The Jury 2016

Robin Edman is the Chief Executive of SVID, the Swedish Industrial Design Foundation. He holds a degree in industrial design from Rhode Island School of Design, and joined AB Electrolux Global Design organisation in 1981. In parallel he also started his own design consultancy which he ran for the next eight years. In 1989 Mr Edman joined Electrolux North American operation as Vice-President of Industrial Design for the Frigidaire Company. During this period he initiated and ran Electrolux Global Concept Design Team for future forecasting of user needs. Throughout Robin's entire career he has worked towards integrating a better understanding of the importance of design. In 1997 Robin moved back to Stockholm as Vice President of Electrolux Global Design. He has served on the board, and been treasurer of, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid). In June 2015 Mr Edman was elected as President of the Bureau of European Design Associations (BEDA).

Benoît Battistelli is President of the European Patent Office, a position he has held since 2010. He is a graduate of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (IEP) and the National School of Administration (ENA), and began his career as a senior civil servant in the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance, before continuing to the Directorate-General for Competition and Consumer Affairs and the Directorate of External Economic Relations at the Ministry of the Economy and Finance. Mr Battistelli has been Regional Director for Foreign Trade for the Ile-de-France region, and director with responsibility for innovation, competitiveness and industrial property policy at the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry. Mr Battistelli also acted as Chief Advisor to Nicole Fontaine (President of the European Parliament from July 1999 to January 2002 and Minister for Industry in the French government from June 2002 to May 2004), before being appointed Director General of the French National Institute for Industrial Property (INPI).

Miklós Bendzsel has been President of the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office between 1997 and 2016. He holds degrees in mechanical engineering and engineering economics. He joined the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office in 1976, becoming Deputy President in 1993. Mr Bendzsel is also deputy chairman of the Administrative Council of the European Intellectual Property Office and member of the European Design Leadership Board. He is the author of many publications on Intellectual Property. Dr. Bendzsel has received many awards and recognitions throughout his career (Jedlik Ányos Prize in 1996, Eötvös Loránd Prize in 2002, Hungarian Republic Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit in 2003, Arpad Bogsch Medal from the International Federation of Inventors' Associations in 2012). He is Honorary Professor of the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design of Budapest, Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts since 2015, and board member of BEDA for the 2016-2018 term.

Therese Comodini Cachia was elected to the European Parliament for Malta in 2014. She holds a Ph.D. in human rights law, and since 1997 she has been representing victims of human rights violations before the Maltese courts and the European Court of Human Rights. She is a lecturer at the Faculty of Laws of the University of Malta and coordinates the Master's Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation. She also lectured at the University of Utrecht in Holland and at the Europa-Viadrina University in Germany. Ms Comodini Cachia has actively participated in the Partit Nazzjonalista in Malta and is currently the Party Shadow Minister for Education and Employment. As chairperson of the party policy fora, she is also seen as a point of reference for the Parliamentary Group having contributed to a number of positions including amendments to the Constitution of Malta.

Claudio De Albertis is a member of the Executive Board at the Camera di Commercio Milano and President of the Triennale di Milano. He has been involved with local and national associations for many years, with assignments ranging from the Presidency of Assimpredil, from 1990 to 1996, to the Vice-Presidency of the National Association of Building Constructors (ANCE), initially dealing with urban and territorial issues and then with the Study Centre. He was President of Centredil-Ance Lombardia from 1996 to 2000. From 2000 to 2006, he was President of the National Association of Building Constructors (ANCE). From 2006 to 2015 he was President of Assimpredil Ance Milano (the Association of Building Contractors and Related Businesses of Milan, Lodi, Monza and Brianza). He was appointed President of ANCE again in 2015. He holds a degree in civil engineering from the Polytechnic of Milan. Mr. De Albertis has published several articles on urban issues, environment and urban renewal. He also holds leading roles in the cultural field. These include his presidency of In-Arch, the Lombardy Section of the National Institute of Architecture. He taught for several years at the Faculty of Architecture in the Polytechnic University of Milan, specialising in Economics and Business Management.

Loredana Gulino has been the Director General of the Directorate General for the Fight against Counterfeiting – Italian Patent and Trademark Office of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (UIBM) since February 1, 2009. In her role as Director General of UIBM, she has participated in national and international events and conferences about Intellectual Property, the fight against counterfeiting and the promotion of the "Made in Italy" brand. Ms Gulino is the Deputy Chairperson of the Management Board of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and a member of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Office (EPO). She also represents Italy within the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).

Joanna Leciejewska is a designer who works in the areas of industrial design, packaging design and graphic design. Owner and designer at Joa Projekt. Further key areas of her work are lighting design and furniture design. She has received a number of top design awards, including the Red Dot Award, Must Have, TOP DESIGN award, Good Design and Philips EKODESIGN award. Her work has been exhibited in Poznań, Warsaw, Wrocław, Milan, Frankfurt, Cologne, Bordeaux and Paris. In 2013, Joanna was named "Best designer of the year" by the Polish Institute of Industrial Design. Joanna graduated from the Faculty of Interior and Industrial Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań in the studio of Prof. Krzysztof Kwiatkowski.

Chie Mihara was born in Brazil. She studied fashion design at the Kyushu Design Gakkuin in Japan, and worked for Junko Koshino as a design assistant. She moved to New York to study accessories design at the Fashion Institute of Technology, focusing on shoes and handbags. She worked at Eneslow, an orthopaedic shoe store, focusing on the anatomy of feet and common foot problems. She worked as a shoe and bag designer for Sam & Libby, NY. She moved to Elda (Spain) where she worked for Charles Jourdan, a French luxury line of shoes. In 2001, she founded "Chie Mihara", her own shoe brand. Chie Mihara has now over 800 clients worldwide including charming boutiques and luxury department stores.

Prof. Mugendi K. M'Rithaa Prof. Mugendi K. M'Rithaa is an industrial designer, educator and researcher at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He studied in Kenya, the USA, India and South Africa and holds postgraduate qualifications in Industrial Design, Higher Education, and Universal Design. He is widely traveled and has taught in Kenya, Botswana, South Africa and Sweden and is passionate about various expressions of socially (responsive and) responsible design, including: Designerly Strategies for Mitigating Climate Change; Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability; Distributed Renewable Energy; Indigenous Knowledge Systems; Participatory Design; and Universal Design.

Mugendi has a special interest in the pivotal role of design in advancing the developmental agenda on the African continent. He is associated with a number of international networks focusing on design within industrially developing (or majority world) contexts. Mugendi is also Africa's first President of the World Design Organization (WDO) that was previously known as the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid). Much of his work focuses on the importance of WDO/Icsid in supporting the aspirations of younger designers worldwide.

Christian Peugeot has served as President of UNIFAB (Union des fabricants pour la protection Internationale de la propriété intellectuelle), the French anti-counterfeiting association, since 2009. He joined the family business in 1978 where he held various positions in France and Germany before being named director of Communications and Brand Strategy at Automobiles Peugeot in 2006 and Central Director of Marketing PSA group in 2009. He serves as Executive Vice President of External Relations at PSA Peugeot Citroen. He is also Vice President of Etablissements Peugeot Frères. Since 1 January 2016, Christian Peugeot has been Chairman of the CCFA (French Automobile Manufacturers Committee).

Bettina Schulz has been editor-in-chief of the international journal novum World of Graphic Design since 2001. She joined the editorial staff of the magazine in 1994. Mrs Schulz also works as a freelance writer and editor for national and international magazines and for a range of clients in different sectors. Bettina Schulz already serves on a number of design juries (e.g. for red dot communication design award, for the European Design Awards, for the Best of Corporate Publishing Award, for the MfG competition of the Bundesverband Druck, Monaco de Luxe Packaging Award, twice-yearly diploma awards presentation at the U5 Academy) and is co-founder of the »Creative Paper Conference« (www.creative-paper.de) in Munich.

David Stone is a partner in the London office of international law firm Allen & Overy, specializing in intellectual property matters, with particular expertise in trademarks, copyright and registered and unregistered designs. David currently chairs the International Trademark Association's (INTA) Designs Committee. A graduate of the universities of Sydney, Oxford and Cambridge, David writes and lectures extensively on intellectual property issues. At the invitation of the European Commission, David has travelled to Bucharest to train Romanian judges in IP law. The second edition of David's European Union Design Law: A Practitioners' Guide was published by Oxford University Press in January 2016.

Thierry Sueur has spent nearly a quarter of a century as vice president of IP and vice president of European and international affairs at Air Liquide. Before that he was at Thomson (now Technicolor), where he was instrumental in developing its world-class licensing operation. Since 2012 he has also been vice president of the French arm of the International Chamber of Commerce, and has helped to shape French IP policy as chairman of the IP Committee of French business federation MEDEF and vice chairman of the board of the French National Institute for Industrial Property (INPI). He is also serving as chairman of the Patents Working Committee of BUSINESSEUROPE. He was president of LES International in 2001 and 2002, and received the LESI Gold Medal in 2005. He was awarded the title of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 2007

Giovanna Talocci is an interior architect and product designer. She is art director of GRAN TOUR S.r.l, and has been a curator of cultural events, consultant for trade fairs, host and guest on television programmes on design, jury member and chairperson of numerous design competitions, and a professor at universities and design schools. She has been a member of ADI (Association for Industrial Design) since 1979, is a member of BEDA (Bureau of European Design Associations), and has been on ADI's National Executive Committee since 2004 and its Vice President since 2014. She is a member of ADI's Policy Committee for Innovation Awards and also took part in the first Italian Design Council. She has worked with many major companies, and now runs her own design studio, Talocci Design, which specialises in: product design, exhibition design, interior design, event organisation, integrated communication and art direction. Giovanna Talocci has received numerous industry honours, among them six ADI Design Index selections, six referrals at the Compasso D'Oro award and four Design Plus prizes.

Cecilia Wikström has been a member of the European Parliament for Sweden, representing the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, since 2009. Between 2002 and 2009, Wikström was a member of the Swedish Parliament for the Liberal People's Party. She holds a bachelor degree in theology from the University of Uppsala. Cecilia Wikström has written several books including one about crisis management "När livet går sönder" (When life falls apart), which was awarded book of the year in its genre in 2004. Her second book "I tillitens tecken" was published in 2006. She has also held various positions in national and regional boards, such as the Swedish UNESCO Board, the Police County Board and Liberal Women group in Uppsala County. She holds a bachelors degree in theology from the University of Uppsala, and has been a practising priest in the Swedish Church since 1994.

Gert Würtenberger is a specialist in the fields of trademark registration and infringement litigation, patent infringement litigation, plant variety protection (prosecution and litigation), negotiating licenses in relation to all kinds of IPR and EU Law, as well antitrust law issues related to these fields. He is author of the leading German commentary on national and European plant variety protection and is the initiator and co-author of the book European Union Plant Variety Protection. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Süddeutsche Schiedsgericht für Saatgut- und Sortenschutzstreitigkeit [Southern German Arbitration Court for Seed and Plant Variety Protection], as President of GRUR [German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property] and as Chairman of the GRUR-Fachausschusses für den Schutz von Pflanzenzüchtungen [GRUR Special Committee for the Protection of Plants Varieties].