C.M. do Rosário Costa

Carla is an entrepreneurship enthusiast and a researcher, and she helps entrepreneurs shape a better world. 

Carla is a Lecturer at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, working with students who aim to learn how to be innovative and entrepreneurial in our society. Carla links research with practice using experiential learning techniques (e.g., simulation games, case method, problem-based learning, role-playing, project development) to give students a sound theory-based knowledge and the skills they need to have an impactful role in society.  

Carla received a PhD in Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Technological Change from Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) in 2013. Prior to becoming engaged with academia, she worked with entrepreneurs at a biotech startup, a venture capital-owned biotech business incubator, a university entrepreneurship office, an innovation consultancy, a government agency promoting innovation, etc. Her interest in entrepreneurship and innovation started long before joining academia, but she developed further by learning about the scientific perspective on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Carla’s research focuses on the role of entrepreneurship in shaping industry dynamics in innovative clusters, and also in pre-acceleration entrepreneurship programs (using econometrics and network analysis techniques). Carla is active in the international scientific community and keeps a connection with startups and entrepreneurs.

In 2012, Carla organized the first pre-acceleration event ‘Startup Pirates@Lisbon’ and had the opportunity to take part in the movement that by then started to put Lisbon on the global entrepreneurship hot-spot map. In 2010, she organized an annual forum of the Portuguese-American Post-graduate Society, held in Pittsburgh (PA), with the presence of the Portuguese Minister for Science, Technology, and Higher Education and his cabinet secretary, among others.