Yannis teaches Entrepreneurial Finance and his research interests include Venture Capital, Business Angels, Startup creation, Crowdfunding and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Before joining UIC Barcelona, Yannis worked as an Associate Professor at Kingston University London and prior to that as an Innovation Consultant for The World Bank, Finance and Private Sector Development Department in Europe and Central Asia. He was previously Head of Investments Research at NESTA, the UK Innovation Agency (London, UK) and Research Associate at Cardiff Business School, UK. He received his PhD from Cardiff University, UK in 2012. His thesis examined the role of different types of venture capital, public and private, in fostering innovation at the regional level. Monographs 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.