MAYOR OF THE LISBON CITY COUNCIL

Carlos Manuel Félix Moedas

Carlos Moedas was born in 1970 in Beja, Portugal, and graduated as a civil engineer from
Instituto Superior Técnico (Lisbon) in 1993. He was one of the first Erasmus Students in
Portugal and attended the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris (1993).

In 1998 in graduated with a Master in Business Administration from the Harvard Business
School, USA (1998/2000).

He started his career as a civil engineer working for the French conglomerate Suez Lyonnaise
des Eaux in France, where he lived for 5 years. After his graduation from Harvard he worked
for Goldman Sachs in their Investment Banking division in London.

In 2004 he returned to Portugal and became head of Aguirre Newman, where he was also a
member of the executive board in Spain. In 2008 he went on to create his own investment
management company.

In 2011 he headed the Social Democrat Party's (PSD) economic team and participated on
the negotiations for Portugal's 2011 Public Budget.

That same year he was elected a Member of Parliament by the Beja constituency and
appointed under-Secretary of State to the Prime Minister of the XIX Constitutional
Government of Portugal where he was tasked with coordination of monitoring the
adjustment programme structural reforms.

In 2014 he was nominated by the Portuguese Prime-Minister to be the the European
Commissioner. He is the Commissioner responsible for Research, Science and Innovation,
one of the largest science and innovation projects on the planet worth 77 billion euros. He
designed the proposal for the future Horizon Europe programme worth 100 billion euros,
set to be launched in 2021. He is the 5th Portuguese national to hold this position since
Portugal became a EU Member State in 1986.


In 2019 he joined the board of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. He is also vice-
president of the Jacques Delors Institute in Paris.

Carlos Moedas co-authored a series of publications in the field of science and innovation.
Among these articles, one stands out: 'Open Innovation: Research, Practices and Policies'
published in the California Management Review, co-signed by Henry Chesbrough who is
known for coining the term 'Open Innovation'.

In 2014, the Commissioner became the youngest member to be elected to the Portuguese
Academy of Engineering. He is an honorary fellow from the African Academy of Sciences. In
2016 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Laws by the University of Cork in Ireland
and in 2018 an Honorary Doctorate in Management from the ESCP Europe (École Supérieure
de Commerce de Paris).

On September 26th, 2021, Carlos Moedas was elected Mayor of Lisbon.


Powers

It has its own powers, enshrined in Article 35 of Law 75/2013and powers delegated by the City Council.

Former Mayors

Find out who were the influential personalities in Portuguese society who held the position of Mayor of Lisbon, from 1574 to the present day.