About us

BEDA sees design as a key driver for sustainable innovation, transformation of societies, and planetary well-being.

The Board

Isabelle Vérilhac

  • Cité du design
  • BEDA President | Head of International Affairs and Innovation, Cité du design, Saint-Etienne, France | Focal point Saint-Etienne UNESCO City of Design
  • France

Mission Statement

Isabelle Vérilhac holds a Postgraduate-Diploma in Design & Research and a Doctorate in material chemical physics and lectures on industrial design. From 2003 to 2007 she was the Director of the Saint-Etienne Medical Technologies Cluster and has worked in design in the context of its medical research and development activities.

For the past twelve years, Isabelle has been in charge of relations with the economic stakeholders of the Cité du Design Saint-Etienne. In this role, she created and set up the Materials Resource Centre, the Innovative Uses and Practices Labs (LUPI®) and the Design Creative City Living Lab of the Cité du design. She coordinated the European Project IDeALL, (Integrating Design for All in Living Labs), that combined design and user-centred Living Labs methodologies and which was one of the first design programmes funded by the European Commission in 2012.

Isabelle is also in charge of the development and management of a range of economic, regional and societal projects.

Since the beginning of 2019, Isabelle has been the International Manager and Coordinator of Saint-Etienne UNESCO City of Design and, as a member for some years, of the Board of BEDA, (The Bureau of European Design Associations), she was elected its Vice President and President Elect in May 2019.

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