Antonio R.

Background

About Antonio R.

Born in a village on the slopes of the volcano Vesuvius, Antonio speaks Italian, English and Portuguese.Antonio is Head of Innovation at Digital Catapult, the UK authority on advanced digital technology. With 12+ years of experience in innovation and digital transformation on the global scene, Antonio developed extensive expertise and credibility in setting start-up programmes strategy, identify cutting-edge worldwide solutions for strategic fit and investment as well as supporting innovative companies along their entrepreneurial journey. Antonio pushed himself to succeed, whether by starting working at the age of 16, becoming a professional futsal player in the Italian A2 League or graduating in Engineering and paying the fees by himself. At the University, he quickly learned he was not only passionate about processes and frameworks but also about people. After 4 years in consulting and utility services, he took matters in his own hands and launched a 12-week acceleration program to foster innovation and social entrepreneurship in the South of Italy. He raised sponsorships and donations from non-profit organizations and SMEs, built and managed a pool of 70+ mentors (from Amazon, BCG, Microsoft, Accenture, LG), developed a community of 2,500+ professionals and supported over 35 teams in establishing social enterprises over three years. This also resulted in the program being nominated by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development for the European Enterprise Promotion Awards in 2018. To broaden his horizons and push his boundaries, he moved to London to complete an Executive MBA at Hult International Business School. He then delivered the Barclays Fintech accelerator programme, voted the top European accelerator across all categories in 2019, and joined Unbound where quickly became Head of Innovation. He has been responsible to define vision, strategy and KPIs of the innovation team and design, coordinate and deliver innovation programmes and features for Asia's largest innovation festival in Singapore in partnership with IMDA and MENA's largest Fintech festival in Abu Dhabi co-hosted by Abu Dhabi Global Market and the Central Bank of UAE. By building and managing trustful relationships with government representatives, large organisations and community partners, he fostered innovation and ran tailored programmes to accelerate the adoption of new disruptive technologies and connect grassroots founders to governments, investors, and leading global brands such as Unilever, Etihad Airways, Vodafone, Porsche, HSBC.