MAIN SPEAKERS

Georgina Calvo Veja (European Project Officer - Tourism Technical Office at Diputació de Barcelona) She works as Project Officer for the MED Sustainable Tourism Community, a project funded by the INTERREG MED Programme, integrating 30 projects andmore than 200 entities working in tourism sustainability in the MED area. Graduated in Journalism and in Tourism, and holding a Master’s Degree in Business Tourism and Event’s Management, she has over 10 years of experience in the tourism sector, both in privatecompanies oriented towards different activities and services, and in the regional & local public administration.

Albert Arias-Sans (Posdoc researcher at Universitat Rovira i Virgili) PhD in Tourism geography. Currently working as a postdoc researcher at the University Rovira i Virgili coordinating the visitmob.org project. Associate lecturer in Urban Tourism at the University of Barcelona. He was the head of the Strategic Plan for Tourism 2020 Barcelona and worked as a free-lance consultant on urban and tourism policies.

Carolin Engel (Project Lead karlsruhe.digital & Deputy Head of the Science Department of the City of Karlsruhe, Germany) After a bachelor´s and master´s degree in European and Business Economics, she worked as a management assistant and as a product and marketing manager. Since 2016, she is responsible for the initiative karlsruhe.digital. karlsruhe.digital includes 150 representatives from business, science, culture, and administration. Together, they pursue the vision for Karlsruhe to become a motor of digitalization and, hence, be a pioneer with regard to digital topics. Additionally, Carolin Engel is the deputy head of the Science Department of the City of Karlsruhe.

Ignacio de las Cuevas Rojo (Head of Global Partnerships & Tourism Innovation at EURECAT, the Technology Centre of Catalonia - Barcelona) Ignacio possesses more than two decades of hands-on international experience across five continents tackling tourism in a multidisciplinary approach, from both the private and the public sector. Over the years, Ignacio has developed a particular interest for international development cooperation, destination management, food waste prevention, vocational training, world-class hospitality in developing countries, sustainability and circularity in the tourism sector and more recently, on technology and tourism innovation. At present, Ignacio is the Head of Global Partnerships at the Technology Consultancy Department as well as the manager of the Centre of Excellence in Tourism Innovation at Eurecat. Ignacio holds a Bachelor in Tourism Management, a Master’s and a PhD in Development Studies by the University of Geneva, Switzerland.

Jelka Tepšić (Deputy Mayor City of Dubrovnik) Mrs. Tepšić is the Deputy Mayor City of Dubrovnik, as well as honorary consul to the Kingdom of Spain since 2014. She is a professor of the Spanish language, literature and Comparative literature and has more than 30 years of experience in tourism, communication, media and marketing. In the City of Dubrovnik, Mrs. Tepšić is responsible for tourism, sustainability and culture. During her work in past years, the city has been developing strategic, long term project called “Respect the City”. She has participated in many congresses worldwide where she presented this project, which deals with innovative integrated development and focuses on the sustainable development of tourism in the city. She showed how the City administration faced with the problem of overcrowding, ensuring a better distribution of visitors and suppressing the negative effects of over-tourism. This Project was recognized as an example of good practice in destination management at the World Congress of the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) in Krakow.

Maria del Pilar Leal (Director and Coordinator of Masters and Postgraduates, Professor and Researcher at CETT - UB) International Doctor in Geography, Territorial Planning and Environmental Management, she also has a Master in Territorial Planning and Environmental Management and an Executive MBA. At a professional level, she has led and managed various projects in the university education sector and in the areas of territorial and tourist planning. Currently, she combines her teaching activity with research.

Anna Monjo (Team Leader of the Catalunya Clústers Program at ACCIÓ) Engineer and MBA working on the development of business strategy and competitiveness through clusters. It works on business strategy and competitiveness through the Clusters, especially in the Digital and Audiovisual field. It also promotes new cluster initiatives in the traveltech sector and in the field of waste.

Javier Sáez Hurtado (Product & Sales Director at Xperiencia Virtual) With an interdisciplinary background (Medicine & MBA) he has always added value to organizations by coordinating product teams. Empathizing with the needs of customers, probing what new technologies exist and experimenting with them to improve our value processes is his specialty. With more than 5 years of experience in immersive technologies and blockchain, he will try to provide the maximum output in the discussion of the immense value that 5G will bring to society and, especially, to sectors such as tourism.

Manolo Ginart (Director Area Telco en Parlem Telecom) With 24 years of experience in telecommunications operators in the areas of Network Operation and Maintenance, Fixed and Mobile Network Deployment, and PM in Special Projects. At Parlem, he leads the deployment of his own network, the technological integration of M&A operations and the operator's Network Operations.

Mar Muñoz Muñoz (Technology & Innovation Managing Director a AVORIS TRAVEL) Positive is the best adjective that defines me, and passionate about technology, too. I have been in the world of tourism-oriented technology for more than 20 years and every day becomes an opportunity to learn and apply something new in the digital transformation in which we are immersed. Before I developed technology; now, I make technology available as a facilitator to improve business processes based on Big Data techniques to achieve it.

Luis Miguel Martín (CIO at Selenta Group) Graduated in Chemistry, specializing in Chemical Engineering from the University of Barcelona, MBA in Company from IE Madrid and PDD from IESE. He has been CIO at Grupo Selenta since April 2022 and president of the Consell de CIO's de Catalunya (CIOS's.cat) since November 2018. From September 2017 to February 2022 he was also CIO of the Catering and Food Services company Serunion, belonging to the multinational ELIOR. From June 2009 to October 2017, he was in charge of the Damm Group's Organization and Systems department, having previously held the functions of the Group's Organization and Projects Manager since June 2002. Previously, he worked for 9 years at the consulting firm Accenture, leading development projects. improvement of processes and implementation of systems finishing his career as Senior Manager”.

Pablo Soto Rodriguez (Innovation Manager Corporate Segment Vodafone España) Vodafone Innovation Manager who, as he defines himself, is "a specialist in landing technology to business models and a fan of collaboration and innovation"