Ricardo Marvao

Co-founder & Chief Growth Officer, Beta-i; Strategic Council Member, Startup Portugal

I'm a proud father of two amazing boys and the Co-founder of Beta-i, a global collaborative innovation consultancy, expert in designing and managing innovation projects from strategy to pilot testing, helping organizations worldwide find the right solutions to their business challenges. Customers include Novartis, Roche, Janssen, Ambev, Carrefour, Lidl, Santander, Fosun, Ageas, EDP, Galp, American Electrical Power, Hydro Quebec, Airbus, Boticário, Unilever, Sonae and many more. Born in Lisbon back in 2010, Beta-i was one of the main organizations that built the startup & entrepreneurial ecosystem in Portugal, recognized by Wired Magazine as the top player in town.

An entrepreneur at heart, I am very passionate about my business and committed to success. But I'm also an untiring evangelist for entrepreneurship & innovation. I spend a lot of time sharing my expertise and trying to help (aspiring) entrepreneurs turn ideas into business. Also invested pre-seed in over 60 startups with a 21M€ fund during 7 years.

I'm a passionate for Education and have co-founded Próxima Geração (academy for young politicians), Singularity University Portugal (exponential tech for executives), European Innovation Academy Portugal (build a startup in 3 weeks for university students), Space for Business (business side of Space Industry for young professionals), Cientista regressa à escola (science for kids thru scientists at their school), Astronauta por um dia (parabolic flight for teenagers), La French Tech Lisbon (for the Lisbon tech community) and launched the book Lisbon Startup Guide and the documentary “Inspirando o Futuro” (watch on RTP).

I advise or advised several organizations like 42 Portugal, TUMO Portugal, Trojan Horse was a Unicorn, Brave Generation Academy, Native Scientist, Sigma Squared, House of Beautiful Business, Gap Year Portugal, Soho House, MIT Innovators Under 35 Europe, Hatch Europe & SXSW Accelerator. I'm a frequent keynote speaker & was a columnist (for Forbes Portugal). I'm also a jury at the European Innovation Council from the European Commission. And I'm also a founding member of Allied for Startups & European Startup Network, both organizations promoting policies for helping founders & startups in Europe.

Prior to Beta-i, I co-founded Evolve Space Solutions, a space tech startup (which I sold in 2011) developing software products for the Aerospace Industry, with clients like ESA, Thales, Astrium, Inmarsat, Eumetsat, Airbus, Boeing and Embraer.