Center for Innovation in Cities
Center for Innovation in Cities
The Center for Innovation in Cities puts together a group of academics with experience in open innovation, new technologies and public administration that, under the Institute for Innovation and Knowledge Management at Esade, focuses its research on analyzing, proposing or inspiring solutions to improve the management of cities.
Cities have been, since their birth, deeply bound to civilization. Population, resources and knowledge have been increasingly accumulated in their streets and buildings for millennia.
These characteristics have placed cities at the vanguard of the great changes in history. Imperial China’s cities permitted the invention of paper, Gutenberg designed its printing press in the German city of Mainz and the incandescent light bulbs were invented by Edison in a suburb of New York, to give just a few examples.
This transformative role is very much alive today in our cities where they are, more than ever, the meeting places of ideas, the perfect ecosystem for innovation. In more recent years, cities have also become themselves the object of the transforming activity they generate, aiming to improve sustainability, mobility and the quality of life of their inhabitants generally.
Open innovation is one of the tools to best funnel this innovation in order to transform cities in a participative and sustainable way. Emergence and success of initiatives like crowdfunding platforms, smartphone applications thought to ease citizens’ lives and the first steps from administrations towards more Open Government are examples of the interest and need of advancing in that way.
Members
Esteve Almirall
Director
Center for Innovation in Cities
Associate Professor, Department of Operations, Innovation and Data Science
Esteve Almirall serves as Associated Professor at Esade and Dtr. of the Center for Innovation in Cities. He lectured at various universities, including UC Berkeley, Purdue, UPF, UPC and EPFL. He has a mixed background in both AI and Management Sciences, particularly in Innovation.
However, Esteve spent a previous life in the business IT sector with a career in consulting and banking where for many years Esteve was the youngest CTO in the Spanish banking industry, being the 1st in offering online transactions and the 2nd in online banking. As an entrepreneur he founded several companies and participated in tech startups.
In academics he has been involved in multiple programs and created a Smart Cities program together with the World Bank that was well attended. His last contribution was the creation of the Esade's Master in Business Analytics (ranked #5 in the world in 2018).
Natalia Olson-Urtecho
Advisor
Co-Founder and Director of Innovation and Strategy at the Disruptive Factory
Natalia Olson-Urtecho is a serial entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience working with international, regional and local entities in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia She is an expert in smart cities, high tech, finance, blockchain, public policy, diplomacy, commercialization, environmental planning, sustainable building, mobility, public engagement and infrastructure development.
Currently she serves as Chief Operations Officer of the RadicalxChange Foundation, Advisor on Innovation at the World Bank and Co-Founder of the Disruptive Factory. Prior to her current roles she was appointed by President Obama as the SBA Regional Administrator managing yearly 35 billion dollars in government contracts and 8 billion in loans for SMEs. She was responsible for delivery and management of small business programs, development initiatives and financial assistance.
Olson-Urtecho oversaw 180 SBA offices; SCORE chapters; Business Development Centers; Women and Veteran Centers and other resources. Natalia was appointed to Philadelphia’s Planning Commission and served as the Vice Chair of the Zoning Code Commission. She was appointed to the U.S. Innovation Advisory Board to advise Congress and the White House on competitiveness and innovation. She has been honored with numerous prestigious awards such as Woman of Distinction for her work in sustainable infrastructure & the green economy.
Pilar Conesa
Advisor
Founder and CEO of Anteverti
Pilar Conesa is a Smart City pioneer and the founder and CEO of Anteverti. She is also the Curator of the Smart City Expo World Congress, as well as the Smart City Expo events held abroad.
With more than 30 years of experience in high management positions in ICT companies and public organizations, she served as CIO for the Barcelona City Council and as General Director of Public Sector and Health at T-Systems.
She is the President of the Business Council of the BITHabitat Foundation and a member of the Advisory Board of Digital Future Society, the Supervisory and of the General Council of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona. She is a regular keynote speaker and has been selected as jury member for several international awards – World Smart City Awards, Reinventer Paris or Le Monde-Cities –. Pilar is the first woman to be awarded the honorary prize of La Nit de les Telecomunicacions i la Informàtica of Catalonia.
Contact us !
Esteve Almirall
Director of the Center for Innovation in Cities
Associate Professor, Department of Operations, Innovation and Data Sciences
esteve.almirall@esade.edu