Márcia da Mota Darós joined the MERIT/UNU-INTECH PhD Programme in September 2001. Her thesis analyses the dynamics and the patterns of innovation in services, focusing on the role of the information and communication technologies (ICT) applied to the distribution channels of the travel and tourism industry (TTI). Her main research interests cover patterns of innovation in services, national and local systems of innovation, regional development, scientific and technological policy, capacity building and management of technology.

Ms. da Mota Darós obtained a degree in Public Administration from the UNESP (Universidade Estadual Paulista), in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1993, and holds a M.Sc. Degree (cum laude ) in Scientific and Technological Policy from the UNICAMP (Universidade Estadual de Campinas), São Paulo, Brazil. Her teaching experience includes graduate level classes in Scientific and Technological Management at CEUB University in Brasília, Brazil.

From 1998 to 2001she was the National Executive Coordinator of the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) in Brasília, where she provided training for managers around the country as well as international training for Brazilian CEOs at INSEAD (France) and at the International Institute for Management Development - IMD (Switzerland). Prior to this, she worked with the Brazilian Institute for Quality and Productivity (IBQP), in Curitiba, from 1996 to 1998, providing training to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), as well as consultancy support for the Brazilian policy for quality and productivity.