Mara is a Human Computer Interaction (HCI) Researcher and a technology strategist. She is the CEO of Ideas for Change, a think tank and consultancy firm advising cities, businesses and institutions on innovation, open and collaborative strategies, civic tech, and exponential growth (see the frameworks @Pentagrowth and @The Bristol approach). She is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Fab Lab Barcelona where she coordinates Making Sense, a European project that seeks to empower citizens through personal digital manufacturing applied to the design of environmental sensors, and co-founder of SalusCoop, the first Spanish cooperative for citizens’ health data. Mara co-directs the Master in Design for Emergent Futures at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. She earned a PhD in Computer Science from the Intel Collaborative Research Institute on Sustainable Connected Cities at University College London.