Carlos Manuel Félix Moedas (born 10 August 1970) is a Portuguese civil engineer, economist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). From 2014 until 2019, Moedas served as

European Commissioner A European Commissioner is a member of the 27-member European Commission. Each member within the Commission holds a specific portfolio. The commission is led by the President of the European Commission. In simple terms they are the equivalent ...

covering the portfolio of Research, Science and Innovation under the leadership of President Jean-Claude Juncker. Between 2011 and 2014 he served as Secretary of State in the XIX Constitutional Government of Portugal. In March 2021, Moedas announced his candidacy as Mayor of Lisbon in the 2021 local elections, and was elected on 26 September of the same year.

Early life and education

Moedas was born to a communist journalist and a seamstress in Beja,

Alentejo Alentejo ( , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond () the Tagus river" (''Tejo''). Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo and Baixo Alent ...

, southern Portugal, in 1970. He studied at Lisbon University, graduating in 1993 with a degree in Civil Engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico. He spent his final year studying at the ENPC ( Paris) via the Erasmus Programme; he was one of the first Portuguese students to undertake an Erasmus exchange.

Professional career

After leaving university, Moedas worked as a project manager for the Suez Group in France between 1993 and 1998. He then took postgraduate studies at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

, graduating in 2000 with the degree of MBA, after which he came back to Europe to work in

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

for

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

. He then worked at Eurohypo Investment Bank in its Real Estate Investment Banking Division, before returning, in August 2004, to Portugal, when Moedas joined the real estate consulting company ''Aguirre Newman Portugal'' (now ''Savills Portugal'') becoming Managing Partner until 2008, when he set up his own

investment management Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors. Investors may be institut ...

company, ''Crimson Investment Management''.

Political career

Following the Eurozone crisis, Moedas was appointed coordinator of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Economic Research Unit. He and

Eduardo Catroga Eduardo Catroga, is a Portuguese economist and former Minister of Finance for two years during the Aníbal Cavaco Silva's PSD government between 1993 and 1995.Beja constituency in the legislative elections held on the 5th of June 2011. Portrait of Carlos Moedas

Moedas was elected to Parliament, becoming the first PSD Member of Parliament for that district since 1995. The day after entering Parliament, on 21 June 2011, the Prime Minister appointed him to his Cabinet in the XIX Constitutional Government as Secretary of State. Moedas oversaw EASME (Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), the agency created to monitor and control the implementation of the structural reforms agreed in the context of the assistance programme by a troika composed of the European Commission, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In 2014, Pedro Passos Coelho, Prime Minister of Portugal, nominated him as

, and Moedas' name was approved by EC President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker on 1 September. On 1 November 2014, Moedas became European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation. In March 2021, Moedas announced his candidacy as Mayor of Lisbon in the 2021 local elections, and was elected on 26 September of the same year. He took office on 18 October 2021.

Other activities

* European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Member (since 2021) *

Aga Khan University Aga Khan University is a non-profit institution and an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network. It was Founded in 1983 as Pakistan's first private university. Starting in 2000, the university expanded to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, the United Ki ...

, Member of the Chancellor’s Commission (since 2021) * Africa Europe Foundation (AEF), Member of the High-Level Group of Personalities on Africa-Europe Relations (since 2020) * Friends of Europe, Member of the Board of Trustees (since 2020) * Trilateral Commission, Member of the European Group (since 2020) * UNESCO, Member of the Advisory Board of the "Futures of Education" Initiative (since 2019) *

Jacques Delors Institute The Jacques Delors Institute (french: Institut Jacques Delors), which also uses the name ''Notre Europe'' (French for "Our Europe"), is an independent think tank based in Paris. Founded in 1996 by Jacques Delors, it aims to "think a united Europ ...

, Vice-President (since 2020), Member of the Board of Directors (since 2019) * Re-Imagine Europa, Member of the Advisory Board

Honours and awards

* Member of the Portuguese Academy of Engineering (2014) * Commander of the Spanish Order of Civil Merit by the King Felipe VI of Spain (2015) * Honorary Doctorate in Laws by the University of Cork (2016) University College Cork
"EU Commissioner honoured by UCC"
, ''Honorary Doctorate in Laws by the University of Cork (2016)'', 4 November 2016
Honorary Doctorate by ESCP Europe - ''École supérieure de commerce de Paris'' (2018)
* Honorary Fellow of the AAS - African Academy of Sciences (2018) * Gold Medal from the Portuguese Order of Engineering (2019)

Publications

* Amaro, N. L., Moedas, C. 2011. O Novo Paradigma do Investimento Imobiliário: Análise e estratégias para um sector-chave da economia. Sabedoria Alternativa
Bogers, M., Chesbrough, H., Moedas, C. 2018. Open Innovation: Research, Practices, and Policies. California Management Review, Volume: 60 issue: 2, page(s): 5-16
* Moedas, C. "Vento Suão: Portugal e a Europa", Guerra e Paz, Lisboa, 2020.

References

External links

Biography on the European Commission website

Article on Wall Street Journal by Carlos Moedas

Article on Les Echos (French) by Carlos Moedas

Article on Science Diplomacy and the European Union

Article on California Management Review: Open Innovation: Research, Practices, and Policies by Marcel Bogers, Henry Chesbrough, Carlos Moedas
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Moedas, Carlos 1970 births École des Ponts ParisTech alumni Goldman Sachs people Government ministers of Portugal Grand Officers of the Order of Prince Henry Harvard Business School alumni Living people People from Beja, Portugal Portuguese bankers Portuguese business executives 21st-century Portuguese economists Portuguese European Commissioners Members of the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) Social Democratic Party (Portugal) politicians University of Lisbon alumni European Commissioners 2014–2019 Alumni of the Erasmus Programme Mayors of Lisbon