Citizen Centred

Christian Bason is CEO of the Danish Design Centre. His role is to set the strategic direction for the organisation, and to govern the most demanding initiatives and activities. From 2007 to 2014, he was Director of MindLab, the Danish government's innovation team. From 1998 to 2006, he was a consultant and business manager with the international advisory group Rambøll Management, heading the organisation and management practice. Christian holds a Ph.D. in design leadership from Copenhagen Business School, an M.Sc. in political science from Aarhus University, and executive education from Wharton and from Harvard Business School. Christian is a leading international authority on design, innovation and leadership in business and government. In 2018, Christian was officially named "Creative Bureaucrat" by German daily Tagesspiegel. He is the author of seven books on design and management – most recently Leading Public Design (2017), Form Fremtiden, and Design for Policy (2014) – and a prolific contributor to blogs and magazines, including Harvard Business Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review and the Danish weekly business and political magazine Mandag Morgen. Christian is a lecturer at several executive educations, including Oxford Saïd Business School, the European School of Administration, the Henley MBA, and Copenhagen Business School and a member of a range of Boards and institutions.

Antti is a cross-disciplinary person with a focus in experimental design. In addition to his professorship (groupxaalto.fi), he works as a partner in the architecture office Helsinki Zürich Office (helsinkizurich.com), which has offices in Finland and Switzerland. Antti has a solid background in building design and urban design. He has taught these fields at international universities and conducted research in multidisciplinary art and technology projects. Specialties: building design and urban design, campus development, consumer & user knowledge, project-based design methods.

Cathy founded CBi China Bridge in 2003, the first insight-based innovation consulting firm in China. Most recently, she co-founded Successful Design, a social enterprise aiming to amplify the value of design. Having broad influence both socially and in the global design industry, Cathy is frequently invited to conferences in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. She enjoys adventures - from crossing the Gobi desert in Dunhuang to bungee jumping in New Zealand. Her continued dedication to challenging the limits fuels her creativity for both business and design. Cathy has won many professional design awards, while also accruing honors for her leadership as an entrepreneur and a woman in business, such as the Innovation Category of the Women Leadership Awards presented by IPWS (International Professional Women’s Society), "China’s Women to Watch” award by Advertising Age, and "Female Hero Honor of Shanghai". She promotes the image of Chinese design and aims to leverage her role as a female mentor to inspire a new generation of start-ups in China.