Francesca Bria

Francesca Bria is an innovation economist working at the intersection of technology, geopolitics, economics, and society. She is an Honorary Professor at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) at UCL in London and a Fellow at Stiftung Mercator in Berlin, where she leads the EuroStack Initiative on Europe's Digital Sovereignty (www.euro-stack.info). She serves as a Board Member of the European Innovation Council (EIC) and President of the Innovation Agency of Emilia-Romagna (ART-ER). She is a member of the International AI Council established by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain. Previously, Francesca was President of the Italian National Innovation Fund (CDP Venture Capital) and a board member of RAI, Italy's public media company. From 2015 to 2019, she served as Chief Digital Technology and Innovation Officer for the City of Barcelona, where she led the Barcelona Digital City Agenda and co-founded the UN Cities Coalition for Digital Rights. Her work has been widely recognised, including being named Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, listed among the Top 50 Women in Tech by Forbes, and honoured as Culture Person of the Year 2020 by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. She has been ranked among the world's top 20 most influential figures in digital government by Apolitical and identified as one of the 28 power players driving Europe's tech revolution by Politico.