Furio Suggi Liverani

Furio Suggi Liverani joined illycaffè in 1991 in the role of knowledge manager after having worked for 10 years as a computer science adviser. Since 1995 he has been managing director of the Department of Research and Development, directly under the CEO. He has participated in several projects of industrial and laboratory automation and in the development of illycaffè's production information system. He has developed technologies and innovative products such as an electronic coffee sorting machine. In 1993 he introduced the use of Internet and multimedia to the company, actualizing the www.illy.com website in 1996. In 1998 on behalf of illycaffè he founded AromaLab, a laboratory dedicated to the study of coffee chemistry, located in the Area Science Park of Trieste. He has been a council member of the AI*IA (Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence), co-ordinator of the workgroup AI*IA in industry, and is a member of several scientific societies. Currently he is member of the steering committee of the international conference 'Cellular Automata for Research and Industry' and of the 'Italian Congress of Artificial Intelligence'. He is also a board member of Qualicaf and adviser of the EDAMOK project. He is the author of 30 articles on the subjects of coffee technology, computer science and artificial intelligence, he has participated as spokesman in several courses, national and international conferences and conventions. He is the co-inventor of five industrial patents.