About us

Bachelor's degree in Humanities and International Relations, holds two Master's degrees in European Union policies from the University of Amsterdam and the Free University of Brussels, specializing in EU economic and environmental policy. In Brussels, she worked at the European Parliament, gaining experience in the analysis of European policies and strategies related to SMEs, innovation, environment and climate change. In B.Link, she is involved in multiple projects in the field of sustainability and tourism.

Cristina is a Social Environmental Scientist at the Catalan Tourism Board, focusing on European Projects and International Relations. With a decade of experience in sustainability and climate change across various sectors, including entrepreneurship with a University of Oxford-awarded startup and founding a not-for-profit at age 24, she holds a degree in Environmental Sciences, a postgraduate in International Development (Distinction), and a master's in media and international development (Distinction, award for top 1%).

Blanca Cros has served as the Head of the European Projects and International Relations Department at the Catalan Tourism Board since 2015. In this role, she has successfully coordinated various European Projects, including Hiking Europe, CHARM (COSME), and Med Pearls (ENI-CBC-MED). Currently, she leads projects such as the Tourbit and BEFuture (SINGLE MARKET).

In addition to her position at the Catalan Tourism Board, she actively contributes as a member of the Network of European Regions for Competitive and Sustainable Tourism (NECSTOUR) and serves as an IGCAT expert (International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts, and Tourism).

With over 25 years of dedicated service in the tourism sector, she holds degrees in Tourism from both the University of Girona and the University of Toulouse Le Mirail

Gemmeke has over 15 years of experience in the meetings industry. She advises especially international organisations on how to develop positive impact on the longer term with their congresses or events within Flanders (Northern Belgium) and Brussels together with the different stakeholders in the Quadruple Helix.

Based in the capital of the European Union, Gemmeke has strong knowledge of the European policies in the field of tourism and culture.

Through the years she built and developed a large network of professionals on national and international level. Gemmeke was MPI (Meeting Professionals International) Belgium President from 2012 to 2014 and is currently active in different social responsible projects in Belgium.

Jordi Escribà (Barcelona, 1979) holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from the University of Barcelona and a Master degree in International Relations from Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI). He has more than twenty years of professional experience in the field of EU funded projects. This experience ranges from the conceptualization, design and formulation of projects to the search for funds project management and training. He has been involved in a diverse array of projects addressing different nature of topics from the EU agenda, like sustainable tourism, circular economy, SMEs competitiveness and sports, to mention few. His expertise covers the main sources of EU funding, with a great experience in Programmes like SMP, Erasmus+ and INTERREGs. Jordi has developed his working experience in the Catalan Agency for Business Competitiveness (ACCIÓ) and the European Commission. Since 2014 he is a cofounder of B.LINK, an EU-projects specialised consultancy.

Amber Herrewijn is researcher and lecturer Event Management in the master's program International Leisure, Tourism & Events Management at NHL Stenden University. Following the design-based philosophy of her university, Amber seeks interdisciplinary cooperation in the event and festival industry to work on innovative prototype developments.

Working for the European Tourism Futures Institute (ETFI), her interest in circularity & sustainability leads to collaborative research on nudging visitors towards sustainable behaviour. She is a capacity builder and researcher on future skills and a passionate connector between education and the industry.

Jochem Jansen is senior lecturer and researcher at the European Tourism Futures Instititute of NHL Stenden University. He has a background in tourism management and has worked in higher education in the field of leisure and event management 10+ years. Through this he has gained extensive experience in workshop facilitation and training, as well as in bridging the academic context with professional practice. His prime interests lie in subjects related to (sustainable) tourism destination development, placemaking and strategic foresight and scenario planning. Following his passion about future(s) studies, he is also working on a Professional Doctorate research focused on anticipating on the future(s) in the context of tourism destination governance and development.

Nicole Kayser has learned event marketing from the ground up. She then worked as head of brand product and marketing in an international company, responsible for 14 million in sales. As a relationship manager at VDVO, she has been responsible for the comprehensive support of company members for 6 years now. She knows the MICE industry for more than 15 years and is a passionate, valued networker.

Miriam is an Event specialist working at the Catalan Tourism Board. She has a 15 years’ experience in the fields of tourism and cultural and creative industries. She has worked in the public and private sectors as a promotor, consultant and project manager providing support to companies in their internationalisation or advising on their strategy as well as organising events and cultural exhibitions. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Audio-visual Communication from the University of Barcelona and a Master’s degree in Event Organisation, Protocol and Business Touris

Marta Rojas holds a degree in International Business from Pompeu Fabra University and a Master's in Business Development from Copenhagen Business School and is founding partner of B.Link.

She is an EU-funding expert having spent more than 15 years providing essential coordination and management support to a diverse array of projects related to SME competitiveness, innovation and development.

In this journey, she has contributed to the success of a number of initiatives focused on sustainable tourism and tourism digitalization. With a hands-on approach, she has been involved in establishing and overseeing financial support mechanisms targeting the acceleration of SME-led innovative projects.

Nicolas Vincent, has an extensive experience in communication for European institutions. He leads several projects for the European Parliament, the European Commission and several European Agencies.

Sònia is the Catalunya Convention Bureau’s director and responsible of the definition of the MICE strategy for Catalonia. She is a member of the Strategic Alliance of National Convention Bureaus in Europe and has an active role in different international associations such as ICCA, ECM, MPI, PCMA. She teaches at universities on MICE planning in the destinations. Over her 22 years of experience in the public and private tourism sector, Sònia has worked in different sub-sectors of the industry. Her professional experience includes destination marketing, market research, new project and business development, product creation, quality plans and tourism policy.