CEO, Form&Funktion
Finn Petrén has a MA in sociology and philosophy from the University of Stockholm. For almost three decades, 1977-2004, he worked for the Nordic Council of Ministers, a governmental collaboration between Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. He was the Managing Director of the Nordic Cooperation on Disability 1980-2004 and Secretary General for the Nordic Council on Disability Policy 1997-2004. He initiated and developed both these and a number of other Nordic bodies and programmes.
One of the leaders in the development of the Design for All concept from the early 1990s, he then became a member of the EIDD Design for All Europe Board of Directors in 2001, Vice-President in 2003 and President from 2007-2013. He is also a founder member of the Swedish member organisation Design for All Sverige, having been Vice-President since its start in 1996 and President since 2004. Since 2005, he has run his own strategic design consultancy Form&Funktion and has been an international consultant and acclaimed keynote speaker and lecturer in more than 30 countries, on topics ranging from “design for social innovation” to “sustainable urban development”..