Paolo Manunta is Senior Digital Technology Specialist in ADB’s Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC). He specializes in Earth Observation (EO), online Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). Paolo helps set up geospatial initiatives and has worked on cloud-based integration of EO, GIS, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Timor-Leste, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Georgia, Armenia, Mongolia and other ADB Developing Member Countries.
Paolo has co-authored several knowledge products and is currently working on a project deploying satellite imagery and AI for land use and coastal planning. To ensure financial sustainability in ADB Developing Member Countries, Dr. Manunta promotes ADB digital solutions in collaboration with several potential European donors as part of a joint initiative with the World Bank and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Paolo joined ADB as a secondee from the European Space Agency (ESA). His Asia experience started in 2014 with a transport project in Papua New Guinea that led to a full-time secondment to ADB in 2017 and eventually became a staff in 2022. After completing his PhD, Paolo Manunta worked in Canada for the Provincial Government of Alberta on climate change modelling. He has also worked extensively in the private sector in Italy.