Dr. Apostolos Lazaris graduated from the Department of Physics (Division of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics) at the School of Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, ranking third in his class. His undergraduate research focused on Chaos Theory and Nonlinear Dynamical Systems. He completed his postgraduate studies at the University of the West of Scotland, where he earned an MSc in Information Technology Management (with Distinction), graduating top of his class. He also studied Leadership at Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Lazaris received his PhD from the School of Business & Enterprise, University of the West of Scotland, with a research focus on development economics, particularly regional development and economic history.
In recent years, he has been serving as an Innovation Consultant at the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN Hellas). He has acted as an advisor to the Hellenic Government on matters of digital transformation and public sector process simplification, and coordinated the implementation of several applications integrated into GOV.GR. Furthermore, he was appointed Head of the Executive Mechanism of the Greek Bureaucracy Observatory, following his participation in an OECD working group for the documentation and application of the Standard Cost Model (SCM) for measuring administrative burdens.
Academically, he has been a visiting lecturer at Greek and UK universities for over a decade, including the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens – Department of Economics, Plymouth University, and London Metropolitan University (LMU).
Earlier in his career, he worked as an ICT manager and consultant for several companies, driving organizational change. He also served as Chief Information Officer (CIO/CTO) at Ready4bet and BCA. He participated in the European project “eCraft2Learn,” which aimed to promote the pedagogical and advisory role of educators in the maker movement and to foster innovation among youth—a mission he continues to support through new educational initiatives for children.
His research interests lie at the intersection of development economics, management information systems, and project management, encompassing both theoretical and historical analysis as well as applied approaches.
