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Roberto Castagno is head of intellectual property at Neste, the world’s largest producer of renewable diesel and renewable jet fuel refined from waste and residues, introducing renewable solutions to the polymer and chemical industries.
As the leader of the IP function, Dr Castagno is responsible for integrating intellectual property in Neste’s strategy and operations, in close collaboration with existing and new business, as well as with Neste’s innovators, inventors and partners. He is passionate about the logistics of ideas and the management of innovation. He sees patents and IP rights as key enablers in a knowledge-based society and enjoys operating at the nexus of intellectual property, technology and business.
Prior to joining Neste, Dr Castagno was with Nokia between 1999 and 2020 where he held a number of positions relating to multimedia technology, research and development, business development, and technology marketing. In 2007 he transferred to Nokia’s IP team, where his responsibilities included advising Nokia businesses on IP matters in their strategy and business operations, leading IP streams in mergers and acquisitions, and working on patent acquisition and divestment transactions.
A citizen of Italy and Finland, Dr Castagno has served as honorary consul of Italy in Tampere, Finland since 2004 and regularly advises the Italian embassy in Finland on potential cooperation projects in the areas of technology and innovation. He is a lecturer in intellectual and technology assets management at the Faculty of Industrial and Information Management, University of Tampere, and he regularly speaks at conferences and executive training programmes.
Dr Castagno is a member of the advisory board of the Centre for Intellectual Property in Gothenburg, Sweden. In 2019 he received the IPR Achievement of the Year Award from the IPR University Centre in Helsinki in recognition of his educational and academic activity. Dr Castagno holds a PhD in telecommunications from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and a master’s degree (cum laude) in electronic engineering from the University of Trieste, Italy.