Cristina Barros has been collaborating with industry and service organizations since 1998, with expertise in strategic management, innovation, digital transformation, R&D, software development, and professional training.

Her professional focus has consistently centered on optimizing industrial processes through the design and implementation of comprehensive re-engineering and digitalization strategies aimed at improving quality and efficiency.

A Certified Six Sigma Black Belt since 2007, she has led numerous improvement projects and served as a Lecturer in Industrial Engineering and Management at the Polytechnic of Leiria from 2000 to 2023. During this period, she also coordinated the postgraduate program in Six Sigma at Black Belt level.

Between 2011 and 2018, she acted as President of the Dom Dinis Ideas and Businesses Incubator in Leiria, where she was invited to participate in the national Industry 4.0 initiative. She later coordinated “Axis 3: Qualification” of the national INCoDe.2030 program (2017–2020), dedicated to fostering digital skills and competencies.

Cristina holds a degree in Chemical Engineering (1998) and a Master’s degree in Instrumentation, Industrial Maintenance, and Quality (2005). She also completed the Advanced Management Program for Executives at the Portuguese Catholic University in 2009 and, in 2021, the MITxPro course Data Science and Big Data Analytics: Making Data-Driven Decisions.