Speaker Bio
As Open Innovation Director at Telefonica Group, Irene has the mission of accelerating internal technological innovation connecting, collaborating and investing in startups. The focus is to capture and enhance business opportunities between startups and Telefónica that arise with the arrival of 5G, the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), Metaverse, advanced data analysis, robotics and cloud computing, among other technologies.
To achieve that goal, Irene is responsible of the Venture Capital activity at Telefonica Group:
· Open Future, the Regional Open Innovation strategy of Telefónica and its private and public partners with over 29 accelerators network in Spain, Perú and Argentina.
· Seed stage investments through Wayra (more than 800 startups invested, +250 startups doing business with Telefonica and + 285M€ in revenues generated to those startups)
· Growth investments through Telefonica Ventures in start-ups with strategic fit with our business. Telefónica Ventures currently has a portfolio of +30 start-ups invested directly and +170 start-ups invested through our network of Venture Capital funds.
With a double degree in engineering in Telecommunications and Telematics from the Ramon Llull University, she has over 15 years of experience in the field of Product Management & Innovation in the areas of Cybersecurity (11Paths) and AI applied to the user experience (Aura), ad more than 2 years managing Venture Capital activity for Telefonica Group.
Irene is passionate about connecting innovation and technology to enable the creation of new products, services and experiences.