Miguel Carneiro

I consider myself a dynamic entrepreneur and big-time supporter of rural development and community engagement, Miguel holds a degree in Lab Sciences (2010) from the Porto Polytechnic Institute (IPP) and a Post-Graduation in Business Administration (2013) from the Cavado and Ave Polytechnic Institute (IPCA). Focused and dedicated to local development, community engagement, youth participation and social innovation, I dedicated a big part of my life to my community and its institution, getting involved in several non-profit organizations and being elected Mayor of the Vila Boa do Bispo Municipality at the age of 25, having played that elected role for 10 years up until 2023.

I am the Co-Founder and CEO of Crius Consulting and Crius Engenharia, the first two companies of a group focused on regional development, business consultancy, Grant Proposals writing and execution, quality certification, training services and specialized engineering services. From the Tamega e Sousa region in the North of Portugal, the Crius group holds sales of + 2,5M € per year with an average Year-on-Year growth of more than 80% for the last 3 years. I am also the Co-Founder and Partner of Green Solutions Lab, a consultancy company based in Sofia, Bulgaria, focused on delivering innovative solutions to companies and non-profits that foster sustainable development and green and digital innovation initiatives.

The focus on regional development is a continuous job, trying to align economic growth, social innovation and community development. For that reason, I am a member of several organizations, including: Member of the Administration Board of Dolmen (2020 – 2023), regional Cooperative responsible for LEADER funding in the Tamega e Soua region, member of the North regional Group of Coopernico, a nationwide cooperative focused on Renewable Citizen-Led Energy Solutions and a founding member of RESCOOP, the European Federation of Renewable Energy Cooperatives, and Member of the Strategic Board of RURENER, the European Network of Rural Communities committed to the energy transition.

I’ve worked as social innovation expert focusing on helping priority target groups develop their own business projects through entrepreneurship projects and on developing entrepreneurial competencies in students and young professionals to foster their innovation skills.

I currently play expert roles and project manager roles in international projects, specializing in Erasmus +, Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV), INTERREG, URBACT and COSME projects, continuously trying to deliver high impact results and projects to the communities and partners engaged.

Feel free to reach me via LinkedIn @migueltcarneiro or anytime by email via miguel.carneiro@crius.pt, I’d love to help out and share some thoughts and ideas that could be brought to life!