Vitor Verdelho Vieira is mentor of several companies that he co-founded with partners in different sectors. He started his first microalgae biotech company Necton, SA – www.necton.pt in March 1989, which is now an European leader in the production and sale of traditional sea salt and fleur de sel, as well as the production of microalgae for aquaculture and cosmetics. He is also co-founder and board member of A4F – Algae for Future, SA – www.a4f.pt an international reference company in the sector of macro and microalgae technologies and bioengineering.
He is at present the General Manager of EABA the European Algae Biomass Association, https://eaba-association.org with headquarters in Florence, Italy. EABA represents the sector in Europe and has a wide range of activities for the promotion of the sector. During the years 2019, 2020 and 2011 he organized and managed 22 specific workshops and webinars in topics related with microalgae and seaweed.
He is presently visiting professor in Católica Porto Business School and School of Arts in Catholic University in Porto, Portugal. He is the author with Susana Costa e Silva of the 3 volumes high impact Book: The Business Case Roadmap: https://www.amazon.com/business-case-roadmap.
Between 2000 and 2015 he has been involved in the management of SpinLogic, the entrepreneurship programme and business Incubator from the College of Biotechnology in the Catholic University in Porto, where he followed and supported more than 200 startup projects.
His business experience is wide and ranges from engineering consulting and real estate to biotechnology and medical devices. In the different companies where he has been involved, he was often connected with the innovation and business development. He designed, promoted and participated in more than 60 research and development projects along the last 30 years, since the EU FP4 and interacted with more than 200 different organizations in Europe. He is author and co-author of more than 50 publications in a wide range of topics.
He has a background in Physics from the Porto University Sciences Faculty. He established his biotech and management knowledge through a comprehensive consulting experience and more than a dozen specialized training courses in Portugal and abroad, in the last 30 years, including the Sloan School of Management. His career objectives are to develop global projects, involving technology and innovation in a ‘knowledge management’ challenging framework.
Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries 
