Policy areas he has dealt with include open science and innovation, collaboration in research, industry-academia interaction, the governance of research commons, the role of public-private partnerships, and international cooperation strategy at bilateral and bi-regional level. At various points in time he has been responsible for funding programmes in future and emerging technologies, cyber-physical systems, ICT research infrastructure and research data.
Current research interests include the role of science in international relations, regional integration and conflict prevention, and science diplomacy.
During the academic year 2017-18 Kostas was a visiting Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National Univesity of Singapore, where he taught regionalism with ASEAN and the EU as the focus and advised on the interplay between technology and public policy.
Before joining the Commission Kostas worked in the chemical industry in the USA and Belgium, lectured at the University and carried out research in Greece. He holds a PhD in engineering from the University of Massachusetts and an Advanced Professional Certificate in investment management from Drexel University in the USA.