Robert D. Thompson is professor and scientific communicator at ELISAVA School of Design and Engineering and researcher in Somatics. His academic focus stems from his degrees in Bioprosthetic Engineering and Medical Ethics from University of Massachussetts at Amherst, BA in Product design from Art Center College of Design and Product design and Design Strategy & Management studies at INSEAD International School of Business in Fountainbleu, France.

 Robert has worked internationally as industrial designer and engineer for independent companies and has founded startups specializing in product development services.

 As associate professor in several industrial design/engineering universities, he has dedicated his more recent years into bridging the knowledge gap between the scientific and creative approach to design through Research and Development of Somatics - a revolutionary and scientific technique and language which maps the correlations between the domains of form-function-connection and space onto innovation.

 Concurrently Robert is the Scientific Director at Materfad, Materials Center in Barcelona. He is a specialist in materials training and creative application of materials for innovation.