Yannis Pierrakis

Head of Investments Research

Yannis specialises in innovation finance research, capitalising on the knowledge from NESTA's Investments team for the benefit of our research and policy audiences.

Before joining NESTA in 2007, Yannis was based in Luxembourg where he managed the multimillion Innovation TrendChart project with a network of national correspondents in 39 countries. He also worked in the Innovating Regions of Europe (IRE) Network Secretariat and at the Observatory of Innovation, Cardiff Business School.

Yannis studied in Greece, Italy and the UK. He holds an MSc in Regional Development from Cardiff University where he is also a PhD candidate. His thesis examines the impact of venture capital in spatial innovation.