Antonio López de Ávila

Director Corporate Relations Lifestyle & Professor of Innovation Management IE Business School

Mr. Lopez de Avila is the Director of Corporate Relations EMEA APAC, professor of Innovation Management, and Director of the Travel & Tourism Innovation Initiative at IE University.

As a scholar, he focuses on various research areas in the tourism industry, including innovation, digital transformation and smart destinations in both the private and public sectors.

Mr. Lopez de Avila was Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the UNWTO on Innovation and Technology in 2017 and led the Smart Destination Initiative in Spain as President-CEO of SEGITTUR from 2012 to 2017-a pioneering and innovative initiative that is changing tourism strategy in the 21st century.

The initiative is focused on sustainability, innovation, technology, and accessibility.

It was granted the UNWTO Ulysses Award 2018 for Innovation in Research and Technology.

Mr. Lopez de Avila is also an entrepreneur and a founding partner of numerous companies. Thanks to his entrepreneurial spirit, he also created in 2012 the Spanish Tourism Entrepreneur Network (Red Innpulsa) and the Emprendetur finance program in collaboration with the Secretary of State of Tourism (which has financed around 400 start-ups and companies with more than 80M€).

He holds an Executive MBA from IE Business School and a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from ULPGC (Spain).

He is an international speaker and loves creating and working on disruptive, interdisciplinary, international and intercultural projects.