Carla Costa is an Assistant Professor at the Engineering and Management Department at Técnico Lisboa and a member of the CEGIST research center. She holds a Ph.D. in Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Technological Change from Carnegie Mellon University (USA), an M.Sc. degree in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology from Técnico Lisboa, and a B.S. in Business Administration from ISCTE (Portugal). 

Before joining academia, Carla worked for the Portuguese Governmental Agency for Innovation, supporting the development of technology-based companies, a gained hands-on experience at a biotech business incubator and at Técnico’s entrepreneurship office. Carla spent twelve years in the Netherlands as a lecturer and assistant professor at Maastricht University and Utrecht University, where she taught courses in innovation and entrepreneurship.  

Her research examines how entrepreneurship influences industry dynamics within innovative clusters and how embodied knowledge contributes to the emergence of spinoffs. She is also interested in understanding the role of pre-acceleration programs in fostering new venture creation. Carla is actively involved in the international research community while maintaining connections with entrepreneurs.