (Unpublished)

Monograph

Vecchiato, Riccardo, Do, Hang, Blackburn, Robert and Pierrakis, Yannis (2019) Technology foresight for growth and productivity: the design and implementation of a new foresight approach for UK SMEs. (Project Report) Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Innovate UK. (In Press)

Pierrakis, Yannis and Collins, Liam (2013) Banking on each other: peer-to-peer lending to business: evidence from funding circle. (Project Report) London, U.K. : NESTA. 43 p.

Collins, Liam and Pierrakis, Yannis (2012) The venture crowd: crowdfunding equity investments into business. (Project Report) London, U.K. : NESTA. 36 p.

Lerner, Josh, Pierrakis, Yannis, Collins, Liam and Bravo Biosca, Albert (2011) Atlantic drift: venture capital performance in the UK and the US. (Project Report) London, U.K. : NESTA. 52 p. ISBN 9781848751262

Pierrakis, Yannis (2010) Venture capital: now and after the dotcom crash. (Project Report) London, U.K. : NESTA. 41 p. ISBN 9781848750968

Pierrakis, Yannis and Westlake, Stian (2009) Reshaping the UK economy: the role of public investment in financing growth. (Project Report) London, U.K. : NESTA. 32 p. ISBN 9781848750463

Pierrakis, Yannis and Mason, Colin (2008) Shifting sands: the changing nature of the early stage venture capital market in the UK. (Project Report) London, U.K. : NESTA. 28 p. ISBN 9781848750289

Iurcovich, Luis, Komninos, Nicos, Reid, Alasdair and Pierrakis, Yannis (2006) Mutual learning platform: blueprint for regional innovation benchmarking. (Project Report) Luxembourg : Innovation Regions in Europe Secretariat. 21 p.

Thesis

Pierrakis, Ioannis (2012) Investments and innovation: regional venture capital activity, business innovation and an ecology of interactions. (PhD thesis), Cardiff University, .

This list was generated on Wed Sep 13 07:22:55 2023 BST.

Business, knowledge transfer and international

Projects

  • Supporting Business Innovation Centres and Business Incubators  in Morocco, Caribbean, Kenya, Ethiopia, 2015 - 2017, The World Bank
  • INNOGROW, ERASMUS+ Entrepreneurial Education, (2015), European Commission
  • British Council (2015), Innovation Finance Executive Training
  • Development of the Research & Technological Infrastructure of Gaziantep Technopark Project, Europeaid, Turkey, European Commission (2014)
  • Regional Innovation Observatory (InnObs) Project, Russian Federation, The World Bank (2012-2014)
  • Integrated Innovation Support Programme, Europeaid, Republic of Serbia, European Commission (2012-2013)
  • Development of the Research and Innovation Infrastructure Roadmap for the Serbian Ministry of Science and Education, Republic of Serbia, The World Bank (2013)
  • UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), (2013), Venture Capital Market Research
  • Innovation Support Program in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation, The World Bank (2012)
  • Finance Wales (2011), Evaluation of Xenos Business Angels Network (with Prof Colin Mason, Glasgow University)
  • Early Stage Investors for High Growth Businesses, Pro Inno Europe, European Commission (2007-2008)
  • PRO INNO Policy Trendchart, DG Enterprise, European Commission (2006)
  • Development and implementation of the Innovation Actions Programme for Wales, European Commission (ERDF) (2002-2004)

Professional practice, knowledge exchange and impact

I possess over 20 years of professional experience the majority of those in the field of entrepreneurial finance, business development, innovation, entrepreneurship and improving the institutional capacity of companies and innovation centres.

During my career, I have taken part, as an expert or consultant, in several multimillion internationally funded projects including several World Bank, European Commission and EBRD-funded projects related to business development and entrepreneurial finance in the Russian Federation, Turkey, Jordan, Serbia, Palestine, Kenya, Ethiopia, Morocco, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobacco. 

World Bank - InfoDev – Innovation and Entrepreneurship – Business Innovation Centres

  • Consultancy support to the World Bank's InfoDev program, which helps innovative ventures through a global network of business innovation centres that assists early-stage entrepreneurs-offering mentoring, facilities, and seed funding.

World Bank -   Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship, Private and Financial Sector, Europe and Central Asia.

  • Task Leader: Establishment of the Regional Innovation Observatory (InnObs) (budget 2 MEUR) in the Russian Federation (sponsored RVC, RusNano and VEB).
  • Innovation Support Program in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation.
  • Development of the Research and Innovation Infrastructure Roadmap for the Serbian Ministry of Science and Education.
  • Report on the Development of the National Innovation Strategy for Georgia, Georgia, 2013, The World Bank

Development of the Research & Technological Infrastructure of Gaziantep Technopark Project, Europeaid, European Commission, Turkey. EU funded project (budget 2.6m euros) aiming to increase regional competitiveness by supporting enterprises and improving business, R&D, Innovation, Technology and ICT environment in the Gaziantep region of Turkey.

EU funded project "Integrated Innovation Support Program, Serbia" (budget 2.8 MEUR). Improvement of Innovation Support Services, which focused on the improvement of capacities in innovation support organisations in the field of policy mechanisms in order to provide efficient support to innovative SMEs.

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