Mircea Manea was born in Bucharest, Romania. He graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest in 1976 with a degree in Chemistry and Technology of Monomers and Polymers. He held several positions in the R&D department for coating binders and was later appointed resin production manager. From 1991 to 1995, he worked in the R&D department at Beckers Acroma AB in Sweden, after which he became laboratory and technical manager at Wedevåg Färg AB and Wedevåg-Hesse Coatings AB in Sweden. In 1998, he moved to Perstorp Specialty Chemicals AB in Sweden, working as a senior R&D associate until 2007. He is currently working as a consultant for the PropanRaya Group in Indonesia and South-East Asia. Between 1978 and 1987, Mircea Manea was employed as an Associate Professor at the Institute of Chemistry in Bucharest, lecturing in general industrial chemistry. Since 2003, he has been a member of the EU expert panel for the research activities and growth programme (Sixth and Seventh Framework Programmes).