Gertraud Leimueller is founder of winnovation (www.winnovation.at), an international research and consultancy firm specialized on leading-edge methods of open and distributed innovation. She leads innovation projects in various high-tech as well as service industries and works in close collaboration with international universities.

Gertraud is president of the Austrian creative industries platform creativ wirtschaft austria (www.creativwirtschaft.at) at the Federal Chamber of Commerce since 2006 and closely connected to creative industries actors across Europe. From 2010 to 2011, she was one of 20 members of the EU Expert Panel on Services Innovation, which consulted the European Commission on innovation in the service sector and issued a report on “Transformative Services” in early 2011.

Gertraud studied at Harvard University, where she earned a Master Degree in Public Administration (MPA), at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and at the University of Vienna, where she got a Ph.D. in Science.