Marcos Bruno I help organizations create value with artificial intelligence and technology.

Engineer, entrepreneur and innovator — MIT Innovator Under 35, Fulbright, YLAI Fellow. From Merovingian Data to space with SpaceX.

Let's work together Watch talks
40+
organizations impacted
10+
industries
7+
countries
MIT
Innovator Under 35
Articulated robotic arm with electric-blue glowing joints next to a stack of boxes
  • MIT Innovator Under 35
  • Fulbright Scholar
  • YLAI Fellow — U.S. Department of State
  • Sigma Squared Fellow
  • Analog astronaut — MDRS & NASA ILMAH
  • International crew commander
  • An experiment orbiting the Earth since 2022
  • Speaker at 2 TEDx talks
  • Chair of Propulsar
  • Co-founder of Merovingian Data

About me

I am Marcos Bruno, a mechatronics engineer and entrepreneur. I do one single thing, even if it takes many shapes: I use technology to build things that matter.

I co-founded Merovingian Data, a company that helps organizations of every kind make better decisions and create real value with data science and artificial intelligence. In parallel, I have chased a dream that sounded impossible since I was a kid: space. I served as an analog astronaut at NASA-funded and Mars Society research stations, and an experiment my team and I designed is orbiting the Earth today, aboard a satellite launched by SpaceX.

One thread runs through it all: the conviction that the best tools of our time — artificial intelligence, robotics, space exploration — exist to bring a better future closer, and that it is always worth daring to knock on doors that look closed.

Portrait of Marcos Bruno Marcos Bruno in his workshop, next to a 3D printer and robotics components

What I do

Artificial intelligence & data

Co-founder, CTO and product lead at Merovingian Data. I help organizations become data-driven: bringing data science and artificial intelligence into the heart of the business, and turning them into better decisions, better metrics and a culture that lasts.

Visit Merovingian Data ↗

40+ organizations impacted

Merovingian Data works with organizations across more than 10 industries, including healthcare, energy, security, retail, finance, banking, the public sector, agriculture, industrial manufacturing, logistics and telecommunications, among others.

With presence in Argentina, the United States, Colombia, Chile, England, Belgium and Brazil, among others.

With clients such as KFC, Wendy’s, Havanna and Valo, among others.

Space

Analog astronaut at The Mars Society’s MDRS (Utah) and at ILMAH, a NASA-funded center (North Dakota), where I came to command an international crew. I chair Propulsar, the cluster that brings together Argentina’s private space companies.

See the space journey ↓

Innovation & impact

Projects I built to innovate and create impact:

  • Research at Stanford (Foldscope)

    We used the Foldscope — a one-dollar microscope developed at Stanford — as a cervical cancer screening tool for vulnerable regions. The results were published in scientific journals.

  • Constelar Space

    A civil association that brings together the public, private and academic sectors of the aerospace field. I co-founded it with Noel de Castro — Argentina’s first female astronaut candidate — and Carolina Renaud.

  • Universitwin

    A project to democratize access to space for students: a satellite digital twin that flew to space in 2022 with SpaceX and Satellogic, and orbits the Earth today.

Marcos Bruno at a Stanford laboratory holding a Foldscope Marcos Bruno and a colleague examine a sample through a Foldscope attached to a phone

Space journey

Going to space has been my dream since childhood. For over a decade I have been taking concrete steps toward that mission — these are some of the stations along the way.

MDRS — Mars Desert Research Station

The Mars Society · Utah desert, USA

Selected as an analog astronaut, I lived at the station running simulation tests: spacesuit EVAs, mission protocols and experiments that help us better understand the challenges astronauts will face on Mars.

Marcos Bruno wearing an analog astronaut suit in the Utah desert
Two analog astronauts walk through the Utah desert during an MDRS simulation

ILMAH — Inflatable Lunar/Mars Analog Habitat

NASA-funded center · University of North Dakota, USA

I flew analog missions at ILMAH: I was part of its first international crew and came to command an international crew. There we ran NASA experiments using the spacesuits being developed for future missions to the Moon and Mars.

Marcos Bruno in an experimental spacesuit in front of the NASA logo at the ILMAH habitat
Marcos Bruno runs an experiment wearing spacesuit gloves at ILMAH, in the snow

Crossing the Gulf of Mexico

Mars Ocean Analogs (MOA) · from Boca Chica, Texas

I crossed the Gulf of Mexico aboard a historic schooner — the vessel with the most uninterrupted time at sea — to study cognitive variables under risk, like the ones deep-space crews will face. I was trained by Reid Stowe, the person who has spent the longest uninterrupted time at sea. We set sail from Boca Chica, Texas: the place where SpaceX builds the rockets that will take humanity to Mars.

Marcos Bruno and Reid Stowe in expedition uniforms aboard the schooner, mid-crossing
Marcos Bruno in front of a SpaceX Starship rocket in Boca Chica, Texas
Marcos Bruno holds the Argentine flag in front of NASA’s ILMAH habitat Marcos Bruno in a spacesuit in front of the ILMAH inflatable habitat at the University of North Dakota

And since 2022, every time I look up at the sky I know that something my team and I built — the Universitwin experiment — is orbiting the Earth.

Recognition & fellowships

  • MIT Innovator Under 35 ↗ MIT Technology Review en Español · LatAm 2023
  • Fulbright Scholar Fulbright Program · USA
  • YLAI Fellow Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative · U.S. Department of State
  • Sigma Squared Fellow Sigma Squared Society
  • Sistema B Advisory Council Global organization of triple-impact companies
  • Ten Outstanding Young Persons Junior Chamber International (JCI)
  • Featured by National Geographic ↗ Story published by National Geographic

Talks, appearances & press

Topics I speak about

  • Artificial intelligence and the future of work
  • From dream to execution: turning bold ideas into things that work
  • Space and innovation from Latin America

Speaker at scientific conferences such as the International Astronautical Congress, The Mars Society Convention and the Argentine Congress of Space Technology. Speaker at TEDx, the IDB Annual Meeting and Seedstars World.

Marcos Bruno speaking on the TEDxEldorado stageMarcos Bruno on the TEDxRecoleta stage during his talkMarcos Bruno at a panel on artificial intelligenceMarcos Bruno receives the Ten Outstanding Young Persons award in Mendoza

Talks & appearances

TEDx — Your passion can take you anywhere, even to Mars (Spanish)

TEDx — The power of a TED talk (Spanish)

Buenos Aires Planetarium — From Mendoza to Mars (Spanish)

CNN — Is Elon Musk a key figure in the dream of going to Mars? (Spanish)

CNN — What went wrong before the Artemis I launch? (Spanish)

LA NACION Events — The story of the young man who built a robot to explore Mars (Spanish)

Endeavor — Business transformation through artificial intelligence (Spanish)

The Mars Society Convention — Rover Design presentation (Washington DC)

El Siete TV — From Mendoza to space: the young engineer who tests NASA suits (Spanish)

Telefe Noticias — Mendoza native built a robot bound for Mars (Spanish)

In the media

As featured in:

National Geographic La Nación Infobae MIT Technology Review CNN TN Página/12 Los Andes MDZ La Gaceta

Featured stories

Background

The essentials of my path, in a few lines.

Education

  • Mechatronics Engineering — Universidad Nacional de Cuyo
  • Electromechanical Engineering — Universidad Tecnológica Nacional

Publications

  • “Comparison Between Space Analogs for Future Space Missions” — International Astronautical Congress, Paris · 2022.
  • “The new era of space exploration: 3D-printing manufacturing tools” — Argentine Congress of Space Technology, Córdoba · 2017.
  • “Implementation of the Foldscope as a cervical cancer diagnostic device” — Revista Latinoamericana de Patología Clínica y Medicina de Laboratorio · 2016.
  • “Emerging spacefaring nations: viable pathways for their space development” — South American Space Generation Workshop, Lima · 2016.
  • “Education and space outreach programmes in South America” — South American Space Generation Workshop, Buenos Aires · 2015.

Languages

  • Spanish (native)
  • English (bilingual)
  • German (B1, Goethe-Zertifikat)

Mentoring & judging

  • Mentor in sustainability, technology and entrepreneurship for Argentine government initiatives and at Techstars’ Global Startup Weekend, in partnership with Google for Startups.
  • Judge at the Hult Prize (United Nations Foundation), Startup Weekend Youth (Techstars + Google for Startups) and Ten Outstanding Young Persons (JCI).

Programs & scholarships

  • MIT Global Startup Labs: one of 40 selected in a global call · 2nd prize.
  • Exchange student at Virginia Tech, USA (Fulbright scholarship) and at Karl-Franzens-Universität, Graz, Austria.
  • Delegate at conferences such as Business Today International (New York), Global Entrepreneurship Summer School (Shanghai) and the South American Business Forum (Buenos Aires).

Teaching

  • Robotics teacher at “La Casa del Futuro”, an institute for young people from vulnerable backgrounds.
  • Teaching assistant for “Calculus and Numerical Methods”, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo.

Beyond engineering

  • Pilot and advanced scuba diver.

Let's work together

I work with leaders and organizations that want to use technology to create real value: bringing artificial intelligence and data into the business, rethinking what they offer, and executing. I do it as an advisor, as a board member, and through talks and training programs.

If there is something you want to build, let’s talk.

Let's talk
Portrait of Marcos Bruno seated, in a warm setting

Contact

Email is the best channel: I read and answer personally.