keynote speakers
Valérie Mérindol
Valérie Mérindol (PhD sc. pol.; HDR management) is Full Professor of innovation and creativity Management at Paris School of Business (PSB), where she is serving at the co-head of the newPIC chair (new Practices for Innovation and Creativity). She was previsouly the head of the research domain in Innovation studies for the French governmental office OST (Observatoire des Sciences et des Techniques), the head of the research lab in Management at the Research center of the French Air Force, and a senior researcher for the Directorate of Financial Affairs at the French Ministry of Defence. She was recently a scientific advisor for the French Governmental office HCERES, and Institut de l’Entreprise. Valerie’s research interests cover the management of innovation and of creativity, knowledge management, and S&T public policies. Recently she has investigating the emergence of open labs and their contribution to the development of new innovation ecosystems. She has published around thirty scientific articles and 10 books dedicated to the management of innovation.
Juan Manuel López Zafra
Juan Manuel López Zafra is the Head of Economics Affairs from the Region of Madrid. He holds a PhD in Economics from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and is an Associate Professor (on leave) from that University. He is the author of two books: Return to the Gold Standard (Deusto, 2014) and Alquimia (as co-author; Deusto, 2019), perhaps the greatest current exponent in the Spanish language of the importance that data science, and big data analytics. He has also been a full professor at CUNEF, where he was also co-Chief Data Officer, co-director of the Master in Data Science for Finance, the Executive Program in Data Science and Digital Transformation, and the Master in Data Science, and has also taught at the San Pablo CEU University, at the Pontifical University of Salamanca and at the Comillas Pontifical University – ICADE. He has supervised four doctoral theses. In 2007 he founded the consulting firm Statpro 2000 Clima SL to provide both training and analysis services in the area of data science, analytics and big data. His Twitter account @jmlopezzafra has been voted since 2015 as #Twecos, the most important on Twitter for economic analysis.
David J. Yáñez Villarreal
David J. Yáñez Villarreal is not merely an innovator but a true inventor of solutions, perpetually seeking new, efficient, and sustainable technologies to transform the world. He is the co-founder of Vortex Bladeless, a groundbreaking bladeless wind energy technology, and has licensed over half a dozen patent families. He is also a co-author of numerous scientific publications, contributing to the advancement of his field. He holds a degree in Mecahanical Engineering from the University of Valladolid and a Master’s in Computer Engineering and Telecommunications with a specialization in Natural Computing from the Autonomous University of Madrid. Throughout his professional career, David has excelled as a technology specialist in hardware development and microcontrolled systems for various organizations. He was also a member of the Process Control Group at the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry of the CSIC (Spanish public research institution).
David has spearheaded several entrepreneurial ventures that have garnered prestigious accolades. Among these achievements are the 2010 Everis Foundation Entrepreneurship Award, the 2011 Ibero-American Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the 2012 Repsol Foundation Entrepreneurs Fund Award, and the 2015 Environmental Researcher of the Year award from ‘La Razón’, among others.