Dr Ana Maria Ortega Alvarez

RESEARCH & POLICY ENGAGEMENTS

• Principal Investigator – Evaluation of the National Business Digital Transformation Centers (CTDE) Program, iNNpulsa & Ministry of Commerce (2023–2024). Mixed-methods national impact evaluation; data from 8,000+ SMEs across 11 regions.
• Technical Director for EAFIT – Design of the Bogotá Science, Technology & Innovation Campus (CTI Campus) service model; IDB, SILO (Spain) & SDDE (2024–2025).
• Senior Co-Researcher – Analysis of technical, economic, social, environmental & regulatory indicators for electric motorcycle inclusion in Colombia’s transport sector; IDB, Ministry of Transport & EAFIT (2025).
• Member – Regional Competitiveness Commission of Antioquia, Digital & Sustainable Connectivity Table (2023–Present).
• Member – EAFIT team formulating the organic law establishing Medellín as a Special District of Science, Technology & Innovation (2023–Present).
• Moderator & Rapporteur – iNNpulsa Colombia (2021). Contributed to the formulation of policy recommendations aimed at closing gaps in inclusive entrepreneurship and innovation. Co-authored recommendations delivered to
  the Presidency.
• Co-Researcher – Shared Reasoning: Human–AI Co-Execution of Physical Tasks (AI & computer vision, EAFIT, 2024–2025).
• Co-Researcher – Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change, Pacífico community, Medellín (EAFIT, 2024–2025).

Selected Publications

• Gutiérrez, A.; Aguilar, J.; Ortega, A.M.; Montoya, E. (2025). Sentiment analysis on social networks for defining innovation problems in organizations. Technology in Society, 81, 102804.Gutiérrez et al. (2025). Using fuzzy cognitive maps to evaluate the innovation in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Management Decision, 63(5), 1545-1567
• Gutiérrez et al. (2025). Definition of innovation problems in organizations using data analysis tasks from hybrid sources: social networks and organisational databases. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 14(1), 98.
• Gutiérrez et al. (2022). Autonomous cycles of data analysis tasks for innovation processes in MSMEs. Applied Computing and Informatics.
• Ortega, A.M.; Tabares, F.A. (2023). Psychological pricing: Myth or reality? Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 71, 103206.
• Ortega, A.M.; Véliz, J.C. (2023). Dropout Intentions in Higher Education. Journal on Efficiency and Responsibility in Education and Science, 16(2), 149–158.
• Ortega, A.M.; Pino, R. (2024). Innovation systems performance drivers and outputs. International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 33(1), 56–76.
• Ortega, A.M.; Serna, M. (2020). Determinants of innovation performance in a regional innovation system. International Journal of Innovation Science.
• Ortega, A.M.; Pino, R. (2018). Regional innovation systems: Systematic literature review. Cogent Business & Management, 5(1).
• Ortega, A.M.; Ceballos, L.M. (2018). Colombian consumers’ outshopping of apparel in the U.S. International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 28(2).

Selected Conference Presentations

• CIBEC 2024 – Keynote: The Power of Well-being: Health Expenditure, Happiness, and Human Development in OECD Countries. Cartagena de Indias.
  AMS Annual Conference 2023 – Typology of Firms by Innovation Performance: A Cluster Analysis. New Orleans.
  CLADEA 2022 – Mental Health and University Student Dropout. Guayaquil.
  CIBTI 2020 – Keynote: Collaborative Economy: Two Sides of the Same Coin. Ecuador.
  AMA Winter Academic Conference 2019 – The Regional Innovation System of Medellín. Chicago.
  AMS Annual Conference 2016 – International Consumers Apparel Outshopping in the USA. Orlando.