Daniel Ferreira Polónia is a Professor Adjunto (Assistant Professor) in Information Systems at the Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração (ISCA) of the University of Aveiro, Portugal, where he holds a full-time position with exclusivity, and is an integrated researcher at the GOVCOPP — Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies. His research specialises in Value-Based Healthcare, digital health governance, and innovation management systems. He is currently pursuing a second doctorate in Business Management (Ciências Económicas e Empresariais — Ramo Gestão) at the same university, focusing on the role of the European Health Data Space in implementing Value-Based Healthcare principles within Beveridgean national health systems. His academic background includes a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Aveiro (2011), a postgraduate degree in Communications and Multimedia Management from the Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (ISEG) of the University of Lisbon, and a first degree in Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering.
With 19 years of academic service at the University of Aveiro, Daniel has taught extensively across management and engineering programmes in multiple departments — including the Department of Economics and Management (DEGEIT), the Department of Medical Sciences, the School of Health Sciences, and the School of Technology and Management of Águeda — covering subjects such as knowledge management and business intelligence, service quality management, project management, and information systems. He has served as Director of the Master's in Management and Vice-Director of the inter-university Doctoral Programme in Marketing and Strategy, and currently coordinates a micro-credential in Advanced Technologies in Project Management under the national PRR-funded Nexus programme. He has supervised one completed doctoral thesis with three ongoing, along with over fifty concluded master's dissertations and six currently in progress. His teaching evaluations include two "Excellent" ratings in the University of Aveiro's performance assessment framework.
His scientific output comprises 28 Scopus-indexed publications, with 169 citations and an h-index of 6, alongside over forty additional peer-reviewed contributions in journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. His work on the integration of quality and innovation management systems ranks among the most cited articles in Standards. He serves as a reviewer for over fifty manuscripts in Scopus and ISI-indexed journals — including BMC Health Services Research, Applied Economics, and the Journal of Information and Knowledge Management — and is a member of the Scientific Board of the Revista Ibérica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informação.
Daniel has coordinated or participated in twelve research and consultancy projects, notably the INTERREG Portugal-Spain INNHOSPITAL project on hospital innovation and knowledge transfer, the QREN-funded MESTRa project on electronic teleradiology marketplaces, and consultancy engagements with the Portuguese Health Regulatory Authority (ERS) and the national Directorate-General for Health (DGS). His professional experience extends beyond academia: he served as Senior Innovation and Entrepreneurship Consultant at Portugal's National Innovation Agency (ANI), where he coordinated the EU Horizon 2020 P4E — Peer4Excellence project and managed INTERREG Europe initiatives in health innovation and smart finance. Earlier, he was a Senior Consultant at Accenture in Lisbon and a trainee at the European Commission (DG XIII, now DG CONNECT) in Luxembourg.
His contributions to standardisation include active membership in ISO Technical Committee 279 on Innovation Management (Work Group 3 — Tools and Methods), where he has contributed to the development of several standards in the ISO 56000 family, including ISO 56001:2024 and ISO 56002:2019, and is currently involved in the development of ISO/CD 56011 on innovation management competence frameworks. Nationally, he is an effective member of the Portuguese Quality Institute's Technical Committee 169 on Research, Development and Innovation. He is a winner of the Fraunhofer Portugal Challenge 2011 in the doctoral category, and is fluent in English, French and Spanish.