José Carlos Caldeira is president of the National Innovation Agency
José Carlos Caldeira, director of INESC TEC, was appointed by the Portuguese Government, through the Ministries of the Economy and Education and Science, to chair the Board of Directors of the National Innovation Agency, S.A. (Agência Nacional de Inovação – ANI).
Working at the Porto branch of INESC since 1987 – the year he completed his degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) –, and member of the Board of Directors at INESC TEC since 2001, José Carlos Caldeira will now be responsible for leading the new public agency.
“It is an honour to have received this invitation”, he stated a few days after starting on the new job. The goal of ANI is to work between science and economics. Thus, this new central position “is an opportunity to give a direct contribution at a decisive moment of Portugal’s economic development, in particular to the National Innovation System”, stated the new president of the Agency that was formerly called Innovation Agency.
Although the indicators available suggest that Portugal has a National Scientific and Technological System that is closer and closer to the European average, the country has yet to reach this average, particularly with regard to technological outputs and the technological intensity of the economy. “In these areas there is a pressing need to bring Science and Economics together, and ANI will be focusing on that”, José Carlos Caldeira explains.
In its mission to promote the valorisation of knowledge and the results of national Research & Development (R&D), ANI will encourage further collaborations between companies and the National Scientific and Technological System. The new public agency will also be strongly linked to European programmes to support R&D and the new Community Support Framework (Portugal 2020). COTEC Portugal – Business Association for Innovation will be one of the strategic partners of ANI.
On 1 October, José Carlos Caldeira took up his new post, leaving the positions of Director of INESC TEC and Executive Director of PRODUTECH – Pole of Manufacturing Technologies. The President of ANI received training at the University of Porto, where he completed, in addition to the degree, a master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at FEUP in 1991.
An active professional in the areas of manufacturing industries, José Carlos Caldeira is a member of the High Level Group of the MANUFUTURE Technology Platform and Chairman of its National and Regional Technology Platforms Group. He is also member of the Board of EFFRA - European Factories of the Future Research Association, and of the ISPIM - International Society for Professional Innovation Management. Moreover, José Carlos Caldeira is National Delegate of HORIZON 2020’s NMP+B Programme Committee. Since 2012, the former Director of INESC TEC is an expert in RIS3 at DG Regio.
