Pierre-Yves Panis

Pierre-Yves Panis is a product designer with over 25 years of professional design practice, dedicated to championing smart and efficient use of design in both emerging economy and world-leading business contexts. Since 2015, Pierre-Yves has been the Chief Design Officer for Signify (formerly Philips Lighting) in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Prior to joining Signify, Pierre-Yves led international design teams in other large corporations (Orange and Legrand in France, Moen in the US). And before taking on corporate jobs in the US and in Europe, Pierre-Yves spent almost nine years in Southern Africa where he created and managed Design Co Operation (DCO), a non-profit design structure aimed at improving urban informal sector production in Zimbabwe. DCO's activities were centered on a commitment to "design for development"; using an industrial design approach to conceive of and develop products specifically for small-scale, low-tech production environments. Pierre-Yves considers it his mission to strategically leverage design and push it beyond its generally accepted boundaries, developing its practice into an essential contributor to innovation and to the delivery of the best possible user and customer experience. He has served two terms as Executive Board Member of the World Design Organization (formally Icsid,) and is an Advisor to the Design Management Institute (DMI). He is a graduate of Ensci Les Ateliers (the French National School of Industrial Design) in Paris.