Isidro Laso Ballesteros

Cabinet Expert Commissioner Gabriel for Innovation, research, Education, culture and Youth – European Commission

Isidro is the Cabinet Expert of Commissioner Gabriel for Innovation, research, Education, culture, and Youth at the European Commission. He has been a senior official at the European Commission since 2001 with responsibilities such as the head of Startup Europe for 9 years and Deputy head of Innovation Ecosystems at the European Innovation Council.

From 2015 to 2019 Isidro was also nominated “Thought Leader at United Nations ITU Agency”, and is a member of several advisory boards to international networks of startups. He combines his professional activities with academic activities such as being “Cambridge University CSAP Continuing Fellow”, visiting lecturer to CEPADE (Universidad Politecnica de Madrid), and writing books and papers which are included as citations by hundreds of academics.

After graduating as an Engineer from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, he set up two Innovative SMEs on software business in the Tech AgriFood area before becoming a strategy advisor to CEOs of large corporations. Afterward, he became director in charge of IT and Change Management Projects in a large corporation (Atos Origin). In 2001 he moved into the public sector where he has been mainly working on strategy and innovation within the European Commission.