Prof. Bart Preneel
Electrical Engineering Department
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Topic: Research Challenges in Applied Cryptology

Bart Preneel received the Doctorate in Applied Sciences from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) where he is currently a full professor. He was visiting professor at several universities in Europe and research fellow at the University of California at Berkeley. His main research interests are cryptography and information security. He has authored and co-authored more than 200 scientific publications. He is president of the IACR (International Association for Cryptologic Research) and a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cryptology and of the IEEE Transactions on Forensics and Information Security. He has participated to 25 research projects sponsored by the European Commission, for five of these as project manager. He has been program chair of ten international conferences and he has been an invited speaker at more than 30 conferences. In 2003, he has received the European Information Security Award in the area of academic research. He is president of L-SEC vzw. (Leuven Security Excellence Consortium), an association of 60 companies and research institutions in the area of e-security. He is cofounder and conductor of the jazz ensemble of the K.U.Leuven.

Christos Ellinides
Director
Directorate General for Informatics (DIGIT)
European Commission

Topic: E-Signatures: Vision and Orientation of the European Commission

Christos Ellinides is currently responsible for the provision of high quality corporate I.T. support services, infrastructure solutions, I.T. training, and corporate infrastructure solutions for information systems to the European Commission, and whenever pertinent to other European Institutions and Members States.

The mission of his Directorate is articulated around two axes: a first axis responsible for the design and implementation of the IT tools to be used within the Commission and a second, supporting role, responsible for the support and training services related to the I.T. infrastructure of the organisation.

This mission is carried out in accordance to the principles of ICT governance and in collaboration with all the ICT services of the Directorates-General; particularly for everything concerning the options related to the office automation environment and information systems.
The Directorate manages the lifecycle of products, i.e.: the selection, acquisition, implementation, training and support of I.T. products (hardware and software). These products are directly correlated with the office automation environment, the platforms of information systems development, collaborative solutions, the design and realization of integrated solutions, and reference configurations for PCs and servers within the European Commission.

Previous to his current position, Mr. Ellinides held a number of posts in the I.T. industry including the functions of CIO and CEO in a variety of business industries located mainly in Cyprus and Greece.

He has delivered lectures and presentations on I.T. and Business matters on a pan-European level and is an active member in several I.T. and Management professional bodies. He has been a director and board member in a number of organisations with substantial international exposure.