Hristian Daskalov is an award-winning researcher*, author of the book “Stakeholder Management in Higher Education, Research & Innovation”. He is affiliated to the Brain Workshop Institute, serving as a stakeholder management expert with experience as a consultant to the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy on the National Research & Innovation Instrument for Smart Specialization (S3 Strategy) and the Operational Program for Smart Growth through Education & Science (OP NOIR), a 500-million euro public investment program. Being a project lead at the Open Source University (OS.UNIVERSITY) – a globally recognized edtech initiative to introduce the world’s learning & development ledger on the Ethereum blockchain, Hristian specializes in researching the collaboration around open source blockchain technology projects at the Technical Universities of Sofia, Riga, and Brno. Currently on a European Commission funded project at London, he works around bridging the gap between fintech and edtech innovations, together with Cobden Partners, a leading UK-based investment consultancy. Leading an international team of 20 + renowned academicians, technologists, business and NGO leaders, Hristian has previously been part of the operational management team behind a multi-billion dollar growth-oriented program at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and has participated in the governance and execution of a wide range of transformation-related programs, ranging from the implementation of major intranet collaboration platforms (the 2nd largest community of profession in HPE) to the design of an EMEA-wide corporate engagement program (winner of 2016 “Innovators at Heart” global award). * Awarded 2017 “Best Doctoral Candidate” by the Bulgarian Minister of Education & Science