Speakers

He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from IST, an MBA from NOVA SBE, and has studied cybersecurity in the United States. With experience in the ICT, banking, and retail sectors, he has served as a consultant to the President of the Republic and the Government of Portugal. He is the Director-General of COTEC Portugal, the country’s leading business network for technological innovation.

A full professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Lisbon, he holds a Ph.D. from Newcastle University (United Kingdom). He has had a distinguished career in the fields of biotechnology, microbiology, and animal nutrition; he is the author of dozens of scientific publications and is the inventor and co-founder of the biotechnology company NZYTech.

He is currently the Rector of the University of Lisbon and has held other academic leadership positions, notably that of Dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine. Since April 2026, he has also served as President of the Council of Rectors of Portuguese Universities (CRUP).

Professor of Planning, Urbanism, and the Environment; researcher and director of the Center for Innovation in Territory, Urbanism, and Architecture at the Instituto Superior Técnico – University of Lisbon. She is the author of the Strategic Environmental Assessment methodology, which incorporates strategic thinking for sustainability; she is also an international consultant and university professor specializing in strategic assessment for sustainability in both the public and private sectors.

He served as President of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) and received the IAIA2015 Lifetime Achievement Award for his international contributions to the theory, education, and practice of environmental impact assessment.

She is the scientific coordinator and author of the ST4S methodology—Strategic Thinking for Sustainability—which provides the framework for the strategic and participatory evaluation process regarding national research and innovation priorities, as part of the creation of the Agency for Research and Innovation (AI²).

She previously served as Executive Director of Business at UPTEC—the University of Porto’s Science and Technology Park—where she led efforts to foster connections between startups, universities, and companies. She was responsible for developing acceleration programs, supporting the creation of technology companies, and attracting investment. She has direct experience in growing innovation ecosystems and transferring knowledge to the market. 

He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering, with a specialization in Rural and Natural Resource Economics, from the Higher Institute of Agronomy at the Technical University of Lisbon. He is a professor at the School of Agronomy of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, teaching courses in Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology.

He served as President of the Portuguese Society for Rural Studies (2003–2007), Chair of the Board of Directors of the School of Agriculture at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (1999–2005), and Vice President of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (2006–2018).

He has served as President of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança since 2018 and also serves as a member of the Coordinating Council of Polytechnic Institutes (CCISP).