The Master program in Engineering Policy and the Management of Technology at Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal, is one of the leading programs of its kind in the world. It has developed an excellent track record of producing graduates who combine deep technical knowledge with modern skills in policy analysis. Graduates go on to make important contributions in government and the private sector. Several have come to pursue PhD or other studies in our Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, and have ranked as some of our best students.
Prof. M. Granger Morgan Head, Department of Engineering and Public Policy Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA USA
The IST Program in Engineering Policy and Technology Management is clearly one of the leading programs and is integral part of the network of Technology Policy programs that includes Cambridge University, Carnegie-Mellon, Delft and MIT. I particularly encourage European students to consider it very seriously.
Professor Richard de Neufville, MIT Founding Chairman, Technology and Policy Program
Alumni
Maria João Rodrigues
The Master program in Engineering Policy and the Management of Technology at Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal is certainly a landmark in my personal and professional development. The program provided me with an explicit way to broaden my somehow narrowed engineering-oriented vision of the marketplace. This empowered me with new analytic tools to develop my field of interest, while also allowing deepening of my technical understanding of it. These achievements were made possible not only because of the interdisciplinary approach of the program, but also because of the wide range of experiences and fields of interest of my colleagues in the classroom, providing all of us with a very enriching cultural diversity. As a student of the first edition, I acknowledge the evolution and consolidation of the program over time and I truly recommend it to anyone searching for a strategic vision for his career.
Maria João Rodrigues (student at the 1st edition, 1998) PhD student at IST, technical University of Lisbon Researcher at the Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, IN+
Nuno Manuel Órfão
The attendance of the Master program in Engineering Policy and the Management of Technology was a rich and compensating learning experience. In general, this program trains you through intense intellectual challenge. It teaches you constantly to ask “why?”. Meanwhile, you are developing a strong set of skills that will help you finding structured solutions for complex problems.
At a professional level, the competences acquired in the area of operations management and technology became decisive not only for my job responsibilities as a production manager but also as a professor. The seminars with academics and industrial professionals were also a key issue in developing those competences.
In a personal perspective, the interaction with diverse groups of people, having different backgrounds and jobs, was a stimulating challenge with an important added-value for our career.
António Monteiro
The Master programme in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology provides its students with the unique opportunity to develop competencies in fundamental areas that help shape the competitiveness of countries, regions and enterprises. If, at the firm level, the efficient management of technological resources is essential in today’s competitive environment, one must not underestimate the importance of adequate public policies governing science, technology and innovation in the creation of the underlying conditions for competitiveness.
Having, at the time of my attendance of the Master programme, had the privilege of working in a centre of innovation that promotes the articulation between entrepreneurial strategies and public policies, the Master programme in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology at IST could not have been better suited to both my professional carrier needs and the knowledge/skills required by my employer.
As a student of the first edition of the IST programme I can now fully appreciate the positive impact the Master programme in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology has had on my carrier. The fact that five work colleagues have attended the same programme is indicative that this opinion is shared by my employer.
António Monteiro (Student 1st edition, 1998)
Pedro Ferreira
The Master Program in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology at Instituto Superior Tecnico stands as the pioneer graduate program of its kind in Portugal and is among the few offered in Europe that studies the interaction between engineering, policy and management. This program has been contributing to help define the emergent discipline of engineering policy through its steady links to similar programs offered by first-rate Universities, both in the US and in Europe. Additionally, this program has been improving remarkably throughout the years. The quality of the faculty and of the students in any cohort is outstanding. This positioning provides an effervescing learning environment that includes the permanent exchange of ideas, students and faculty with these other Universities, which in turn allows for organizing regularly joint projects, seminars, courses and conferences in the field of technology policy and innovation. This program seeks to educate engineers with the fundamentals, the frameworks, the methodologies, the tools and the practice of policy analysis. It allows for deepening the engineering skills as well as for studying a suit of related issues that over time have become indispensable to empower technology-based innovation, namely those at the social-economic level. The program develops in a vibrant multidisciplinary environment for which the multitude of perspectives is key as long as provided with solid and sound supporting frameworks for analysis. The graduates excel in various areas ranging from technical fields to business, government and academia. The value added of the graduate resides in his/her understanding and ability to tackle complex unstructured problems, which allows for developing effective policy and management strategies to seize real-world opportunities.
Pedro Miguel Ferreira (student of the 1st edition, 1998) PhD candidate at the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, CMU, USA Researcher at the Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, IN+
João Pedro Taborda
A participação e conclusão do Mestrado em Engenharia e Gestão de Tecnologia representou até hoje a minha aposta mais eficaz em termos de valorização profissional. O facto de abordar um conjunto alargado de temas, desde metodologias de análise que permitam estruturar assuntos complexos até às teorias na área da inovação e crescimento económico contribuiu para reforçar a minha base de conhecimento com um conjunto de ferramentas da maior utilidade para a minha progressão profissional. Ao mesmo tempo, a conjugação do trabalho de investigação de suporte à dissertação com as oportunidades que me foram proporcionadas pela minha entidade profissional produziu efeitos na minha carreira profissional que ultrapassaram as minhas melhores expectativas. Da mesma resultou a oportunidade de desenvolver um programa de doutoramento e um trabalho como analista com visibilidade a nível nacional e internacional.
My attendance and conclusion of the Master in Engineering and Technology Management was, until today, the most valuable investment in my professional career. By covering a wide range of issues from methodologies for the analysis of complex issues to theories in innovation and economic growth, the program allowed me to reinforce my knowledge base with a set of very important tools for my professional progression. At the same time, the research work supporting the dissertation together with the opportunities provided by my employer became a key combination that brought results to a level above by best expectations. Among other things, the program provide me with a framework to start a PhD program and to develop an activity as analyst with local and international visibility.
João Pedro Taborda, INTELI (student – 2nd edition, 1999)
Marta Sousa e Silva
My undergraduate education at IST has given me a strong set of technical skills in engineering and technology but lacked the important topics of management and policy. After learning how to use and design several technologies during my engineering degree, the M. Sc. in Engineering Policy and Management of Technology taught me how to manage the critical aspects associated with them. This M. Sc. taught me how to manage all the activities involved in the life-cycle of new technologies, from the initial concept to their introduction into the marketplace. With such a large breath, the M. Sc. has tremendously opened my horizons and ambitions.
During the M. Sc., I had the exceptional opportunity to work in a stimulating and world-class learning environment, to learn from a distinguished international faculty, and to belong to a graduate program with great quality, in a milieu replete with academic and scientific quality.
The program strongly contributed to my personal and professional development due to its interdisciplinary nature, scientific rigor, strong links with the industry, and exchange of different backgrounds and expertise. I had the privilege to be among a highly energetic working group (both faculty and students), which made me more internationally-minded, improved my analytic and critical skills and helped me to acquire the versatility needed to reach my full potential as an engineer and a manager.
This enriching experience was determinant in defining my career objectives and ambitions, and strongly contributed to my enrollment as a M.Sc./Ph.D. student at the University of California - Berkeley.
Marta Sousa e Silva (Student of the 2nd edition, 1999) M.Sc. / Ph.D. student at the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Paulo Ribeiro
After my graduation in Environmental Engineering, I started the Master program at IST. Having a traditional education in engineering, I’ve found that I lacked understanding in state-of-the-art science and technology issues and in applied economics, planning and information systems disciplines, which interested me and are indispensable in this rapid evolving world.
The Master program in Engineering Policy and the Management of Technology offers an excellent opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of science and policy issues and to learn how to approach not-structured complex problems. The fact that master's students and staff come from such different backgrounds allowed the exchange of ideas and the opening to different perspectives, creating a rich intellectual environment.
The Master program broad my knowledge in the field of Science and Technology policy and it has proved extremely useful in my currently PhD research in Waste Management Policy.
Paulo Ribeiro (student – 3rd edition, 2000)
José Luiz Moutinho
Todas as vezes que reflito sobre a minha opção de participar no programa de mestrado em Engenharia e Gestão de tecnologia do IST/IN+, lembro-me da frase lapidar do Mark Twain (1835-1910): "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education". Esta frase sintetiza perfeitamente o ambiente que os novos candidatos poderão experimentar no curso de Engenharia e Gestão de Tecnologia. A abertura a novas ideias, o rigor científico, a exposição constante ao que de melhor se faz actualmente no mundo da tecnologia e, principalmente, a participação em vastas redes de conhecimento, são elementos fundamentais nas carreiras mais competitivas da sociedade da aprendizagem contínua. Parafraseando Fernando Pessoa, no famoso anúncio da Coca Cola, o programa de mestrado nos ensina que a ciência "Primeiro estranha-se. Depois entranha-se"!
Jose Luiz Moutinho (Student 5th edition, 2002) Glassbox
Miguel Leocádio
The Master programme on Engineering Policy and Technology Management is a superb tool in the development of one’s critical skills and capabilities for essentially management purposes across technology-based products life cycle, namely technology design, transfer, implementation and operation. Its interdisciplinary focus gives the basis for a broaden understanding of the complex problems usually emerging from a technology-based project and helps the definition of the main guidelines to adequately face them. Since the analysis underpins technology as a totally open context (as opposed to the black box traditional view), it clearly considers and gives particular attention to the economical, social and policy implications of all its life-cycle stages. Highly recommended for decision makers facing technology management complex problems.
Miguel Leocádio Student, 5th edition, 2002
Pedro Nazareth
Having finished my education in Mechanical Engineering and after having had my first professional experience as a product design engineer, I realized that the technical formation I had acquired was not enough. Personally, it did not satisfy me to pursue with such technical work, and professionally, I felt lacking skills in other different areas of knowledge, that sooner or later would emerge as extremely necessary for my career development.
Looking back, I realize that enrolling in the MSc program in Engineering Policy and the Management of Technology was the wisest decision I could have make at the time. The MSc. Programme broadens the engineering common narrow vision of a technology-based problem, by contextualizing it in other relevant different dimensions, such as, the economical, social and, mainly, the policy dimension and its stakeholders. The different approaches taken and the tools and concepts taught during the MSc. are necessary for the holistic comprehension of a complex technology based problem, and ultimately for wise judgement in decision making.
Presently, I am sure to make use of several tools and of several skills I have developed during the MSc. in my new job as a production manager. However, there are other outcomes from the MSc. such as the taste to be continuously learning, the different colleagues I have met and the stimulating teachers I had had …
