Massimo Carnelos is since December 2022 is Head of Innovation, Startups and Space at the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Between 2018 and the end of 2022, he was the Head of the Economic Section of the Italian Embassy in London and was in the Board of the Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) as Alternate Director for Italy. He was the Honorary Vice President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the United Kingdom, member of the Advisory Board of the Italians’ Private Capital Association (IPCA); Board Member of the Association of the Economic Representatives in London; Member of the Economic and Commercial Diplomacy Advisory Group (ECDAG) of the International Business and Diplomatic Exchange (IBDE).

He has a M.A. from the University of Rome La Sapienza and a specialization in international relations. He worked first as a teacher and then for International Organizations (Research Assistant at the Secretariat of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE and at the Press Office of the Council of the Ministers of the European Union). He worked at the Council of the Ministers of Italy and in 2001 joined the Italian Foreign Service.

As a career diplomat, he served first at the Middle East Desk and then at the Office for International S&T Cooperation. He was stationed at the Italian Embassy in New Zealand, Cyprus and Iraq, always as Deputy Head of Mission. Back to Rome in December 2013, he worked for more than four years at the Policy Planning Unit of the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, where he was responsible for the Research and Publication Section. The focuses of his researches were MENA, BRICS, Asia, international finance, Digital and new Technologies.