Keynote Speakers
Dr Ondřej Dvouletý
Associate Professor, Faculty of Business Administration, Prague University of Economics and Business, Czechia
Time and location: Thursday, June 4, 2026, 12.15-13.30 (CEST) | UP Faculty of Management, Room 6
Abstract of the Keynote Speech: Unveiling Heterogeneity in Entrepreneurship Supporting Polices
Building upon the extensive review of high-quality evaluation research studies published in the past decades, the contribution highlights the need to thoroughly understand the program’s details, objectives and the theory of change when investigating the effects of public entrepreneurship and SMEs supporting polices. Furthermore, based on the structured review of previous evidence, it unveils heterogeneous methodological approaches and diversity of the findings across levels of analyses and contexts. From a scholarly community perspective, it is recommended to adopt the Evaluation Quality Score (EQS) and Six Steps scoring approaches as tools to identify high-quality evaluation studies and to use them as inspiration for advancing research on supporting policies for entrepreneurship and SMEs. Finally, ongoing cooperation among researchers, public policymakers, and evaluators is a key imperative for fostering evidence-informed policymaking.
Short biography:
Ondřej Dvouletý works as an Associate Professor at the Department of Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Business Administration, Prague University of Economics and Business. For a long time, he has been researching entrepreneurial activity, evaluating the impacts of public entrepreneurship supporting policies, business economics and the labour market economics. His research has been published in leading international scientific journals, such as Small Business Economics, Journal of Small Business Management, and Entrepreneurship & Regional Development. Ondřej Dvouletý received several awards for his research activities, including the Josef Hlávka Award (2017), the award for an outstanding research article published in the Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies (2020) and the European Microfinance Research Award (2023). He is involved in various international projects, and he also actively contributes to the development of the academic community as a reviewer of academic studies and research projects. Ondřej Dvouletý significantly contributed to the 2023 OECD Framework for the Evaluation of SME and Entrepreneurship Policies and Programmes. He also serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals (such as Journal of Small Business Management, Small Business Economics and Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies) and is involved in a number of professional groups. He is also leading as academic editor the new section on Artificial Intelligence, Digitalization, and New Technologies of the Cogent Business & Management. He is a member of the Czech Evaluation Society, European Academy of Management, and the International Council for Small Business, and he serves as an evaluation expert for the Czech Ministry of Regional Development and European Commission projects.
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZS-UQVEAAAAJ&hl=cs&oi=ao
Dr Damjan Kukovec
Judge at the General Court of the European Union, Luxembourg
Time and location: Friday, June 5, 2026, 11.00-12.00 (CEST) | UP Faculty of Management, Room 1
Abstract of the Keynote Speech: The future of the international economic order in times of geopolitical turmoil and the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union
In a time of accumulated trade imbalances, rivalries and conflicts around the world, the question remains unanswered as to what the role of the World Trade Organization and its mechanisms for resolving trade disputes should be. Is there still a need and a possibility for a larger part of the international community to maintain and possibly reform the rules of world trade and WTO mechanisms, or can we expect increasing fragmentation of global trade and economic relations in the future? What role can the EU play, in particular the Court of Justice of the EU, in addressing the above-mentioned dilemmas and challenges?
Short biography:
Damjan Kukovec obtained a law degree at the Faculty of Law of the Univerza v Ljubljani (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia) in 2001 and a master’s degree in law at Harvard Law School (United States) in 2002. He studied for a doctorate at the same university, and defended his thesis there in 2015.
In 2002, he began his professional career as a judicial trainee at the Višje sodišče v Ljubljani (Court of Appeal, Ljubljana, Slovenia) and held that position until 2004. During 2004, he was a lawyer at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (Freetown, Sierra Leone) and at the Ustavno sodišče (Constitutional Court, Slovenia).
In 2005, Mr Kukovec joined the Court of Justice of the European Union as a lawyer before joining the Legal Service of the European Commission from 2006 to 2018. In 2006, he passed the Slovenian state bar exam.
At the same time, Mr Kukovec dedicated himself to an academic career, mostly in the field of EU law. Between 2011 and 2013, he taught global law at Harvard Law School and at its Institute for Global Law and Policy. He subsequently taught at several universities of law worldwide, including the FGV Direito Rio, Rio de Janeiro (Law Faculty of the Getulio Vargas Foundation, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) in 2014, the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies (Belgium) in 2016, the European University Institute of Florence (EUI, Italy) in 2016 and 2017, and the Univerza v Ljubljani between 2018 and 2020. From 2018, Mr Kukovec was also a senior lecturer in law and Associate Director of the PhD programme at Middlesex University in London (United Kingdom).
Mr Kukovec is an honorary professor at the Faculty of Law of University College London (United Kingdom) and at City Law School, University of London (United Kingdom), as well as an affiliated fellow at Harvard University, and is currently a visiting professor at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (University of Groningen, Netherlands).
Mr Kukovec is the author of numerous publications in EU law. He is a regular guest lecturer at universities worldwide.
Mr Kukovec was appointed as a Judge at the General Court on 13 January 2022.