Martin Hakel  (martin.hakel@region-bsk.sk) is a graduate of international relations in London and international relations and diplomacy in Prague with many years of experience in international cooperation. In 2004-2010 he worked as the director of the Slovak Center in London. Martin started working for the Bratislava self-governing region in 2010. From 2011 to 2020, he was the head of the Strategy and Territorial Development Department responsible for the development and implementation of regional strategies in order to achieve comprehensive and sustainable development of the region. Since May 2020, he has been the head of the Institute of Regional Policy of the Bratislava Region, which is responsible for the implementation of the regional strategy (PHRSR) and the BSK Program Statement. At the same time, he and his team focus on fulfilling individual sectoral policies, evaluating prepared policies of individual departments and regional investments, creating analytical documents and forecasts for quality decision-making, creating strategic documents, studies for conceptual development of regional regional policy in line with strategic documents at higher levels and to prepare the region for drawing funds from external sources. He cooperates with the analytical institutes of individual ministries and thus creates a support system for clear strategic management. Martin is in charge of preparing the new programming period 2021-2027 and the new cohesion policy at the regional level, including a good setting of the SK-AT, SK-HU and SK-CZ cross-border cooperation programs.