Afonso Amaral
Afonso Amaral leads international alliances research at the Critical Technology Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University, focusing on technology and manufacturing policy and regulation. His research specializes in advanced manufactured products, trade, innovation, and industrial mobilization strategies aimed at addressing product shortages and crises. His work focuses on European industries such as semiconductors, drones, green (net-zero) technologies, and medical products and devices. He was a CMU Portugal dual-degree PhD fellow between Carnegie Mellon and Instituto Superior Técnico in the Engineering and Public Policy Department. In his dissertation titled, Varieties of National Protectionism: Essays on firm entry, adaptive regulation, and technology differences during global shocks, he examined how different European Member States utilized their unique domestic industries to manage the surge in demand for medical devices (e.g., mechanical ventilators) and other medical products (e.g., COVID-19 vaccines and testing kits); and estimated the unintended impacts of U.S. domestic industrial policies on European supply chains for these products. Currently, Afonso Amaral is exploring the global semiconductor landscape and technological paradigm shift, by studying the potential of emerging Beyond CMOS devices (e.g., logic and memory). He also investigates structural vulnerabilities and arising risks in semiconductor supply chains, assesses global industrial capabilities, and evaluates targeted domestic policies. Afonso Amaral also collaborates with European institutions, for instance, he co-developed an early warning mechanism for monitoring supply chain disruptions with the Chief Economist team at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship, and SMEs. This mechanism is currently employed for several critical and green technologies.
