Christina Ciecierski is Professor at Department of Economics, and principal investigator at Chicago Cancer Health Equity Collaborative (ChicagoCHEC), Northeastern Illinois University, USA Lidia Filus is Professor and Chair of Mathematics, Northeastern Illinois University and principal investigator, at Chicago Cancer Health Equity Collaborative (ChicagoCHEC) Northeastern Illinois University, USA Marzenna Anna Weresa is Professor at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics, Poland; director of the World Economy Research Institute; a member of the Harvard Business School Microeconomics of Competitiveness Affiliate Network; a principal investigator in research projects financed by FP7, Horizon 2020, Bloomberg Initiative Grants, COST Actions; an expert of the European Commission on policies for research and innovation. Research focus: innovation systems and policy, digital transformation, FDI, international trade and competitiveness.