Firmino Oliveira da Silva is a Professor at ISLA Gaia – Polytechnic Institute of Management and Technology of Gaia (Lusófona Group), where he serves as Director of the Research Unit and is a member of the institution’s Board. He also holds leadership responsibilities in several academic programmes, including the Master’s degree in Engineering of Technologies and Web Systems and the Master’s degree in Computer Science. He is the Coordinator of the CEOS.PP Technological Hub at ISLA Gaia and a Research Member of CEOS.PP – Centre for Organisational and Social Studies of the Polytechnic of Porto, contributing to research initiatives focused on technological innovation, digital transformation, and applied information systems. He has more than twenty years of experience in higher education teaching and has also lectured within the Polytechnic of Porto, namely at ISCAP and ESMAD. In parallel with his academic career, he has developed an extensive professional trajectory in the fields of information technologies and information systems management, having worked across several sectors, including finance, banking, automotive, and technology. His professional experience includes positions at organisations such as IBM, Banco BPI, Credifin/Cetelem, and Auto-Sueco (NORS), where he coordinated and participated in large-scale and transformative projects, including enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations, datacentre virtualisation programmes, and service-oriented architecture initiatives. In addition, he has significant experience as a professional trainer, delivering advanced training programmes for major organisations in areas such as analytics, data modelling, e-commerce, and decision-support systems. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), a Master’s degree in Information Management from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), and a degree in Computer Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Engineering of Porto (ISEP). His main research and professional interests include Data Science, Big Data, Internet of Things, Blockchain technologies, enterprise resource planning systems, Service-Oriented Computing, Industry 4.0, Digital Transformation, and Artificial Intelligence.