Giovanni Belingardi was born in Torino in 1951, and obtained his Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Politecnico di Torino in 1975. From 1995 he has been a Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Dept. of the Politecnico di Torino. His present research activity is mainly devoted to structural design and experimental testing in automotive engineering, with particular attention on lightweight designs for the car body and on passive safety for vehicle occupants and pedestrians. He is the author of more than 320 papers published in international scientific journals and in proceedings of national and international conferences. He has recently been and at present is the scientific coordinator of the Operative Units of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department for a number of projects of the framework programs of the European Union and of National and Regional Governments. He has also completed effective research cooperation with industrial partners. He is the responsible for international cooperation of Politecnico di Torino in the context of Automotive Engineering, particularly with Canada, the US, Brazil, Poland, and Serbia.