João Barros

João Barros is Chairman of the Board of AI² – Agency for Research and Innovation, Portugal’s national agency for research and innovation.

He is a Full Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Porto (currently on leave) and former Director of the Instituto de Telecomunicações in Porto. He previously served as Associate Director and Research Professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Kigali, Rwanda.

A Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), he has conducted research at leading institutions worldwide, including MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford University, the Technical University of Munich, and the University of Porto. He was also the founder and CEO of Veniam, a pioneering company in vehicular communication networks, which Nexar later acquired.

Throughout his career, he has published more than 180 scientific papers, holds 22 patents, and has received several international research awards.