Francesco Barbato is a Policy Officer at the ‘Space Research, Innovation and start-ups’ Unit in the Directorate General Defense Industry and Space (DEFIS) of the European Commission since 2018. He works on Space Research, Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, with a particular focus on digital technologies such as AI and HPC for Space, as well on the CASSINI initiative for startups. He joined the European Commission in 2008 at DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology where he managed the EU’s R&D programme on Big Data technologies, and contributed to developing policy and innovation support initiatives for the European Data Economy. Francesco holds a university degree in Earth Sciences from the University of Rome and he is specialized in Remote Sensing of the Earth.