Biography

Jose Franca is Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico spanning 15 years with areas of expertise including: semiconductors, entrepreneurship and start-ups, corporate development, mergers and acquisitions and strategy. He is a member of the Portugal-EIF Fund of Funds, FCT - Conselho Científico Ciências Exactas e de Engenharia, and Conselho Nacional Empreendedorismo e Inovação; he is Non Executive Director of Portugal Venture Capital Initiative (PVCi). Jose attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Sloan School of Management and the Universidade Técnica de Lisboa Agregado studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Imerial College in London; prior to that he studied Electrical Engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico Licenciado. He has been awarded the “IEEE Fellow,” the “Golden Jubilee Award” from IEEE Circuits and Systems Society, the “Grande Oficial da Ordem" de Mérito da República Portuguesa, the “Doctor Honoris Causa” from University of Macau, and the “Industrial Pioneer Award” from IEEE Circuits and Systems Society. He is a distinguished speaker with a passion to teach and share his experiences to promote growth of others. He would like to continue teaching and finish up at his alma mater, the University of Portugal. Jose was a ember of executive council of IST and was instrumental in the reform of private equity in 2012. Over his many years of experience, he has held the titles of Chairman, CEO, President, Founder, and more when often he would take a leave of absence from teaching to promote businesses and start-ups.