Ignasi Oliva

Ignasi Oliva is head of innovation within the Cybersecurity and Blockchain Research Group at i2CAT. He holds a degree in Computer Systems Engineering from the Faculty of Computer Science of Barcelona (FIB-UPC) and a master’s degree in Blockchain Technologies from the UPC. As head of innovation, he focuses on researching, identifying and defining innovative solutions to enhance privacy, security and verifiability. His areas of work include: i) Applied Cryptography; ii) Blockchain and Distributed Systems; iii) Decentralised Digital Identities; iv) Decentralised Governance Mechanisms; v) Social Innovation.

He leads R&D projects in areas such as digital identity, private data sharing, the creation of new economic models, common goods, the resilience of communication infrastructures and computable verification.

Currently, his focus is on real-time verifiability of calculations from a privacy and security perspective using zero-knowledge virtual machines (zkVM), by identifying potential use cases that contribute to the adoption of the technology. This includes its application to Artificial Intelligence to preserve privacy and security in federated learning systems, verifiable Agentic AI models and zkML – zero-knowledge machine learning.

Throughout his professional career, he has combined a human-centred vision and the use of technology with a firm commitment to improving trust and resilience through projects such as SIRE (Integrated Electronic Prescription System), a shared medical records programme in Catalonia; dGUARD, a platform for preserving privacy in data exchange; and PRINGO - Private Incentives for the Common Good.