Distinguished Fellow with Cisco's global innovation and strategy group
Very sadly and unexpectedly our friend Diogo has recently died. Only 43 years old, Diogo was a leading innovator with a powerful vision for a fairer, more connected and empowered European citizenship. He had led digital innovation in his home country of Portugal before working in Europe and in London as Distinguished Fellow for Cisco Systems. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and family.
We have left Diogo's biography in place and unchanged until we have found a fitting way of remembering him for the future.
Since February 2007, Diogo has been a Distinguished Fellow with Cisco’s Global Innovation and Strategy Group (IBSG). Diogo works on the role of information technology to promote energy efficiency, achieve sustainable prosperity and foster innovation. Before joining Cisco, Diogo was the Knowledge Economy Advisor to the Portuguese President of Republic Cavaco Silva, and lead his successful digital campaign.
Since 2011 Diogo has led the global innovation practice of IBSG. He works with different governments in Europe and the Middle East, with the European Commission and OECD. He chaired the Business Panel on Future EU Innovation Policy, which prepared the new EU innovation policy, approved in February 2011 by the European Heads of State and Government. He also co-authored the report on Europe and Social Innovation for the President of the European Commission.
Diogo chairs SIX - Social Innovation eXchange, the world’s primary network bringing together companies, individuals and organisations involved on designing new solutions to social and environment challenges. SIX was selected by the European Commission to define and implement the European Social Innovation initiative, launched in March 2011. Since April 2011 Diogo has been the Gulbenkian Foundation commissioner on social innovation.
Diogo is a member of the High Level Panel on Measurement of Innovation, created by European Commissioner for Research and Innovation Ms Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, that suggested a new EU innovation headline indicator to complement R&D; and was appointed in October 2010 as a permanent independent expert on the design and implementation of innovation and research strategy. He was a member of the high-level panel established by Vice President and European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, Mrs Neelie Kroes, to advise the European Commission on innovative solutions to address the opportunities of an ageing society, that paved the way for the first European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing.
Diogo is also a co-founder and member of the Board of the European Venture Club, a network of leading international venture capital firms and corporate investors interested to co-invest in Europe and foster the internationalisation of European startups. He chairs Dialogue Café, a global network that will bring people together from cities across the globe to learn, share and collaborate on projects which support people and planet, through state of the art videoconference technology.
From May 2008 to April 2011, Diogo was Chairman of APDC, a 25 years old ICT and Telecom independent association. He was elected in May 2009 as a member of the Executive Board on DigitalEurope the voice of digital industry in Europe.
Diogo is also member of the board of Catholic University of Porto and member of the advisory boards of the leading European think tanks, namely the Lisbon Council (Brussels), European House-Ambrosetti (Milan), Lisbon Civic Forum (Stuttgart) and fellow of ResPublica (London).
From 2003 to 2005, he founded and lead the Knowledge Society Agency, where he created and implemented the Information Society, eGoverment and National Broadband Initiatives, reporting to Prime Minister Jose Manuel Barroso. He was also a member of the board of the Portuguese Innovation Agency. He was elected member of the Parliament and Vice-President of the Social Democratic Party and is its spokesperson for Innovation and Knowledge Society.
Prior to that, Diogo founded a multimedia company and published the first magazines in his country on both the internet and entrepreneurship and launched the Entrepreneurs Academy. He has a Law degree and post-graduate degrees in Communications Law, Management and Political Science. In 2006, Diogo received Comendador Ordem Infante D. Henrique from the former Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio.
Diogo is married and lives in London.
