Joana Mendonça is associated professor with Habilitation at Instituto Superior Técnico of the University of Lisbon. She was President of the Board of the Nacional Innovation Agency in Portugal (ANI) between May 2021 and March 2023. Between 2010 and 2012, she was Deputy Director at the Directorate for Education and Science Statistics (DGEEC). She was scientific director of the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Partnership (2012-2021) and scientific coordinator at the Center of Engineering and Product Development, "); border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; background-size: 5px; text-align: justify; font-kerning: normal; line-height: 15px; vertical-align: 0.518333px;">CEiiA, (2018-2021). During 2016, she was an assistant to the Minister for Economy for issues related to Innovation and Technology and in 2009-2010, she was an assistant to the Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education, both in the Government of Portugal .She is a member of the Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, IN+, where she led the Laboratory of Technology Management and Policy. Her research focuses on management of technology and innovation, technology commercialization and adoption. She teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management and Design Thinking to Masters and PhDs students.?