Berlin, December 15, 2023 – FIWARE announced today that Andrea Battaglia will become the foundation’s next Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Officers. Andrea will join FIWARE as the incoming CEO on January 1, 2024.

With 20 years of experience in the IT industry, Andrea is known for his proven track record in digital transformation, enterprise IoT, and ecosystem development. He will bring his deep knowledge of the business and technical aspects within the enterprise open-source industry to the forefront of FIWARE’s mission to empower its partners and members through innovative open-source technologies, ecosystem collaboration, and a customer-centric vision.

Andrea has extensive experience in executive leadership and technology-driven organizations, paired with considerable operational expertise in guiding companies and their partner ecosystems through periods of transformation, innovation, and sustainable growth. He will be fundamental in guiding FIWARE toward introducing new digital strategies and solutions to the global market.
Most recently, Andrea served as Head of Business Development for Edge Computing and AI in the Ecosystem Market Incubation Department at Red Hat EMEA.

“I am grateful for the trust placed in me by the FIWARE Board of Directors and proud to take on this role. Our mission is to keep making FIWARE a global standard and continue to drive innovation in all target industries, Enterprise Edge, IoT, and beyond, to pave the way for a digital and sustainable future. In my new role, I am committed to continuing a path that ensures FIWARE Foundation remains at the forefront of these developments by further strengthening and fostering collaboration with Open Source communities, enterprise technology vendors, and technology consumers,” said Andrea Battaglia.

Dario Avallone, Chairman of FIWARE’s Board of Directors, commented, “Andrea is a proven senior executive and a strong operational business developer. He has done an outstanding job over the past years, supporting the transformation of Red Hat into a reliable provider of enterprise open-source software solutions with an impressive portfolio of digital products and strategic partnerships. This is why we believe that Andrea will be an extraordinary value-add who can implement the FIWARE long-term strategy, capture the opportunities ahead of us, and drive growth into further international markets.”

FIWARE’s focus remains on continuing to grow and develop its position as a global provider of open-source technologies for key economic sectors such as Smart Cities, Smart Energy, Smart Water, Smart Industry, and Smart Agriculture. FIWARE is also committed to strengthening its role as a leader in the area of Data Spaces, and expanding into new regions and countries, such as China, Brazil and the Middle East.

FIWARE‘s actual CEO, Ulrich Ahle, added, “Andrea’s leadership philosophy is deeply rooted in collaboration, innovation and a commitment to the values of openness and transparency, which are central to FIWARE’s ethos. This makes him an excellent fit for FIWARE and its community. I am glad to hand over the management of FIWARE to such a hands-on leader, and I am looking forward to further supporting the collaboration between many established initiatives, like the Data Spaces Business Alliance between Gaia-X, IDSA, BDVA and FIWARE”.

After over seven years as FIWARE’s CEO, Ulrich Ahle will pass the baton to Andrea Battaglia at the end of this month to lead FIWARE into the future successfully. Under Ulrich’s guidance, the foundation has grown to 625+ members, 39 iHubs, more than 1,200 Smart Data Models, with five focus sectors, and references on every continent. As a result, FIWARE has been able to significantly expand its market position and has attained a leading role not only in Europe, but also in North and South America, Japan, India, Korea and Saudi Arabia, among others. In Smart Cities FIWARE is even the globally leading Open Source technology.

Andrea will take over a well-positioned FIWARE Foundation and elevate it to the next level of success. As long standing and experienced members of the Board of Officers, Cristina Brandtstetter (CMO) and Stefano de Panfilis (COO) will ensure ongoing continuity in the leadership team.

Picture (from left to right) Ulrich Ahle outgoing CEO, FIWARE, Andrea Battaglia, incoming CEO, FIWARE

Picture (from left to right) Board of Officers: Cristina Brandtstetter, CMO, FIWARE, Andrea Battaglia, incoming CEO, FIWARE, Stefano De Panfilis, COO, FIWARE