Technology and Democracy

Leonardo Quattrucci is a visiting fellow with GMF Technology. He teaches management of new technologies at Sciences Po in Paris, and advises governments and startups on strategy, geopolitics, and technology.

Quattrucci’s career spans the public sector and the technology industry. He was a member of the European Political Strategy Center, the in-house think tank advising the European Commission president. At Amazon Web Services (AWS), he was head of technical programs at the Center for Quantum Networking, where he started a first-of-its-kind Harvard-Amazon partnership on quantum technologies. He also established the UN’s global account at AWS and the joint AWS-UN response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He joined Amazon to launch the Amazon Web Services Institute, an executive education program that assists governments with digital transformation, in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Quattrucci has advised the European Commission on AI adoption and Ephos, a chip maker backed by the EU Chips Act, on scaling strategy. His work has been recognized by Forbes Magazine, the BMW Foundation, Schmidt Futures, the World Economic Forum, and the Aspen Institute. He holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Oxford.  

Ioan Istrate is a nonresident senior fellow with GMF. He is part of the research team supporting the GMF Defense Tech Task Force.

Istrate is a strategic advisor specializing in transatlantic cooperation on emerging technology, defense innovation, dual-use ecosystems, and allied capability development. Recently, he served as senior advisor to the executive team of NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), where he supported the scale-up of the alliance’s dual-use accelerator program. His work involved shaping elements of DIANA’s operating model and linking emerging companies to commercialization, capital, and allied capability-development pathways. He convened the transatlantic investor network, connecting it with deep tech opportunities in 32 allied markets; and advised high-potential companies within the program on capital readiness and go-to-market strategy. He also served on the founding advisory body of the NATO Innovation Fund. 

Previously, Istrate advised the Romanian government on emerging technology policy and initiated key national-level capabilities. His background spans government, management consulting (PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kearney), entrepreneurship, and strategic advisory. Earlier in his career, Istrate contributed to global emerging technology ecosystems including at the XPRIZE Foundation, where he won the 2016 XPRIZE Visioneers competition.

Istrate holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a master’s degree from the Bucharest University of Economics.