About Francesco
I help companies, investors and startups turn AI ambition into governable, cost-aware execution. I assess the feasibility, ROI and technical defensibility of AI initiatives, structure their governance (EU AI Act, GDPR), and bring financial discipline to cloud and AI spend (FinOps), bridging business goals, technology and compliance as a "super-connector."
My foundation is 15+ years designing and running innovation, acceleration and incubation programmes across six geographic ecosystems: deep-tech cohorts, corporate open innovation programmes, and pre-seed bootcamps in emerging markets. 800+ founders mentored. 3,700+ ventures evaluated.
Programmes delivered for EIT Food, EIC, CAF (Development Bank of Latin America), LUMSA University (InvestMED, EU-funded), Pioneers.io, Gellify, GIZ and the Italian Embassy.
I am a registered EU Expert Evaluator with direct experience assessing Horizon Europe and EIC Accelerator proposals — I write and evaluate from inside the scoring rubric.
Based in Barcelona. Available for: AI venture & project assessment, AI transformation and governance advisory, fractional innovation leadership, and expert evaluation mandates across Europe and internationally.
Idiomas: Inglés (Bilingüe) | Español (Fluido)
English
Fluent
Spanish
Fluent
Italian
Native or bilingual
Can work on-site
Barcelona (up to 50km)
Experience
- Ipernovation.euStrategic Advisory & AI/Deep-Tech Venture AssessmentDIGITAL AND ITJuly 2021 - Today (4 years and 11 months)Barcelona, SpainVenture assessment, due diligence and innovation programme delivery for EU-funded and internationally funded initiatives.· EU Expert Evaluator: registered on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, assessing Horizon Europe and EIC Accelerator proposals — evaluating deep-tech and AI ventures from inside the scoring rubric.· Deep-tech & AI venture assessment (EIT Food TeamUp & Carbon13 Climate Cohort, Entrepreneur in Residence): evaluated early-stage food-tech, agri-tech and climate ventures on technical defensibility, IP, scalability and market viability.· InvestMED (LUMSA University, EU-funded): full programme cycle — 100+ applications screened, selection, mentorship and investment tracking for 21 funded SMEs across Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Jordan. €1.8M routed.· CAF – Development Bank of Latin America: 9-month acceleration programme across 2 cohorts; 80+ impact founders mentored across 8 countries.
- Gellify.comCorporate Venture and Innovation ManagerDecember 2020 - June 2021 (6 months)International B2B innovation platform and investor that selects, invests in, and grows high-potential software startups through a proprietary "venture building" model.• Venture Building: led the company builder efforts for digital health startups (Dubai Ministry of Health, Edison with telemedicine product), to validate business models, run ops, and define Go-to-Market strategies• Conducted deep-tech due diligence, auditing AI-generated business plans and financial forecasts for mathematical accuracy and logical consistency
- Pioneers.ioSenior Innovation ConsultantDecember 2017 - November 2019 (1 year and 11 months)Vienna, Austria3,000+ startup applications evaluated. Corporate innovation programmes for Merck, Greiner, Kapsch, and Airbus. Advisory to the Austrian Federal Agency (FFG) and the World Bank. Institutional spokesperson in public forums.• Corporate Partnerships: developed quantitative and qualitative services for corporate clients including Booking.com and Rewe, managing a portfolio of projects of 200K each quarter.
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Education
- Master's DegreeLuigi Bocconi University2009Master's Degree
- Business AdministrationBusiness Administration