Igor Calzada is a research associate at the InSIS Institute for Science, Innovation and Society at the University of Oxford and his research focuses on the future of cities. He holds a PhD from the University of Mondragon and University of Nevada, Reno in business administration. His current research examines urban competitiveness and comparative territorial benchmarking. He has received awards for his research on the Basque City and has worked in research and innovation roles for the Basque government and Mondragon Group.

1. Dr. Igor Calzada, Ph.D.
(Donostia-St. Sebastian, 15th January 1975)
Email: igor.calzada@insis.ox.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 7887 661925
More information: http://www.igorcalzada.com and http://www.basquecity.org
http://www.insis.ox.ac.uk/people/associate-fellows/igor-calzada
http://www.futureofcities.ox.ac.uk/people/igor-calzada
Igor Calzada is a Research Associate at the InSIS Institute for Science, Innovation and Society,
University of Oxford (UK), and his research is joined to the Oxford Programme for the Future of
Cities (http://www.futureofcities.ox.ac.uk). In addition to this, he holds a PostDoctoral Research
Fellow position at the Basque Foundation for Science, Ikerbasque (http://www.ikerbasque.net) and
he is currently Lecturer and Senior Researcher at the University of Mondragon Unibertsitatea
(http://www.mondragon.edu) a part of the Mondragon Co-operative Corporation Group
(http://www.mcc.es) based in the Basque Country, Spain.
He got his PhD from University of Mondragon in Business Administration Faculty and University
of Nevada, Reno – Center for Basque Studies (UNR-CBS)(USA). This work received a “Cum
Laude” distinction, which has recently been published as Towards the Basque City? Comparative
Territorial Benchmarking by the Basque Government- Presidency and Innobasque, Basque
Innovation Agency (download here http://www.igorcalzada.com/download-here-basque-city-
euskal-hiria-book-executive-summary).
Nowadays, he is working on his PostDoctoral Research project and programme entitled “Future of
City-Regions & Comparative Territorial Benchmarking” (this could be followed soon in
http://www.basquecity.org and http://www.euskalhiria.org), which is an urban competitiveness
model and one of the key outputs of his doctoral research that was based on the integration of four
systems: URBS, CYBER, CIVITAS and POLIS. This follows the completion of his book and PhD,
a case study of the spatial and political configuration of the Basque Country into a City-Region. He
draws on theories of territoriality and network-formation to offer a comparative analysis of the
Basque Country, Dublin (Ireland) and Portland (Oregon, USA).
Research Interests:
• Future of City-Regions & Comparative Territorial Benchmarking
• Creative/Participative/Connected/Sustainable Networked Territories
• Urban Innovation (Territorial Prospective & Strategic Planning)
• Smart Cities (Urban Technologies, 2.0 & Networks and Citizenship)
• Social Capital/Innovation/Entrepreneurship
• Local Governance, Citizen Participation & Communitarian Development
• Sovereignity & Identity
Currently, his professional milestones are: He was presented with a Research Award by the Spanish
Princess for his Research Project about Basque City (http://www.igorcalzada.com/premio-proyecto-
de-investigacion-euskal-hiria-ciudad-vasca-desde-la-innovacion-social-y-la-creatividad-mayo-
2008-madrid). He has been Research Associate at the Centre for Basque Studies at the University of
Nevada, Reno (USA). He has worked as Director of Research & Innovation at the Vice-Ministry for
Language Policy of the Basque Government. He has carried out research, in particular, on the 5th,
6th and 7th Framework Programmes of the EU in the field of Innovation. Specifically, he has
worked for 10 years in the Mondragon Group Cooperative Corporation, working in the field of
Innovation and Creativity (http://www.thecreativesociety.org), and has worked as a Strategic and
Innovation Advisor for institutions & companies.
He obtained the Diploma of Advanced Studies at the University of Helsinki (Finland). He also has
an MBA from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration in the University of Deusto.
He graduated in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Deusto.