Sylvain Cottong   Group moderator

I'm a typical knowledge worker and Internet evangelist (based in Luxembourg/Europe) since the Internet's early years. As an economist and interdisciplinarist, I immediately had a vision of how the Internet and the information society would change the way we live and work. So I decided to start my own consultancy in 1997. I now have almost 10 years of experience in major Internet, Intranet, Extranet, e-business, e-goverment, e-democracy, online communication, knowledge management and information technology projects as well as in general business consulting & development.
 
Having always been user-centerd-design driven in what I did, I then broke the glass of computer screens and started to apply the same state of mind to other areas. In other words, applying design thinking for problem solving in a more general way, from business problems to public sector services and architectural projects.
 
As a result of this process, I founded integratePlace, a design consultancy based in Luxembourg/Europe (www.integratedplace.com) back in January 2006 with my partner Georges Zigrand, who then came back from an 8 year's professional experience in London where he has worked as a senior industrial designer with several renowned design agencies.
 
With our very complimentary backgrounds we are able to offer a wide range of services in different design & business areas, by using design as a strategic tool for innovation and transformation.
 
I try to network and learn at a series of conferences per year in different but related fields: IASummit, EuroIA, Idea conference, EPIC, European service design conference, GEL conference, LIFT conference...and whatever interesting things there might be out there and worth discovering.
 
Our connected & multiple challenges facing world asks for sustainable & human centered solutions in so many different areas of action. I prefer to be a creative and responsible architect for that world rather than limiting myself to being a critic of it.
 
(My LinkedIn profile page: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sylvaincottong)