Cristina Riesen is a transformational leader and creative strategist. Her wide range of expertise and skills ranges from strategic innovation and foresight to stakeholder management and strategic communications.
Cristina founded the impact network Educreators Foundation in 2017 and became an Independent Board Member of the European Innovation Council in 2021, supporting startups, SMEs and research teams developing high-risk, high-impact breakthrough innovations.
Previously, Cristina was General Manager EMEA at Evernote,
managed the launch of the Swiss Edtech Collider at EPFL Lausanne,
and worked with the Strategic Development team at ETH Zurich.
A lifelong learner, she is an EMScom graduate,
a certified IFTF strategic foresight practitioner,
a Hasso Plattner Institute design thinking professional,
a Reputation Institute alumna
and holds an IMD Certificate in Mastering Board Governance.
Cristina was named Digital Shaper by the leading Swiss economic
magazine Bilanz in 2019 and 2020.
Top skills: strategic innovation and foresight, strategic communications,
transformational leadership, strategic partnerships and stakeholder management.
Current Flagship Projects
Educreators Foundation
Founder, CEO
An impact network on a mission to support systemic change in education through participatory design, innovation and entrepreneurship. Informed by research and working closely with strategic partners, we create initiatives aiming to support innovation in primary and secondary education in Switzerland and beyond.
European Innovation Council (EIC)
Independent Board Member
EIC, the flagship innovation programme under Horizon Europe, is set to become Europe’s largest deep tech investor. With a budget of EUR 10 billion, it identifies and supports game changing deep tech innovations throughout their lifecycle: from early stage research, to proof of concept and technology transfer, and scale up.
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