Katherine Borlongan, (aka Kat Borlongan, born on January 30, 1983 in Manila, Philippines), is a consultant .

She specializes in innovation.

She currently leads the French Tech Mission, a government-led taskforce built to bolster the French Tech ecosystem, and has been doing so since 2018.^[-1]

Born in the Philippines to a banker father and political dissident, ^{[-1] [-1]} Kat Borlongan grew up and did part of her schooling in Japan .

Her mother tongue is Tagalog and also speaks English fluently.

In 2003, she moved to France , learned French in a few months, obtained a student visa and was admitted to the entrance examination of the Institut d'études politiques de Bordeaux (Sciences Po Bordeaux);^[5] she graduated in 2007.

She then traveled to Montreal where she became the executive director for Reporters Without Borders .

Subsequently, she became a communications consultant for the International Civil Aviation Organization .

In 2009, Kat Borlongan resumed her studies and obtained a Master's degree in Communication at McGill University .^[1]

Back in France in 2011, Kat Borlongan joined the world of new technologies by organizing the Startup Weekend in Paris.

From 2013 to 2015, she was a consultant for the French government on open data issues in the framework of Etalab, the interministerial service in charge of opening public data.

In 2014, she joined Google's Paris office as a marketing consultant until 2016.

From 2013 to 2016, she headed the Paris office of the Open Data Institute , a foundation that promotes open data.^[1]

In 2013, Borlongan co-founded the consultancy firm Five by Five to support companies in their digital transformation through open innovation, by being a link between the world of startups and key accounts.

The 20-employee company had a turnover of 1.3 million euros in 2017.

Their clients include HSBC , Coca-Cola , and La Poste .^[6]

In May 2018, she was appointed director of the French Tech Mission by the Secretary of State in charge of Digital Affairs, Mounir Mahjoubi .

After the Typhoon Haiyan disaster in 2013, Kat Borlongan voluntarily coordinates a team of 500 volunteers under the Developers vs. Typhoon Haiyan initiative*.*

In addition, it carries projects against social inequalities .

Her company Five by Five has partnered with the Hôtel de Ville, Paris to launch the "Resilient Paris Innovation Fellowship," to imagine solutions to the dangers of Climate change or social exclusion .

Since 2015, Kat Borlongan has been a partner in the economic activities section of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council.