# Francesco Marconi

> Francesco Marconi is a computational journalist turned startup founder who built AppliedXL, a New York company that points the tools of investigative reporting at machine data to detect events before they become news. After serving as the first R&D Chief at The Wall Street Journal and co-leading AI strategy at the Associated Press, he wrote the field-defining book Newsmakers and now applies 'pre-news' event detection to clinical trials and biopharma, surfacing the earliest signals of trial risk for partners including STAT News and the Bloomberg Terminal.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at AppliedXL
- **Organizations:** AppliedXL, The Wall Street Journal (former), Associated Press (former), Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (former adjunct), MIT Media Lab, Laboratory for Social Machines (affiliate researcher)
- **Nationality:** Italian-Portuguese
- **Education:** Bachelor's in Economics, University (Portugal), Master's in Economics, University (Italy), Master's in Journalism and Business, University of Missouri, Postgraduate / Tow Fellow, Columbia University, Postgraduate work, Harvard University
- **Known for:** Author of Newsmakers: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Journalism (Columbia University Press, 2020), First R&D Chief at The Wall Street Journal, Co-led AI and automation strategy at the Associated Press

## Career timeline

- **2015** — Joins the Associated Press, co-leading content automation and AI strategy
- **2018** — Becomes the first R&D Chief at The Wall Street Journal, leading data scientists and computational journalists
- **2020** — Publishes Newsmakers: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Journalism (Columbia University Press)
- **2020** — Co-founds AppliedXL, an event-detection company applying machine learning and investigative journalism principles
- **2022** — AppliedXL partners with STAT to launch STAT Trials Pulse, a clinical-trial monitoring platform
- **2023** — AppliedXL closes a $6M seed round; expands biopharma 'pre-news' coverage
- **2023** — AppliedXL collaborates with Bloomberg to deliver real-time AI pharma news on the Bloomberg Terminal

## Achievements

- Author of Newsmakers: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Journalism (Columbia University Press, 2020)
- First R&D Chief at The Wall Street Journal
- Co-led AI and automation strategy at the Associated Press
- Named one of MediaShift's top 20 digital media innovators
- Named to Editor & Publisher Magazine's '25 under 35' next generation of publishing leaders
- Digiday Future Leader Awards finalist
- Affiliate researcher at the MIT Media Lab's Laboratory for Social Machines
- Tow Fellow at Columbia University
- Built AppliedXL into a platform powering STAT News and the Bloomberg Terminal

## Latest updates

- **2023-03** — AppliedXL raised a $6M seed round to scale its biopharma event-detection platform
- **2023-01** — AppliedXL collaborated with Bloomberg to provide real-time, AI-powered pharma news on the Bloomberg Terminal

## Links

- Website: https://www.francescomarconi.org/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francescopmarconi/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/fpmarconi

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/francesco-marconi
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-24