Professor David Deakins is Chair in Enterprise Development at the University of West Scotland Business School. He was Director of Paisley Enterprise Research Centre (PERC) from 1995 to 2007 and still takes a lead role in PERC’s research portfolio where he specialises in rural enterprise and the finance of small firms.

Mark Freel is an Associate Professor in Innovation and the Mark R. Bruneau Fellow for Global Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa.