Augusto
Medina
Validated Lead Expert
Generic Skills
B.1. Understanding of integrated and sustainable urban development:
Augusto Medina is an experienced consultant and academic. He has directed numerous public and private sector projects, and has special interest in promotion of innovation and research, international development, business development, creation of strategic partnerships, technology transfer, evaluation and training.
Augusto Medina has directed all of SPI’s work since its inception in 1996. This work includes research and development, innovation, training and entrepreneurial projects in Portugal and Western Europe, as well as in Asia, Africa, the USA and South America. In the last ten years, he has directed several projects developed by SPI related to sustainable urban development, such as the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Regional Development Programme (Ceará, Brazil), the Strategic Plan for Cooperation and Territorial Development for ZASNET 2014-2020 (ZASNET territory, Spain and Portugal), the definition of an Urban Regeneration Area in Bragança (Portugal), amongst others.
In addition to his consulting and business experience, he has extensive academic experience that equips him with expertise in research career development, training and capacity building. He was a Full Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Porto, Portugal. He is also an Honorary Doctor at the Moscow State Academy of Applied Biotechnology, Russia. He also received the award the Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite from the President of the French Republic.
B.2. Understanding of exchange and learning processes at transnational level:
Augusto Medina has extensive experience of facilitating exchange and learning at transnational level having worked in cross border, interregional and transnational exchange projects since the 1990's.
Examples of such projects include the CIP SmartCampus (Building-User Learning Interactions for Energy Efficiency) and MyNeighbourhood (Open Innovation for Internet-enabled services and next generation access (NGA) in smart cities), the preparation of the Operational Programme for Territorial Cooperation in Southwest Europe (SUDOE) between 2014 and 2020, the WB financed InfoDevBusiness Incubator Management Training (2009 - 2010), the Socrates Minerva InnoUniLearning – The Fostering of Innovative e-learning Strategies in Higher Education, amongst others.
Augusto Medina has adopted and conceptualised innovative methodologies related with animating and coordinating transnational activities, focused on the identification of best practices, the extraction of lessons learned, or the development of strategic guidelines and orientations.
B.3. Proficiency in English:
For most of his professional career, Augusto Medina has been working closely and successfully in international teams with high diverse backgrounds, cultures and languages. The work language in all these projects is English.
Augusto Medina has extensive insight on dealing with multinational and multicultural environment, including managing numerous international projects and the opening of SPI offices in the USA, China, Spain and Singapore.
Augusto Medina has coordinated numerous projects of international collaboration since 1986, with emphasis on projects funded by EU programs, including FP5, 6 and 7 and most recently H2020.
Currently, as SPI President, he is directing a team of 70 people located in different continents.
Augusto Medina has developed a very calm and clear approach in setting out his ideas and thoughts, both orally and written. Additionally, he has extensive experience in providing seminars, workshops, training and public presentations, both in Portugal and abroad.
Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:
Summary Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:
Augusto Medina has a significant experience in the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities, acquired in the coordination of dozens of European projects (mainly FP5, FP6 and FP7 projects) over the last 15 years. He has also a strong experience in managing projects in developing countries, on behalf of donor organizations such as The World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank.
Currently, as SPI’s president, he is directing a team of 70 people located in three different continents.
Prior to SPI, Augusto Medina was the President of the Scientific Board at the Federation of Portuguese Agro-Food Industry. Augusto Medina was also an Executive Board Member at the Association for the College of Biotechnology of the Catholic University of Portugal, where he was responsible of the association’s strategy to manage industry/academic relationship.
Augusto Medina was also president of EFFOST - European federation of Food Science and Technology, UK. EFFOST is a non-profit association, with 80 affiliated societies in 21 European countries. It is a focus for European cooperation among food scientists, engineers, technologists and businesses in food and food-related areas. Augusto Medina was responsible for EFFOST’s work in the conception, implementation and evaluation of international scientific initiatives in food science and technology.
Thematic expertise:
Theme / Policy:
Research, Innovation and Knowledge Economy
Summary Thematic expertise:
Augusto Medina has a proven experience in designing and delivering transnational exchange and learning activities, acquired in the coordination of dozens of European projects over the last 15 years.
Examples can be found in projects such as FP7 ChinaAccess4U (Supporting the EU access to Chinese research & innovation programmes), InnoMatNet (Networking of materials laboratories and innovation actors in various industrial sectors for product or process innovation) and FAHRE (Food and Health Research in Europe), CIP SmartCampus (Building-User Learning Interactions for Energy Efficiency) and MyNeighbourhood (Open Innovation for Internet-enabled services and next generation access (NGA) in smart cities), LdV-TOI BEST FORM (Boosting Entrepreneurship Tools for Migrants) and Grundtvig STRESSLESS (Improving Educators Resilience to Stress).
Augusto Medina thematic experience lies mainly in the topics of Research, Innovation and Knowledge Economy, Entrepreneurship and Competitive SME and the way these can contribute to Local Economic Development. Topics such as innovation, new economic development strategies, triple/quadruple helix collaboration and governance are at the heart of most the projects he has been involved in.
Theme / Policy:
Local Economic Development
Summary Thematic expertise:
Augusto Medina has a proven experience in designing and delivering transnational exchange and learning activities, acquired in the coordination of dozens of projects over the last 15 years.
Examples can be found in projects such as the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study, the development of transnational programmes such as SUDOE, the implementation of economic development projects at international level (such as the Cluster Development Plan for Tourism for the Municipality of São Luís, in Brazil) and the coordination of projects with over 80 municipalities and regions in Portugal and Spain over the last 10 years.
Augusto Medina thematic experience lies mainly in the topics of Research, Innovation and Knowledge Economy, Entrepreneurship and Competitive SME and the way these can contribute to Local Economic Development. Topics such as innovation, new economic development strategies, triple/quadruple helix collaboration and governance are at the heart of most the projects he has been involved in.
Expertise support to local authorities and other stakeholders in designing & delivering integrated and participatory policies
E.1. Knowledge on participatory methods and tools for co-production and implementation of local polices :
Augusto Medina has a significant experience in designing and delivering participatory methods and tools for co-production and implementation of local policies. Examples include:
- In the “Cluster Development Plan for Tourism for the Municipality of São Luís”, several workshops were organized with local stakeholders for the creation of a cluster capable of increasing São Luís’ competitive advantages in terms of tourism;
- In the “Evaluation Study of Economic Enhancement of the Endogenous Resources Programme (PROVERE)”, 21 workshops (overall, involving more than 250 participants) were conducted. An innovative methodology was adopted for these workshops (with the application of several animation methods), with the main goal to gather opinions and recommendations of stakeholders to support the evaluation.
E.2. Knowledge on integrated approach for the design, delivering, monitoring and evaluation of urban strategies/policies:
Augusto Medina has coordinated several projects where monitoring tools for integrated and sustainable urban strategies have been designed. For example, in projects such as “Definition of an Urban Regeneration Area in Bragança”, “Strategic plan for urban development of Esposende” and “Strategic Plan for the Bragança Eco-city”, an indicator system that contains a set of key indicators and qualitative data have been proposed. These indicators are supposed to measure progress in the implementation of the strategies designed. Furthermore, an Observatory responsible for collecting/measuring these indicators has been created.
E.3. Awareness of the main policy and funding schemes for sustainable urban development at EU and national level:
Augusto Medina has coordinated several projects where monitoring tools for integrated and sustainable urban strategies have been designed. For example, in projects such as “Definition of an Urban Regeneration Area in Bragança”, “Strategic plan for urban development of Esposende” and “Strategic Plan for the Bragança Eco-city”, an indicator system that contains a set of key indicators and qualitative data have been proposed. These indicators are supposed to measure progress in the implementation of the strategies designed. Furthermore, an Observatory responsible for collecting/measuring these indicators has been created.
E.4. Ability to understand specific local situations and adapt tools and content to different local realities:
Augusto Medina has coordinated several projects where tools and content have been adapted to different local realities. Examples include:
- STITCH - Sustainable and Nature based Tourism IT Course and Handbook: This project aimed to create an IT-based learning course under the theme Sustainable and Nature based Tourism, with the objective of strengthening the position of this sector within the general tourism industry and improve the general learning. The course has been adapted and implemented in the following European countries: Austria, Germany, Portugal, Romania, Turkey and United Kingdom;
- European Virtual Enterprise Centre (EVEC): As already mentioned, this project involved the design, development and implementation of a web based European Virtual Enterprise Centre (EVEC) to be used by vocational students from disadvantaged communities. This web-based tool has been adapted and implemented in Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom.
Augusto Medina coordinated the projects and contributed to the development of the learning course/tool.
Summary Expertise:
Augusto Medina has a proven experience in supporting local authorities and other stakeholders in designing and delivering integrated and participatory policies, acquired in the coordination of dozens of projects over the last 15 years.
Examples can be found in projects such as the implementation of economic development projects at international level (such as the Cluster Development Plan for Tourism for the Municipality of São Luís, in Brazil) and the coordination of projects with over 80 municipalities and regions in Portugal and Spain in the same period.
Informations
Residence location:
Portugal
Languages:
Portuguese - Mother tongue
Foreign Languages level:
Foreign languages:
Foreign Languages level:
Foreign languages:
Email:
augustomedina@spi.pt