Kostas Karamarkos is a freelance expert in the connected fields of sustainable urban development and business development with over of 26 years of experience. After studying mechanical engineering with economics at Thessaloniki University he obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Strategic Management and also a Master of Business Administration (MBA). Up until 2000 he worked on private sector business development projects, gaining considerable experience. Since 2000,he has mainly managed public sector development projects for Municipalities, Regions, and other strategic regional stakeholders.He has built up significant expertise in policy action for local development, urban strategic planning, entrepreneurship, and SME competitiveness. He also has skills in Quality Management, Benchmarking, Project Management, and a range of other business topics and tools. Over the last 16 years his main focus has been on urban development projects (transnational and regional), on strategic planning & evaluation (OPs and ROPs funded mainly by the ESRF, and on projects related to SME development & competitiveness. More recently,he has worked on needs analysis and policy strategy projects for the 2014-2020 programming period (Europe 2020), such as Regional Operating Programmes & Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3). Since 2009, he managed several Interreg Europe & other transnational projects, all working on the theme of sustainable regional development. He has also worked as a technical advisor to many regional governors and mayors in Greece. Over the years he has built up a wealth of experience in policy exchange & policy learning activities at transnational level. This experience, together with his academic background and professional training, gives him all the theoretical and practical expertise needed to implement multicultural cooperation projects and activities in positions where expertise in urban planning, but also in management, communication, and teamworking skills are the building blocks for success.