Andre Cester Costa

Brainstormer, Care taker, Change Agent, Concerned citizen, Event planner, Photographer, Project manager, Public servant, Social entrepreneur, World traveler

Born in Aveiro, where I still live, this is my harbour to explore the world. I Graduated in Management and Planning in Tourism and pos-graduated in Innovations and Development Policies at the University of Aveiro, I started my career at "PDA- Parque Desportivo de Aveiro", as a part of a team that developed the 240 hectares Plan for PDA. In 2004 I was the Assistant Venue Manager at the Municipal Stadium of Aveiro during UEFA EURO 2004, working closely with the Tournament Director, and between 2005 and 2007 I lectured the discipline of "Event Planning" at the Specialization Course "Organisation and Event Management" at the Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco. Since 2004 I was responsible for the management of co-financed projects by the EU in the municipality of Aveiro. In August 2007 I was appointed as Coordinator of the Economic Development and Structural Funds Office at the Municipality of Aveiro. Parallel to my professional career I've been participating as a volunteer in some local projects in the areas of poverty, NGOs, human rights and sports. In 2010 I co-founded the Youth Association "AGOR@ - Association for the Promotion of Active Citizens". Also in 2010 I was one of the organizers of TEDxAveiro and TEDxYouth@Aveiro.

Life! I believe each of us can and must play a role in making our world a better place to live!

Project Managament, Strategic Planning

Fell in love with it...despite discovering TED only in January 2010, throught Fernando Santos! After that, me, him, some friends and my wife decided to organize some local events at my hometown Aveiro, Portugal: TEDxAveiro on the 29th May 2010, TEDxYouth@Aveiro on the 20th November 2010 and TEDxAveiro on the 21st May 2011! It has been an amazing experience I am sure I'll never get tired of it !!!! If you want to promote the Spirit of TED, if you want to "invade" your city with the power of ideas worth sharing, if you are willing to make events in accordance with TED rules, than go for it! Spread this amazing project that is TED!