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Aldo Vidinha resigns as CEO and ceases to be a shareholder of Stepscience
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Yesterday, May 28, Stepscience sent an official email announcing that Aldo Vidinha, former CEO of the consultancy firm, has resigned from the management of Stepscience and has also ceased to be a shareholder of the consultancy firm. It should be noted that Aldo Vidinha, who was also CEO of the company Smart Nature, was arrested last week, as part of Operation “Erva Daninha”, carried out by the Judicial Police in 64 companies in Portugal. Vidinha was eventually released, but was named a defendant and awaits trial with an identity and residence term.
With a strong presence in the medicinal cannabis sector, Stepscience Pharma & Engineering has established itself as a reference in healthcare consulting and engineering in Portugal. Although it started in the pharmaceutical sector, the company has expanded its operations to support projects in different sectors since the initial phase, offering integrated and customized solutions for each activity, namely for medicinal cannabis projects, including training in different areas of the industry.
CannaReporter® tried to contact Aldo Vidinha but his cell phone is switched off.
Who is Aldo Vidinha?
Aldo Vidinha is a Portuguese entrepreneur with a degree in Chemical Engineering and a career that has led him to collaborate on multiple projects for the licensing and implementation of infrastructures for the cultivation, processing and distribution of medicinal cannabis. Founder and leader of Stepscience Pharma & Engineering, formerly known as Stepwise, and smart nature, a company licensed by Infarmed to import, export and commercialize medicinal cannabis.
With extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Vidinha was one of the most active names in the early stages of the medicinal cannabis industry in Portugal. He began working with medicinal cannabis in 2016 in Australia, where he was part of a project that culminated in obtaining several licenses for GMP manufacturing and distribution of cannabis-based products.
Aldo Vidinha organized, in partnership with LEF, three editions of the Medical Cannabis Europe conference
In 2017, he returned to Portugal to lead the Holigen (RPK Biopharma) project, where he held the position of COO. He was responsible for all stages of licensing, construction and operation of the indoor cultivation units in Sintra and outdoor cultivation units in Aljustrel, until obtaining the licenses from Infarmed.
In 2020, he founded Stepwise Pharma & Engineering, later renamed Stepscience, a consulting firm that has supported dozens of projects in the field of medicinal cannabis, offering services ranging from strategic and regulatory planning to the implementation of quality processes and GACP and GMP certifications.
He was also involved in the organization of the three editions of the conference. Medical Cannabis Europe, which brought together professionals from the medicinal cannabis industry to promote excellence in the sector in Portugal.
In interview granted to CannaReporter® About three years ago, Aldo Vidinha lamented that the European market was “evolving at a slower pace than expected”, stating that, in his opinion, this slowness was related to two factors: “the difficulty in accessing the product by patients, the availability of suitable products and the availability of a consistent product with the quality required to be registered as a pharmaceutical product”.
On your LinkedIn page, however updated less than a week ago, his surname was replaced by just a “V.” and there was no longer any reference to Smart Nature, the company that was allegedly involved in the operation investigated by the Judiciary Police. Currently, on LinkedIn, Aldo V. is a full-time Strategic Advisor for “Confidential” and ceased his duties at Stepscience in May 2025.
In his LinkedIn “About” section, Aldo writes: “At the core of my work is a clear mission: to help companies bring products to market faster, safer, and smarter. Whether through GMP licensing, process optimization, or expanding international operations, my focus is on creating real impact — combining regulatory precision with operational excellence.”
Four years ago, Aldo Vidinha wrote an Opinion article, together with Fátima Godinho Carvalho, from LEF – Pharmaceutical Studies Laboratory, entitled “Medicinal Cannabis: The state of the art in Portugal”, published in CannaReporter®.
Official Communication from Stepscience
Lisbon, May 28, 2025 – We hereby announce that Aldo Vidinha has resigned from the management of Stepscience, and will also cease to be a shareholder of the consultancy firm.
We want to thank you for your vision and commitment in building what Stepscience is today.
Our commitment to our customers remains exactly the same as it was on day one.
We are grateful for the trust of our customers.
Nuno Rebelo Santos
General Director of Quality and Validation
nuno.santos@stepscience.com
Miguel Lameiras
General Director of Engineering and Project Management
miguel.lameiras@stepscience.com
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
[Disclaimer: Please note that this text was originally written in Portuguese and is translated into English and other languages using an automatic translator. Some words may differ from the original and typos or errors may occur in other languages.]____________________________________________________________________________________________________
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With a degree in Journalism from the University of Coimbra, Laura Ramos has a postgraduate degree in Photography and has been a Journalist since 1998. Winner of the Business of Cannabis Awards in the category "Journalist of the Year 2024", Laura was a correspondent for Jornal de Notícias in Rome, Italy, and Press Officer in the Office of the Minister of Education of the 21st Portuguese Government. She has an international certification in Permaculture (PDC) and created the street-art photography archive “Say What? Lisbon” @saywhatlisbon. Co-founder and Editor of CannaReporter® and coordinator of PTMC - Portugal Medical Cannabis, Laura directed the documentary “Pacientes” and was part of the steering group of the first Postgraduate Course in GxP's for Medicinal Cannabis in Portugal, in partnership with the Military Laboratory and the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon.
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