ECIE 2026
21st European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Biographies
Below are the ECIE Biographies of the Conference and Programme Chairs, Key Note Speakers and Mini-Track Chairs.
Conference and Programme Chairs
Florinda Matos is a Professor of General Management at ISCTE Business School, ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, and an associate research fellow at DINÂMIA’CET – IUL – Centre for Socioeconomic and Territorial Studies, where she leads several international projects, including the CoVE Future Skills Factory. As the editor of several journals and books, she has authored numerous works on knowledge and intellectual capital management, resilience, sustainability, and digital transformation. She is a distinguished conference chair for numerous conferences in the fields of intellectual capital, knowledge management, and innovation. Additionally, she is the Founder and President of ICAA – Intellectual Capital Association and serves as Portugal’s ambassador for The New Club of Paris.
Pedro Sebastião is a Full Professor at ISCTE-IUL and President of AUDAX-ISCTE, leading national and international initiatives in innovation and entrepreneurship. A researcher at the Institute of Telecommunications, his work covers the low-altitude economy, drone and unmanned systems communications, stochastic processes, IoT, and efficient communication systems. He has supervised numerous theses, authored over 200 publications, and led or evaluated more than one hundred R&D projects. He has also developed several postgraduate and doctoral programs, supported technology-transfer initiatives and startup creation, and previously worked in defence industries and at Nokia-Siemens. He holds a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from IST – University of Lisbon.
Keynote Speakers
Prof. Soumodip Sarkar has a distinguished international career. He holds a Masters and PhD in Economics from Northeastern University and is Full Professor at the University of Évora and researcher at CEFAGE-UE. His academic leadership has included serving as Vice-Rector, where he led initiatives in technology transfer and entrepreneurship. He is currently Executive President of the Alentejo Science & Technology Park (PACT), where he is an active practitioner and promoter of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Through PACT, he has overseen partnerships and innovation projects in sectors such as energy, AI, aerospace and healthtech. Prof. Sarkar’s research focuses on how innovation emerges and scales under constraints, at the intersection of human adaptability, institutions and technology. His work appears in leading journals. His leadership portfolio covers governance, innovation scaling and inter-institutional coordination, including multi-stakeholder investment programmes and strategic partnerships with corporations and governments. He has authored influential books, supervised numerous PhD candidates, and was recently awarded a European project to design an immersive AI-based learning lab. He is also a past Fellow ((2015 2025) at the Asia Center of Harvard University. Prof. Sarkar has played key roles in academic evaluation and accreditation, serving as Chair of the Social Sciences 2 panel of the Lithuanian Science Council (2014–2018), as a member of the Portuguese university evaluation agency A3ES, and as an evaluator for the CEEMAN international accreditation board.
André Leonardo is an entrepreneur, author, and keynote speaker, and a faculty member at ISCTE Executive Education, where he also coordinates the postgraduate programme Empowerment. He holds a Master’s degree in Management from ISCTE-IUL. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the Business Research Unit (BRU) at ISCTE-IUL, with research interests in leadership, entrepreneurship, and behavioural studies. He is the founder of several ventures, including Faz Acontecer, Mid-Atlantic Hostel, and Volcanic Hostel, and has worked extensively at the intersection of business, leadership, and innovation. As a speaker and executive trainer, he has delivered keynotes and programmes to more than 150,000 people across nine countries. André is the author and co-author of multiple books published in Portugal and Spain, including the entrepreneurship bestseller ‘Faz Acontecer’, and created and hosted the television series of the same name. His work focuses on turning ideas into action and helping individuals and organisations translate ideas into meaningful execution.
Mini Track Chairs
Paul Coyle is the Director of the Entrepreneurial Mindset Network, a global community of practice, with members in 107 countries, and special interest groups for the application of the entrepreneurial mindset in business, education, healthcare and social entrepreneurship. The Network’s vision is that everybody, not just entrepreneurs, can benefit from having an entrepreneurial mindset including employees in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. An entrepreneurial mindset enables each person to make their unique contribution to the world. Paul is an expert in the entrepreneurial mindset, innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership and organisational change.
Marco Lamas holds a Post-Doc in Education (Entrepreneurship), PhD in Education (Entrepreneurship) and Bsc in International Relations. He is Senior Professor at ISLA – Polytechnic University of Management and Technology where he Leads the Business and Innovation LAB (BIL) and is the Director of the master’s degree in management, and the Director of the Postgraduate course in Entrepreneurship: Tech Startups. Marco is also a Researcher, member of CEI and CEOS.PP, both from ISCAP -P.Porto and also member of the Research Centre of ISLA-IPGT. He is a Founder member of SHINE – Scaling Higher Education Innovation for Europe (https://shine-project.eu/).
Dr. Victor (Vik) Pérez, is an educator-researcher-practitioner whose work has shaped the emergence of brain-driven entrepreneurship, integrating neuroscience, technology, innovation, and education. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the forthcoming World Encyclopedia of Neuro-Entrepreneurship (World Scientific Publishing) and is the creator of the WNYLE Method, an award-recognized, brain-based approach to cultivating the entrepreneurial mindset. Dr. Pérez also developed Cognitive Performance Music (CPM), a neuro-algorithmic intervention designed to enhance focus, motivation, and reflective learning. His book Entrepreneurship and Neuroscience: Researching Brain-Driven Entrepreneurship (Routledge) articulates the conceptual foundations of this field, while his forthcoming Mastery of Emotions in Entrepreneurship Education (MEE) (Edward Elgar) explores its affective dimension.He is the founder of the international research networks BRANET and INNOMUSIC Global, which connect scholars and creators advancing this new frontier.
Alexander Matrosov (M.Sc. Tech.) supports early-stage academic entrepreneurial teams by advising, sparring, and coordinating their initial steps toward market-oriented development. His work focuses on helping researchers and entrepreneurial teams identify opportunities, shape preliminary value propositions, and align their activities with realistic commercial pathways. Acting as a mediator between academic groups and industry stakeholders, he facilitates structured experimentation, early customer exploration, and opportunity evaluation. His practical experience across multiple radical innovation cases contributes to understanding how collaborative, cross-sector processes enable entrepreneurial value creation within university–industry ecosystems
Dr. Thao Kim Nguyen is a Lecturer in Management and Director of the International Business Master’s Program at the School of International Business and Marketing. Her research interests include interorganizational relationships, innovation strategies, and sustainable business practices. She has published and presented work on innovation ecosystems, firm innovation, and firm competitiveness development in international contexts
Carlos Miguel Oliveira has a Ph.D. in Management. He is a Coordinating Professor and Director of the School of Management at ISLA – Polytechnic University of Management and Technology. He is editor-in-chief of the Management in Review Journal and a collaborating member of CEOS.PP – Centre for Organisational and Social Studies. In recent years, he has published several articles in journals and conferences. He is a reviewer in some journals in the management area.
Outi-Maaria Palo-oja (D.Sc. Econ. & Bus. Adm.) is Head of the Growth and Commercialisation (GroCo) Research Group at LAB University of Applied Sciences. She specialises in innovation management, research commercialisation, and university–industry collaboration. Her work examines technology transfer, co-creation, and critical sensemaking in innovation ecosystems. With extensive experience in national and international research collaborations, she is an expert in qualitative and interpretive methods. Her recent publications focus on AI in innovation management, science commercialisation, and societal entrepreneurship within academic–industry partnerships
Marta Rosa holds a Master’s degree in Social Studies of Environment and Sustainability from ISCTE – Lisbon University Institute. She is a research assistant at DINÂMIA’CET-ISCTE, working within the Innovation and Work Research Group. She is currently part of the European project CERERE (Cereals Resilience Revolution for Agile Supply Chain Management in the Mediterranean). She has also collaborated on the SocioDigital Lab’s Strategic Project (Thematic Line 1), supporting dissemination efforts on regenerative territories and pathways towards carbon neutrality.
Sara Proença is a professor at the Polytechnic University of Coimbra (PUC), Portugal, and an integrated researcher at CERNAS – Research Center for Natural Resources, Environment and Society. She served as Director of the INOPOL Entrepreneurship Academy (2021–2025) and as Pro-President for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2019–2021) at PUC. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from ISEG–University of Lisbon, and a Master’s and Bachelor’s in Economics from FEUC–University of Coimbra. Her doctoral dissertation, Impact Assessment of Energy and Climate Policies: A Hybrid Bottom-up General Equilibrium Model (HyBGEM) for Portugal, received the António Simões Lopes Prize and was published by Almedina Editions. She has contributed to national and international R&D+I projects, published in peer-reviewed journals, and participated in numerous conferences. Her current research focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems, academic entrepreneurship, academia–industry collaboration, business model innovation, and applied economics.
João J.M. Ferreira is a Full Professor at the University of Beira Interior (UBI), Portugal, where he also coordinated the Business Sciences Research Unit (NECE). He earned his Ph.D. in Management from UBI in 2004, after attending the European Doctoral Programme in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, in 1999. He has edited or co-edited several books on innovation and entrepreneurship and has published over 200 articles in leading international journals, including Business History, Regional Studies, Technovation, Journal of Business Research, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Management Decision, R&D Management, and Technological Forecasting & Social Change, among others. He currently serves as Associate Editor for Management Decision and the Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development. His research interests span strategy, competitiveness, and entrepreneurship. According to Stanford University (USA), he is ranked among the top 2% of the most influential scientists worldwide in the field of business and economics.
Andreea Maria Gabriela MILITARU is a PhD candidate at the Doctoral School of Entrepreneurship, Business Engineering and Management, National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest. She is currently ERASMUS+ KA131 HEI expert, and is an associate teaching assistant at the Faculty of Entrepreneurship, Engineering and Business Management (FAIMA). As a researcher, she has authored several articles on innovation systems and entrepreneurial behaviour and has participated in conferences on related topics. Andreea’s ongoing research topic is improving innovation and technology transfer systems at the HEI level. She is passionate about mentoring her students and understanding the cultural dimensions of educational performance through visits to other universities and countries.
Ludmila Walaszczyk, PhD in Management Sciences, is a researcher in the field of sustainable development and business innovation, focusing on integrating environmental, social, and economic dimensions into business models. She is particularly interested in the role of digital technologies in supporting sustainability transitions, as well as methods for measuring and communicating triple bottom line outcomes – people, planet, and profit. Ludmila Walaszczyk conducts empirical research, case studies, and conceptual work to develop frameworks that guide the implementation of sustainable business models. Her goal is to understand how companies can remain competitive in dynamic markets while contributing to systemic socio-economic change.
Dr Souad Slyman is a Principal/Senior Lecturer and former Interim Deputy Head of the MOSI (Marketing, Operations, Supply Chain and Innovation) cluster. Her teaching and research span artificial intelligence, digital innovation, entrepreneurship, simulation technologies, and data-informed pedagogy. Her current work focuses on empowering women in intelligent systems and entrepreneurship, developing evidence-based frameworks for ethical AI, venture validation, and capability-building. She is Founder & CEO of AWEiSE (Acumenous Women Empowerment in Intelligent Systems & Entrepreneurship. She has led initiatives that enhance engagement, critical thinking, and employability in science and business education. Supervision and collaboration interests include responsible AI, technology-enabled entrepreneurship, learning analytics, and simulation for management education.