Dr Tomasz Studzieniecki is an assistant professor in the Department of Management and Economics in Gdynia Maritime University (Poland) as well as an author of economic development strategies and documents on sub-national cooperation. He is an expert of the European Commission on cross-border cooperation, a member of the EGTC (European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation) Platform, and a member of the Baltic Advisory Council at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Currently, he is working on the improvement of the instruments of international cooperation, e.g., cross-border functional areas. He is also a member of the ERSA (European Regional Studies Association), AABS (Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies), and AIEST (Association internationale d'experts scientifiques du tourisme).