CRISTINA GARMENDIA (Spain)

I am currently Chairwoman of the COTEC Foundation and I am a member of several advisory boards such as Unicef, Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), etc… and on the boards of Universities such as the European University.

I am an independent director on the boards of Caixabank, Grupo Logista, Mediaset and Ysios Capital Partners. I have founded several companies such as the Spanish-American company, Satlantis Microsats, of which I have been president until December 2020.

I have recently been appointed advisor to the European Commission as a member of the Space Advisory Council of the European Union.I was Minister of Science and Innovation of the Spanish Government during the IX Legislature (2008-2011).

I have been an advisor to the European Commission as a member of the High Level Group on maximising the impact of EU Research & Innovation Programmes, which has formulated recommendations for the design of the 9th Framework Programme (2021-2027) of the European Union.