Ignasi Guardans (Barcelona, 1964), Ph.D., started his career in 1991 as an academic in the field of Private International Law. He later practiced for some years at a law firm, dealing with international contracts and foreign investment in different areas including IP related issues, among others. In 1995 he started a political career, which took him to the Catalan Parliament (1995); the Spanish Parliament (two mandates, 1996-2004), and finally the European Parliament (2004-2009). Among other political responsibilities, for all those years Ignasi was always involved and directly involved in policy, legislative and governmental monitoring works in the field of culture, media and what would later be called creative industries. “Digital” was a strange word in politics when he entered parliamentary life in 1995. When he left in 2009 he had been directly involved in almost all EU wide internet-related debates and regulatory instruments, in particular in audio-visual related matters. He had also a natural relationship with public and private stakeholders, at national and European level.

In 2009 he was appointed Director General of Spain’s Film & Audio-visual Agency (ICAA), a part of the Ministry of Culture. He worked in close connection with other Government high officials responsible for other areas (Performing Arts & Music; Heritage; Books and Libraries; as well as Telecommunications) in areas of common interest.

In 2011 he served as the first Director of Public Affairs of the European Broadcasting Union (Eurovision). He later moved to Brussels in 2012. He co-founded “CUMEDIAE” (Culture & Media Agency Europe aisbl), a non-profit consultancy that, among other projects, launched the wiki platform www.cultureagora.info. In 2014 Ignasi joined K&L Gates, a large global law firm, as a Partner in its Brussels office, contributing mainly through his expertise in both Public Policy and in Technology, Media & Telecom matters.