Cristina Martinez graduated in Science Philosophy with a master’s in Communication (Major) and another MSc in Telematics (Cum Laude). She started her career in the United Nations, working for an IT track and trace software project for railways in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
In 1998, she joined the Andersen Consulting Company to work for the technology department as a solutions engineer. She became a member of the staff of the European Commission in 2002. She worked as a senior administrator for research in the Information Society Directorate-General, where she led the Enterprise Interoperability cluster for many years.
From 2013 onwards, Cristina took managerial responsibilities, first as a Head of Sector, then as a Deputy Head of Unit in various departments – the Knowledge-Management unit, the e-Infrastructure and Open Science Cloud unit, and the Smart Mobility and Living unit.
Since January 2019, Ms. Martinez has dealt with the Smart Cities policy, Digital twins, and the CitiVerse. Her area of expertise spans from digital policy and data solutions to environmental sustainability, UN SDGs, and societal transformation. She has been appointed vice-chair of the ITU Focus Group on Metaverse.