Cristina Garmendia

Doctor in Biological Sciences, specialising in Genetics, she completed her doctorate in Molecular Biology under the direction of Professor Margarita Salas, at the Severo Ochoa National Centre for Molecular Biology. She completed her academic training with an MBA from the IESE Business School of the University of Navarre. She is now president of the COTEC Foundation and is part of various advisory councils such as Unicef ​​and the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), among others, and is on several university councils. She is also an independent member of the boards of directors of Caixabank, Grupo Logista, Mediaset and Ysios Capital Partners. She is a member of the European Commission Space Advisory Council. Among others, she has founded the Hispanic-American company, Satlantis Microsats. She was Minister of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain during the 9th Legislature (2008-2011). In the institutional sphere, she has stood out as president of the Association of Biotechnological Companies (ASEBIO) and has been on the board of directors of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations (CEOE). She has been an advisor to the European Commission as a member of the High Level Group on maximizing the impact of EU Research & Innovation Programmes, which drew up the recommendations for the design of the 9th European Union Framework Programme (2021-2027). She has been decorated, among other distinctions, with the Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Carlos III and recently, Grand Officer of Merit of the Italian Republic. Her work and entrepreneurial vision have been recognised on different occasions with awards for research and business innovation.