Led by Anamaria Magri Pantea, Founder and Managing Consultant, Ascend Consulting, the lecture’s aims will be to explore specific challenges to audience engagement, and generate ideas for possible solutions to transform audiences into repeat customers of creative products/services.

Following the design thinking methodology, a guided group-work will look into the issues faced or posed by specific audience groups, and then brainstorm, analyse and prioritise possible solutions.

Anamaria Magri Pantea, Founder and Managing Consultant, Ascend Consulting

Anamaria is an economist with specialisation in finance and an MBA alumni of the Edinburgh Business School, UK. She has over 18 years of experience in innovation management, business development and access to EU funding and other financing options. Her experience in EU and public funding for innovation ranges from guiding and supporting the preparation of applications to evaluating project proposals and funding requests, from projects management to implementation monitoring and review engagements, as well as in terms of dedicated advisory support for project results exploitation.

Indeed, Anamaria has worked with the European Commission as staff member of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, as Malta National Contact Point and Management Committee representative for the EU’s Competitiveness and Innovation Programme, as well as an independent expert on a number of EU and national funding and support programmes for innovation and entrepreneurship.

She also provides consultancy on innovation management, exploitation strategy and business development to various organisations and companies across Europe. She does this both on an independent basis, and as a selected expert service provider in the context of various EU and national support programmes. In this context, she has worked together and guided multi-functional and cross-organisational teams innovating in the field of robotics, healthcare, transport, etc. 

Anamaria is also often invited to deliver talks and facilitate innovation sessions at events across Europe and beyond, like for example:

  • Elgazala Technopark Innovation Days 2015, Tunisia
  • Oradea Innovation Days for SMEs 2015 and 2016 editions, Romania
  • Malta Communications Authority stakeholders workshop on Digital Business and Innovation Readiness 2016
  • Three seminars part of a roadshow across UK organised by Enterprise Europe Network and InnovateUK, 2017
  • Malta Innovation Summit 2017 and 2018 editions, etc.


Moreover, she is collaborating with the Edward de Bono Institute for the Design and Development of Thinking for delivering a number of study units on innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Malta.

The session will be held on Tuesday 17 December at 18:30 at Blitz, Valletta. 

Registration is required. To book your free place send us an email on fundinfo@artscouncilmalta.org.