Every term, a dedicated panel consisting of five international representatives of varied expertise is appointed to the WDC Selection Committee.

The 2014 committee comprises (in alphabetical order):

Dr. Mark Breitenberg
2009-2011 Icsid President; Provost, California  College of the Arts (USA)

Dr. Breitenberg is Provost at California College of the Arts, USA; Commissioner, San Francisco Arts Commission, Civic Design; Formerly Dean of Humanities and Design Science at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, USA; PhD in Literature and Critical Theory from the University of California, San Diego; Author of many articles in the fields of art, design education and literary history; Author of Anxious Masculinity, a book on Shakespeare and his contemporaries; Assistant Professor of English Literature at Swarthmore College from 1987-1994; Adjunct Professor, Otis College of Design, 1998-2000; Writer/Producer at Parkwood Pictures, 1996-1998.

Edna dos Santos-Duisenberg
Chief, Creative Economy Programme of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development – UNCTAD

Edna dos Santos-Duisenberg is economist Chief of the Creative Economy Programme and former Chief of Cabinet of the Secretary General of UNCTAD. She joined the United Nations in the 1980s and in 2005, became Chief, Creative Economy Programme of UNCTAD. In this capacity, Ms. dos Santos has been guiding UNCTAD’s policy-oriented research, articulating intergovernmental dialogue and implementing technical cooperation projects in several countries. She has been pro-active in promoting international action and national initiatives on creative economy matters. Ms. Dos Santos directed the research and is the main co-author of the United Nations Creative Economy Reports 2008 and 2010. She also launched the UNCTAD’s Global databank on the world creative economy.

As Chairperson of the UN Multi-Agnecy Informal Dialogue Group on Creative Industries, she has been promoting policy coherence and synergy among the UN system on issues related to the creative economy.

Her academic background is in economics and business administration with Master Degrees in International Trade from the Sorbonne University in Paris, and in International Economic Relations. She gives lectures and has written several articles on creative economy matters.

Jeremy Myerson
Director and Chair of the Helen Hamlyn Centre at the Royal College of Art (United Kingdom)

Jeremy Myerson is Director and Chair of the Helen Hamlyn Centre at the Royal College of Art, London, which has a remit to encourage design that improves quality of life. An academic, author and activist in design, he developed his interest in this area as a journalist and editor working on a number of titles including Design, Creative Review and World Architecture. From 1986-89, he was Founding Editor of Design Week, the world’s first weekly news magazine for designers and their clients. For much of the 1990s, Jeremy Myerson worked as an independent writer, researcher and curator in design. In 1999, he was invited to join the RCA to establish the Helen Hamlyn Centre. He is a Board member of the Design Council and sits on the advisory boards of design schools in Hong Kong and Korea. He holds degrees from Hull University and the Royal College of Art. He is the author of a number of books, including New Public Architecture and IDEO: Masters of Innovation. His latest book New Demographics New Workspace was published by Gower in summer 2010.

Kohei Nishiyama
Founder and CEO, elephant design co., ltd.; Founder of CUUSOO.com (Japan)

Kohei Nishiyama is founder of CUUSOO.com, an online user community that collects and matches wishes between people and the manufactures that help to make them come true. Since 1997, sixty wishes have been realised both in products and services. Currently 130,000 users, 3,000 designers and 500 manufactures participate in this platform.

CUUSOO is used in universities as official curriculum and more than thousand students have benefited from this entrepreneurial educational experience.

Kohei was a consultant at McKinsey & Company. He primarily handled new product development projects. He is recipient of Kuwasawa Design Award (2001) and Good Design Award(2001). He is also a member of the Innovators Network, Japan Society, Member of Young Global Leaders, World Economic Forum and is a judge (New Frontier Category) on the Japanese government’s Good Design Award committee. He was chosen amongst one  of the most creative people in the world by Fast Company in 2009. He holds BA from the University of Tokyo and majored in product design at the Kuwasawa Design Institute, prior to founding CUUSOO.com and elephant design.

Jussi Pajunen
Mayor of the City of Helsinki (Finland)

Mr Jussi Pajunen is the Mayor of Helsinki since June 1, 2005. His seven year term in office runs until the end of May 2012.

Before his appointment, Mr Pajunen held numerous municipal positions of trust. He served as member of the City Council in 1997 – 2005 and became a member of the City Board in 1999. In 2003 he assumed the position as Chairman of the City Board, holding it until his appointment as Mayor. Mr Pajunen has worked for intensified co-operation in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area in terms of welfare services, urban planning and economic development. In international affairs Mayor Pa-junen has prioritised the efforts to establish Helsinki as global business hub between eastern and western market areas and as a European centre of knowledge; basing its attractiveness on first-class welfare services and a high-standard living environment. Mayor Pajunen was person-ally involved in Helsinki’s bidding process to become World Design Capital in 2012.

Before assuming the duties as Mayor of Helsinki Jussi Pajunen worked as Managing Director and as Chairman of the Board in the family-owned company Edvard Pajunen Ltd. He has a Master’s degree from the Helsinki School of Economics (1978) and an MBA from INSEAD, France (1980). He was born in 1954 in Helsinki and is married with five grown-up children.