BIO
Francesca is one of Europe’s leading digital policy experts. An innovation economist, she works at the intersection of technology, geopolitics, economics, and society. Before taking on her current role as President of the Italian Innovation Fund, she was Chief Digital Technology and Innovation Officer of the City of Barcelona and Advisor on Next Generation Internet and Innovation Policy to the European Commission. She also led major European research and innovation projects, such as the DECODE-project, an effort to reclaim citizens’ data sovereignty, and D-CENT, a Europe-wide project on digital democracy and economic empowerment based at Nesta, Britain's innovation agency for social good. Francesca is Honorary Professor at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at the University College London (UCL), where she teaches on digital sovereignty and people-centered smart cities. She is also Senior Advisor on Digital Cities and Digital Rights to the UN. In 2018, Forbes magazine voted her among Europe’s Top 50 Women in Tech.
At THE NEW INSTITUTE Francesca is the director of the program "The New Hanse".
QUESTIONS
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What gives you hope?
The environmental movement organized by young people, which should be more strongly related to an awareness of democratic tech and digital sovereignty. -
How does change happen?
Change becomes possible when we come together as a collective to collaborate and re-imagine possibilities for the future. -
What is the best advice you ever got?
Be ready to recognize those people who you meet that can change the direction of your life.
PUBLICATIONS
INTERVIEW
Francesca Bria on Data Democracy
Our program director for the New Hanse is interviewed by editor-in-chief Georg Diez on how she wants to co-shape the democratic digital future of Hamburg and Europe as a whole.
LATEST
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report
Urban Data Deal for DemocracyHow The New Hanse tries to tackle the question of private-public-people partnership in the digital age. What is the role of data in the digital age? What are prominent ways of governing data? How can we best use data for our common good?
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Leading with courage, vision and passionOur program director and jury member Francesca Bria on Vanessa Nakate
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Press
A Partnership for the Digital FutureTHE NEW INSTITUTE starts a collaboration with the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg
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Press
The Reason to ActVanessa Nakate receives the Helmut-Schmidt-Zukunftspreis 2022.
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Press
Helmut-Schmidt-ZukunftspreisOn 28 June, the Helmut Schmidt Future Prize will be awarded in Hamburg - for innovative achievements in the fields of democracy, society and technology.
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interview
The Problem with BlockchainOur program director Francesca Bria talks to Evgeny Morozov about how digital technology can be democratized.
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interview
Data DemocracyFrancesca Bria is the program director of "The New Hanse" and President of the Italian National Innovation Fund.
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news
International & Interdisciplinary – THE NEW INSTITUTE Forms an Exciting Advisory TeamFrancesca Bria, President of the Italian Innovation Fund, Geoff Mulgan, the former head of the UK innovation agency Nesta, and Christoph Möllers, law professor at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, support THE NEW INSTITUTE.