Catalyst. Engineer. Designer. Gregory Polletta has made a career of producing work that startles, gets the job done, and continually pushes boundaries in a broad range of fields that encompass the artistic as well as the practical and scientific having been a full professor at France’s Grande Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées ENPC PhD Engineering and MBA program + The ENPC Paris Tech d.school in Paris, and the Parsons School of Design in Paris, France and New York as well as lecturing at the Royal College of Art in London, UK; IFM in Paris France, The European School of Economics Milan and Rome, and many other international universities on the topics of design innovation, strategic management, research and development commercialization, entrepreneurship, industrial design, and new product development. After almost 10 years with the ENPC PhD Engineering & MBA Program and after more than 500 industry professionals have passed through his iGNITE Convergence program classes created in 2005 as the world 1st fully integrated design, design thinking, engineering, new product development and innovation program, Professor Polletta was named the most inspirational professor in 2014 at Grande Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées ENPC Paris, France.

Gregory is the founder of iGNITIATE, an innovation strategy and industrial design firm that specializes in disruptive design — the art and science of creating new and innovative products and services that can transform a product category, shake up a market, and ensure international firms’ continued success. Polletta is also the co-founder of the international award-winning design brand gregorysung. Polletta is a true 21st-century Renaissance man whose research, start-ups and designs span many fields, including furniture, lighting, nano technology, architecture (where he and his team have designed eye-catching facades for buildings under renovation), medical technology, computer memory devices, mobile phone software, furniture design, artificial lighting, object design, and consumer product packaging. He has brought his talents for high-tech research and development commercialization and design to bear for such clients as Guzzini, Roche-Bobois, Fujitsu, Louis-Vuitton, and Pfizer. Prior to iGNITIATE, Gregory Polletta worked at the legendary Xerox PARC Labs, the American Management Center for Advanced Technology, and DARPA/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Gregory is the designer of REUTPALA – the permanent award for the World Retail Congress given on the date of its launch to Alberto Alessi as a lifetime achievement award for design and retail. Gregory was the 2nd highest ranked speaker at the inaugural True Start/True Capital R:evolution conference and a past designer in residence there, is the Chairman of the 2015 Global Leadership Conference on Design and also a judge of the $1M President Clinton HULT Prize, the A’ Design Awards, the Cannes Lions Festival Awards for Product Design, the Clio Awards and a 2017 Candidate for the US Presidential Innovation Fellows Program at the White House.

Dr. Philippe Blanchard is head of the ESB innovation program having completed a master’s Engineering Degree in Polymer Science – Université du Maine; a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Design – Université de Compiègne and a PhD from Arts & Métiers ParisTech. The ParisTech is Frances Most Prestigious Engineering system made up of 12 of the most rigorous French institutes of engineering education and research institutions and which awarded Dr. Blanchard a PhD for his thesis on Design and Innovation in the dual ParisTech PhD Engineering and ENPC MBA program in Innovation and New Product Development.

Dr Blanchard has managed an international a design studio specializing in Industrial and Global Design and later joined L’École de design Nantes Atlantique in 2006, where he set up the pedagogical programs in innovation for the school and has been in charge of the dual engineering and industry program at ESB – École Supérieure du Bois since 2013.

With over 100 publications in the world’s leading wood and bio-materials scientific journals Mark is a world leader in the fields of Wood Anatomy, Wood Science, Wood Chemistry, Natural Fibers, Wood Products, Lignin, Wood technology, Cellulose and Lignocellulose. Dr. Irle has a degree and PhD in Wood Science from the University of Wales, Bangor. After a short period of post-doctoral research, he was appointed as a lecturer at the same university. He left Bangor in 1994 to help create the Forest Products Research Centre at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, now Buckinghamshire New University, and in 1996 he became the head of this new department. He has worked in France since 2002 as the Research Director of Ecole Supérieure du Bois in Nantes and for a while as Deputy Director of the institute, but now he is focusing once more research.

His research interests cover all wood-based composites and their dimensional stability in particular. He has published more than 50 papers in refereed journals and over 250 articles in magazines, conferences and books. He has successfully supervised the research of 24 PhD, 3 MPhil, 20 MSc and numerous undergraduate students. A summary of his current activities includes: Vice-president of Innova Wood; country representative for COST Action FP1303; coordinator and participant in several national and international research projects, and he is a Fellow of The Wood Technology Society of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (UK).

Dr Franck Michaud is an expert in the areas of Eco-conception; Biobased Materials; Morphology of materials; Bio-Materials Research; Science of materials; Education and Sustainable development; Wood-based composites; and Wood Polymer Composites. He holds a Master’s Degree in Fundamental Physics from Evry Val d’Essonne University, France; a Master’s degree in Wood Sciences from Bordeaux University, France; a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Wood Sciences – Grade Doctorate from Bordeaux 1 University with joint supervision between Université Laval (Canada) and Université Bordeaux 1 (France); a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Laval University Quebec, Canada in Wood / Plastic Composite with Forintek for Wood fiber application to MDF panels; is a researcher at the University of Bordeaux in ANR ECO-COMPOSITES focusing on Experimentation and modeling of the creep of wood / plastic composites, Environmental analysis of a WPC composite: decking applications, Mechanical properties and behavior at the WPC interfaces, and Multi-objective optimization of a WPC product using particle swarms; is a Visiting professor at North East Forestry University Harbin, CHINA; is a director of studies at ESB – Nantes in the wood anatomy laboratory and the Xylotheque of the Ecole Supérieure du bois focusing on the ECOMATFIB project: Multi objective optimization of an insulation product based on wood fibers (ADEME funding); Axis 1 pilot of the Team Bois project (Financing Region PdL): Development of a decision support tool for the valuation of end-of-life wood-based products – UVED module available on this subject and Wood aging: Identification of interactions between biotic and abiotic factors on the aging of wood outdoors (out of contact with the ground) while having co-created and co-piloting of a Specialized Masters in COMPOSITES BIOSOURCES: Innovation and Eco design, opening January 2020.

Dr Michaud ‘s activities include: Wood and Sustainable Development; Wood Sciences, LCA, Composite Materials; Supervision of PhD students, trainees, apprentices; Research projects in: European FLEXIBI research projects; Franco-Brazilian composite sludge / PLA project (ESB / UFPR); and Project multifactorial approach to wood ageing systems.

With over 50 publications in the world’s leading wood and bio-materials scientific journals Christophe is the head of ESB’s research institute holding a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Rennes 1 one of the most prestigious chemical engineering programs in all of France.

Patrick’s specialty is MEP engineering, and as an advisor to many high impact social organizations, including Outward Bound, where he has served on their board for the past 15 years spearheading community outreach programs at the national and local levels. His recent work as Project Manager, Capital Projects for two residential towers in Boston, Patrick has played a commanding role in the design and build process for a 50+ year old structure upgrading the heating and cooling plants, domestic hot water system, as well as structural enhancements to name a few of the areas needing engineering and construction solutions.

Patrick has also worked at several non-profits in managerial positions ranging from homeless shelters to the Yale University School of Medicine, where he played an operational role for a multi-million dollar Workforce Development grant to create and build a quasi public/private academic startup focused on health care systems change in the State of Connecticut. His work at Yale also resulted in co-authoring a major journal article published in 2010. Patrick graduated University of Connecticut, BA, Political Science & Environmental Policy; M.A. in Performance, Double Bass-Jazz with Pi Lambda Theta Honors, Steinhardt School, New York University and a MBA from Columbia Business School. He is a professionally trained musician (double bass) and bodhran player who has been a regular performer in the NYC Tri State Area as well.

Patrick speacks intermediate Japanese and French.