Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education in Portugal (since March 2005), in charge of Science and Technology, Information Society and Higher Education.
Professor José Mariano Gago is an experimental high energy physicist and a Professor of Physics of IST. (Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon) He graduated as an electrical engineer by the Technical University of Lisbon and obtained a PhD in Physics by the École Polytechnique in Paris. He worked for many years as a researcher at the European Organisation for Nuclear Physics (CERN), Geneva, and in the Portugal's Laboratory for Particle Physics (LIP) that he chaired. Prof. Gago is member of the CERN Council. He was also President of the National Board for Science and Technology and President of the Institute for Prospective Studies in Portugal.
As Minister of Science and Technology during 1995-2002, he was responsible for science and technology and for information society policies. He launched the Ciencia Viva movement to promote S&T culture and S&T in society. During the Portuguese EU presidency (2000), he prepared, along with the European Commission, the Lisbon Strategy for the European Research Area and for the Information Society in Europe. He has also launched in 1998 the Eureka-Asia Initiative in Macao.
He chaired before taking office in 2005 the High Level Group on Human Resources for Science and Technology in Europe.
Prof.Gago is a former President of the International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) being currently a member of the Board. He is also a member of the Academia Europaea.
- Session: Conference summary and next steps towards 2020, 21st September.
