London, England, United Kingdom
Combining my previous careers in investment banking and telecommunications, and adding the entrepreneurial experiences, I have become a trusted expert in developing digital transformation strategies and revealing the potentiality of A.I. and other transformative technologies. I was part of the core development in Europe of AI personalisation, music and video streaming, the connected car and smart living across a series of startups that got acquired and at the innovation labs of leading tech companies. I have led projects in both the private and public sector, and been appointed to government advisory roles. I currently served as Chair of the Multi-stakeholder Expert Group and Co-Chair of the Steering Committee at the GPAI, the G7/OECD global agency for the development and cooperation on AI. I also serve a member of the A.I. Council Advisory Board (State Secretariat for AI) at Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Government of Spain. In the UK I have served at the UKT&I and the Investment Fund of the Sport, Media and Culture Agency. Since 2001 I have provided expert testimonies and sector strategies on Big Data and AI at the European Commission contributing to numerous strategies and policies shaping the digital future of the single market; at the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) highlighting the implications of the 4IR for developing countries. I am a collaborator of UNESCO’s initiative to make AI inclusive of intercultural input and the European Space Agency’s Human and Robotic Exploration and the Ariane Cities programmes. Since 2008 I have committed my time to education at various business schools (Imperial College London, UCL, and the University of Loyola in Spain), and to the mentorship of innovation at venture-focused acceleration programmes. I have also written white papers and industry books that describe the transformation of industries thanks to digitization (“The Future of the Automotive Industry” (June 2021) for Apress Media New York (Springer Nature), and “The Fifth Industrial Revolution: How Space Commercialisation Will Derive The Biggest Industrial Expansion of the 21st Century” (Deusto, Editorial Planeta). “One of Europe’s top talents in social engagement through technology” (Fortune, TIME); “A firestarter” (FastCompany); voted the “Best contributor to the formation of strategy” in the section “Driving the Future of Europe’s Digital Economy” at Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s European Leadership Forum: Charting the Economic Future of Europe, a conference for CEOs and government officials.
A joint research and innovation initiative between Imperial College Business School and the Royal College of Art (RCA). Our core mission is to develop new frameworks and tools to solve "wicked problems"—complex, systemic challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, and global health crises that are too large and interconnected for any single government or company to solve alone. Our lab acts as a bridge between academia, industry, and policy-makers.
In January 2024 I was invited to join network of experts for in-depth engagement with the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence and provided feedback on the Interim Report envisioned for August 2024 as well as took part in expert briefings and shared perceptions on AI through risk assessment exercises; participated and provided evidence at the 30 April 2024 Deep-Dive on AI in Agriculture presenting views on the future of AgTech and Agri-Sustainability; in May 2024, as part of a horizon-scanning exercise on AI, the Office of the Secretary-General Envoy on Technology (OSET) requested my participation on the AI Risk Pulse Check as part of the report in mid-2024 on the global governance of AI; in January 2025 I have been consulted on the roadmap for the intergovernmental process and consultations to identify the terms of reference and modalities for the establishment and functioning of the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Global Dialogue on AI Governance. The Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies is dedicated to helping the United Nations’ address more effectively the opportunities and challenges posed by today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape. A key focus is supporting the follow-up and implementation of the Global Digital Compact, including its decisions on AI governance. The Office serves as a bridge between the UN system, member states, the tech community, and other stakeholders, promoting partnerships and harnessing technology for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Website https://www.un.org/odJ
Invited by Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General, to become a public ambassador and advocate of UNESCO's ‘Intercultural Dialogue Talks’ or ‘ICD Talks’ to inspire international communities looking to use frontier technologies, in particular artificial intelligence, as a force for good, helping stakeholders to understand how they can build bridges across difference, rather than fueling division and misunderstanding; In January 2021 was invited to join UNESCO's Global Forum on AI Ethics, and was a speaker on human-centric AI at the launch in Slovenia;
Digital technologies and data industry expert engaged by: • EU Commissioners (Viviane A. Reding – Society and Media (2004-2010) and Neelie Kroes – Digital Agenda (2004 - 2014) • EU Presidency of The Netherlands (first half 2016) engaged as expert contributor for the completion of the Digital Single Market strategy aimed to create a barrier-free digital space within the EU, fostering innovation, growth, and jobs, with Big Data as a crucial component of the digital economy; • Provided Expert testimony and was consulted around EU citizens’ data privacy made by the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) with regards to the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the final draft for the release of the General Data Protection Regulation. (January-May 2018) • Contributor to the European Commission White Paper on Artificial Intelligence – A European approach to excellence and trust (Brussels 19.02.2020 COM(2020) 65 final) and presented the findings as a speaker at the event “A European perspective on artificial intelligence (AI): paving the way for SMEs’ AI adoption in key industrial value chains” on the same day. • Contributor to the Social Democrats MEP “AIDA Programme” for the “democratization of AI” with regards to Charter of Fundamental Rights, ethical principles, legal safeguards, liability and human oversight.
Project SAFE was presented to the GPAI Members at the Paris AI Action Summit (11Feb25) offering recommendations on the global efforts towards artificial intelligence validation and governance of LLMs, advanced AI such as neural networks developed within industrial and innovation sectors, and frontier models that current leading AI companies declare that they are developing towards Artificial General Intelligence. The Technical and Data Governance Validation Cohort that I lead under the support of the Tokyo Expert Support Centre in Japan, comprises AI experts across the world and aims to present state of the art assessment of the current global AI Safety efforts in model validation, as well as new perspectives on how to address the data governance environments for training and testing models.
As chair of the Multi-stakeholder Experts Group (MEG) - a cohort of 100-150 AI experts across all disciplines, I facilitated the interactions between member governments and experts, creating parallel actions and activities beyond the projects accorded for each working group in Responsible AI, Data Governance, Innovation and Commercialisation of AI, and the Future of Work. I also co-chaired the GPAI Steering Committee together with the Government of Japan (2022-2023) and the Government of India (2023-2024). ****** At the 6th GPAI Ministerial Council Meeting held on July 3, 2024, in New Delhi, members voted to integrate GPAI within the @OECD.AI integrated partnership format, dismantling the GPAI chair position and expert membership of the Steering Committee.
This 2022-2024 project has created a repository of AI in Agriculture resources, best practices and access to AI solutions and case studies of AI adoption across robotics, precision and sensor-based approaches. It also presents the challenges for data governance and sustainability that remain for governments to address. www.ai4agri-gpai.org