André Franco is an analyst of AI and technology geopolitics and growth marketeer, with postgraduate studies in both International Affairs at NOVA FCSH at Lisbon, and International Business at Maastricht University. His work focuses on the diplomacy, regulation, finance and supply chains behind the AI race: Digital sovereignty, model dependency, cybersecurity, and the role played by Europe and other middle powers. He serves as a dedicated columnist for the Financial Geopolitics newsletter, where he writes on the political dimensions of AI, digital sovereignty, and the strategic competition unfolding around emerging technologies.

He has travelled extensively across some of the world's most contested geopolitical flashpoints, including Ukraine, Taiwan, the Levant and the Korean Peninsula, experience that grounds his analysis in how strategic competition plays out on the ground. He also runs East West Street (@east.west.street), a geopolitics and culture Instagram page and publication with a long-standing focus on the Middle East.

His perspective on AI is shaped by a decade in search and information systems. As AI Search Strategist at Storylake, a boutique agency specialising in AI search visibility, and previously as SEO Team Lead at Holidu, he has worked with large brands such as Omio, HelloFresh and Hostinger on how AI systems select, rank and reshape the information people see. That practitioner's view of the technology informs his reading of the information wars and dependencies now at the centre of great-power competition.

When he is not travelling acros EMEA and Asia-Pacific, he can be found reading both fiction and non-fiction on different regions of the Globe, playing chess, playing team sports and debating football tactics amongst his team's supporters. He speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish, French, Italian and some German. He lives in between Lisbon and Kraków.