Zoltán Elekes

Zoltán Elekes is engaged in research on topics at the intersection of evolutionary economic geography and network science. He holds a PhD in economics from the Doctoral School of Economics, University of Szeged, Hungary since 2018. In his thesis he explored how multinational enterprises and import influence the economic diversification of microregions. He is a research fellow at the ANET Lab of the Centre for Economic and Regional Studies in Hungary, where he studies the geography of collaborative knowledge production and supplier-buyer networks. He leads a research project at the Centre for Regional Science at Umeå University, Sweden on how the network structure of local labour markets condition regional economic resilience. He has published in leading field journals including Economic Geography, Regional Studies and European Planning Studies, and has refereed for Economic Geography and Regional Studies among others. He serves as editor at REGION, the journal of ERSA, since 2022. Zoltán is the 2019 recipient of the Excellent Young Regional Scientist Award of the Hungarian Regional Science Association, the Hungarian section of ERSA. Since 2019 he has been engaged on multiple occasions in consulting policymakers in Swedish regions on smart specialization and regional economic development. He continues to mentor students in Hungary, and contributes to the Network and Spatial Analysis course developed by the ANET Lab.

Many aspects of our lives unfold in spatially bounded places. Putting regions to center stage then connects scientific advancement with pressing societal challenges in a straightforward way. At the same time opening up the scientific process through open access and open science fosters both high-quality research and its societal impact. In my experience REGION champions these values.