Hey, thanks for coming to my cozy corner of the Internet!

I'm Daniel, a computer engineer from Spain. And I want to emphasize "engineer" because if you look for its meaning, you will find that it comes from Latin - ingeniare, to contrive, to devise, and that's exactly what I do: I solve problems by building things.

Since I was a kid, I had an attraction to computers. When I was around 10 years old, I asked my mom to start learning coding at an academy, and since then I have been playing with programming languages and computers. Then at university, I discovered Linux and started playing with it. I was one of the few students compiling kernels just to connect my computer to the Internet, after convincing my parents to buy me an external modem because winmodems didn't work. I loved every day at university. That spirit — learning by doing, hacking until it works — has defined who I am.

The path

As a learner, I wanted to become a researcher, so I started my PhD in AI. This curiosity led me to CERN, where I worked with Ben Segal (the person who got computers for Tim Berners-Lee so he could build the web) to build the very first virtual machine that let users all over the world run Particle Physics simulations like physicists, but from their homes, using the BOINC technology. This project allowed me to continue my journey at UC Berkeley, where I worked with David P. Anderson, the creator of BOINC. These experiences led me to embrace citizen science, and I started building PYBOSSA, an open source platform that lets anyone contribute to real research projects from their homes.

Through PYBOSSA and Scifabric, the company I founded to support its development, I have worked with the British Museum, Cancer Research UK, The Guardian, Greenpeace, NASA, and ESA. Thanks to this work, volunteers from all over the world have matched pathologists at 95% accuracy, geolocated 145,000 photos from the International Space Station, and mapped solar potential across Spain. This work has been recognized by the Shuttleworth Foundation, Prix Ars Electronica, and the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

Since 2019, I have been the CTO at Astara Innovation, building and leading technology teams across a global mobility ecosystem - Astara CONNECT, Astara MOVE, and Astara Store.

My curiosity usually never stops, so I also build in web3 - I wrote the smart contracts and platform for OBEY Giant.

What I believe

I have used open source all my life, and I will continue to do so. I have built open source projects and libraries and contributed to many others, so I am a true open source enthusiast. This collective way of sharing knowledge and technology led me to citizen science, which is another way of building: collective intelligence. I love learning from failure as it is the way things stick with you. In other words: I love building things that matter for people who need them.

Beyond the screen

When I'm not behind a screen, I enjoy running, cycling, photography, reading comics, and listening to hip-hop. When I can, I play some Magic: The Gathering. And yes, I love tweaking my keyboard's firmware on weekends.

Let's talk

If you want to chat, just book 30 minutes with me. I'd love to meet you.

Book a 30-minute call

Experience

• Founder, CEO and CTO of Scifabric.
• CTO of PYBOSSA.
• CTO of Astara Innovation & Venture Lab.
• Web3 developer of OBEY.
• Technology advisor for Astara Store.
• Technology advisor for Astara Move.
• Interim CTO of Astara Connect.

Talks

I regularly speak at conferences and events about crowdsourcing, citizen science, and web development. View all my talks