Francesca Bria is a senior expert and advisor on technology and innovation policy. She is Visiting Professor at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, UCL London and Associate Professor at ESADE Business School. She is currently the Commissioner of Digital Technology and Innovation for the City of Barcelona in Spain and she is leading the DECODE project on data sovereignty in Europe. Francesca is an advisor to the European Commission on next generation Internet and smart city policies.

She has a PhD in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from Imperial College, London and MSc on Digital Economy from University of London, Birbeck. As Senior Programme Lead at Nesta, the UK Innovation Agency, she has led the EU D-CENT project, the biggest European Project on digital democracy and digital currencies. She also led the DSI project on Digital Social Innovation in Europe, advising the EU on digital social innovation policies. She has been teaching in several universities in the UK and Italy and she has advised governments, public and private organizations and movements on technology and innovation policy, and its socio-economic impact.

Francesca has been listed in the Top 50 Women in Tech by the Forbes Magazine, and in the World's top 20 most influential people in digital government by Apolitical. She has been also featured in the Italian Magazine Repubblica "D", amongst the 100 Women Changing the World.
Francesca Bria is an adviser for the European Commission on Future Internet and Innovation Policy. She is currently the new Commissioner of Digital Technology and Innovation for the city of Barcelona in Spain.