Franco Lodato is an Italian -American
industrial design
Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...
er, best known for his work in
biomimicry
Biomimetics or biomimicry is the emulation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems. The terms "biomimetics" and "biomimicry" are derived from grc, βίος (''bios''), life, and μίμησ ...
. Lodato has served as an associate professor at the
University of Montreal School of Design, designer in residence at the
University of South Florida, and as a visiting lecturer at the
MIT Media Laboratory. He is the vice president of the
Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), Florida Chapter. Lodato has an honorary doctorate from
Universidad Nueva Esparta
Universidad Nueva Esparta is a private university in Caracas
Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Great ...
.
Lodato served as the
managing director for the Americas Operation for
Pininfarina, a leading design service for automotive, luxury lifestyle, consumer electronics, and technology industries, where he was instrumental part of the team that developed the
Maserati Birdcage 75th. His corporate work assignments and consulting career includes research and design for leading global enterprises such as
Gillette
Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G).
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...
,
Herman Miller,
DuPont
DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
,
Coca-Cola,
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
-
Maserati
Maserati S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Ma ...
,
Boeing,
BombardierChallenger Powerboats and as a Master Innovator, in
Wearable technology for
Google-
Motorola an
VSN Mobil, Inc.
At VSN Mobil, Lodato has created, developed, and implemented a product platform strategy for wearable technology in the areas of
Biometrics health, sensing and monitoring, sports dynamics, and telecommunications.
At Motorola, Lodato developed
Android
Android may refer to:
Science and technology
* Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system
** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
Smartphones and
Tablet computers,
Wi-Fi,
4G,
Push-to-talk, and customized hardware solutions utilizing
CDMA,
UMTS, and
IDEN
Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) is a mobile telecommunications technology, developed by Motorola, which provides its users the benefits of a trunked radio and a cellular telephone. It was called the first mobile social network by ma ...
standards. He established new partnerships and licensing agreements with Ferrari,
GucciKarpersky Lamborghini
Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi.
Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...
,
Amazon,
T-Mobile,
Sprint
Sprint may refer to:
Aerospace
*Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design
*Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile
Automotive and motorcycle
*Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989
*Chevrolet Sprint, ...
,
Bertone, and Pininfarina. Established technology research and development collaborations with major U.S. and international universities including,
MIT, University of Florida,
Tufts University,
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
,
Florida Atlantic University,
RIT,
McGill University,
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
,
Ringling College of Art and Design,
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
,
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...
,
Istituto Europeo di Design,
Politecnicco di Milano, and
IED Torino.
Lodato was the founder of the pre-engineering program at
American Heritage School Plantation and an instructor in the program from 2007 to 2015. he is SVP Design & Innovation for Kids2, one of the fastest growing baby product companies in the world. Lodato holds 60 U.S. and 18 international implementation and design patents and is an executive member of the
National Academy of Inventors.
Lodato designed the seal for the
National Academy of Inventors, an "arrow that girdles the globe, representing the idea that 'innovation moves the world.'".
Bibliography
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*
*
References
External links
BioDesign: The Nature of Design by Franco Lodatofrom MIT Media Laboratory
What Woodpeckers, Sharks and Snakes Teach Us About Design , Franco Lodato , TEDxBend, 2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lodato, Franco
1962 births
Living people
American industrial designers
Industrial designers