Dr Natalja Lace is a Professor and Senior Researcher at Riga Technical University (RTU), Latvia. She graduated from Riga Polytechnic Institute (now Riga Technical University), Faculty of Engineering Economics, in 1982 with a degree in Engineering Economics and received her doctoral degree in 1990, with research focused on decision-making in engineering and economics. She has extensive academic experience in teaching and supervising bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral students and has participated in numerous national and international research projects. She serves on the editorial boards of several academic journals and is an expert for the Latvian and Lithuanian research councils. Dr Lace has authored, co-authored, and edited more than 100 scientific publications and books. Her research interests include business finance, SME development and scaling, innovation, productivity, financial decision-making, and open innovation.