The COVID-19 Crisis and Entrepreneurship Perspectives and Experiences of Researchers, Thought Leaders, and Policymakers

David B. Audretsch is a distinguished professor and Ameritech Chair of Economic Development, and the director of the Institute for Development Strategies at Indiana University (USA). He is also a part-time professor in the Department of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Klagenfurt (Austria) and an Honorary Professor of Industrial Economics and Entrepreneurship at the WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany). He is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal (Springer) and is on the editorial boards of several renowned journals. He has consulted with numerous international organizations, including the World Bank, OECD, European Union, and the United Nations, as well as private companies. He currently serves as a member of the advisory board to a number of research and policy institutes, including the Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum in Stockholm, the Jackstädt Centre for Entrepreneurship in Wuppertal (Germany), and the American Center for Entrepreneurship in Washington, D.C., as well as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the University of Siegen (Germany). 

Iris A. M. Kunadt is an expert in entrepreneurship policy. She received a PhD  in political science from Max Planck Institute of Economics (Germany) where her research focused on entrepreneurship, innovation, public policy, and regional economic development. As a senior researcher at Fraunhofer IMW in Leipzig as well as a freelance consultant, she managed projects on a national and international level including the World Bank’s Knowledge Economy Forum in Berlin. As a practitioner, Dr. Kunadt is the founder of two social entrepreneurship projects: Karuu and HalloRathaus. The first addresses the challenges of work-life balance for parents, and the second supports transparency and civic engagement at the regional political level. Her research focus is on the emergenceof parental and civic entrepreneurship, two phenomena with increasing importance for society.