CodeFest Spring 2025 on classifying patent data for sustainable development

Åsa Ribbe, Principal Director Search & Patent Grant Process Products, Directorate-General 4 Corporate Services

Åsa began working at the EPO in 1997 as an examiner in telecommunications, in the field of optical communications. Throughout her career as an examiner, team manager and director in DG1 Operations, she has worked on all parts of the patent granting procedure, from classification and search to examination and opposition. Over the years, she has been active in several IP5, Cooperative Patent Classification, Trilateral classification, search and digitalisation projects. In 2022 she became Principal Director in Operations and from 01.01.2025 she moved to her current position of Principal Director for the Search and Patent Grant processes and tools. She holds a MSc in engineering physics from Chalmers University of Technology.

David Horat, Director of Certifications and Educational Technologies, Directorate-General 5 Legal and International Affairs

David  oversees the European Qualifying Examination (EQE), the European Patent Administration Certification (EPAC) and the infrastructure of the European Patent Academy. Previously he was Director of Patent Knowledge where he led the development of delivery of data, information and knowledge products and services. He began at the EPO as a patent examiner and was key in the development of the first AI pre-search algorithm. He later headed the Prior-art Data Management department, leading a team of over 150 people across 10+ locations, delivering 1 000+ data pipelines, 2+ petabytes of data and introducing new innovative tools.Before joining the EPO, David worked as a software engineer at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and Ericsson. David holds an M.Sc. in computer science, an LL.M. in intellectual property law and business management and has completed an executive programme in leadership.

Franco Mascia, Data Scientist, Directorate-General 1 Patent Granting Process and Business Information Technology

Franco began working as a patent examiner at the EPO in 2015 and moved to data science in 2020, where he has worked on neural machine translation and the EPO's first generative AI solution for the Legal Interactive Platform. Franco holds a MSc and a PhD in computer science and prior to joining the EPO he was a post-doctoral researcher at IRIDIA, the artificial intelligence research laboratory at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Roberta Romano-Götsch, Chief Sustainability Officer

In her role Roberta is passionate about promoting sustainability, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and environmental, social and corporate governance. Previously she has served as the EPO’s Chief Operating Officer in the healthcare, biotechnology and chemistry, as well as mobility and mechatronics sectors. Roberta is a chemist by education and obtained her PhD in organic chemistry from the Technical University of Munich. Prior to joining the EPO in 1997, she was R&D product manager at Procter & Gamble.

Sylvia Kok-de Vries, Director of Prospects and Studies, Directorate-General 4 Corporate Services

Sylvia joined the EPO in 2022 and is responsible for social data analytics to facilitate decision-making and policy at all levels, both internally and externally. She is particularly interested in how AI can help drive greater impact. Previously, she worked for over 20 years at Statistics Netherlands, as a manager in statistical information and data management as well as Director and Deputy Principal Director. Her contributions there included making statistical information more accessible to provide insights into social issues, policy development and decision-making, as well as the set-up of the data governance model used by Dutch civil services.