Valentina Montalto has ten years of professional experience, combing work in the private sector as researcher and project manager, and in the public sector as policy analyst, with a focus on the potential of culture for economic and social well-being. Her research interests lay in a) conceptualising the role culture in an economy that is increasingly driven by knowledge and ideas; b) developing metrics to capture the economic and social value of culture; c) advising policies at all levels – local, national, European – that can help make the most of culture to empower citizens and foster new economies. Valentina Montalto currently works at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, where she is in charge of the development of the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor project. She previously worked at the Brussels-based research and advisory company KEA European Affairs where she co-authored around 15 policy-oriented reports assessing the potential of culture for local and regional development and evaluating the relevance and accuracy of available cultural statistics, on behalf of both European institutions and city authorities.