Dr Niki Kousi is serving as Managing Director of EIT Manufacturing regional office in Athens, supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Previously, Dr Kousi served as Project Manager and Coordinator in numerous industry driven international projects focusing on development and implementation of manufacturing innovation / business strategies. This has been accomplished in cooperation with universities, industry and research institutes and in the context of European R&D&I projects. She has been leading teams of professional staff engaging a broad array of stakeholders in industrial innovation projects as well as private cooperation with industry. She holds a Mechanical and Aeronautics Engineer diploma and a Doctor of Philosophy focusing on cutting edge enabling technologies for flexible and reconfigurable manufacturing systems. She was Finalist of the Innovation Radar Prize (2019) organized by European Commission, under the category “Woman Led Innovation”.