Dr. Kantis is the Director of the Entrepreneurial Development Program at the Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento (UNGS) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He has devoted his career to narrowing the knowledge and talent gaps to foster high-impact entrepreneurship ecosystems. Specifically, he has led a multi-pronged effort to shift the policy mindset from a focus on micro-enterprises towards the more ambitious aim of promoting dynamic entrepreneurship from a systemic perspective.

To that end, for example, he initiated a seminar-workshop for Professionals in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Latin America a decade ago, contributing to the professionalization of the role of the ecosystem-builder.

He holds a PhD in Economics and Business Science and a Master of Research in Entrepreneurship and Business Strategy from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.

His research focuses on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial innovation, policy design, implementation and evaluation, SME development and best practices for business and institutional management. He is the co-author of Developing Entrepreneurship: Experience in Latin America and Worldwide.

Dr. Kantis has consulted with numerous international organizations including the World Bank, IDB, ECLAC, UNDP and JICA.

Dr. Kantis received the 2017 Startup Nations Award for Groundbreaking Policy Thinking, and is the lead researcher behind the annual Index of Dynamic Entrepreneurship (IDE), in partnership with GEN.