W. Ernst Eder was born in Austria (1930) and educated in England and Austria. He graduated from an Advanced Technical College (TGM ¿ Technologisches Gewerbe-Museum, Vienna) in 1951, and was awarded the state-registered title of ¿Ingenieur¿ in 1957. Ten years of industrial experience in both countries consisted of employment in design offices of industrial organizations making alpine forestry equipment, power transformers and switchgear, and steel processing plant. His first academic appointment at the University College of Swansea in 1961 started his involvement in teaching design engineering. In 1968 he was admitted to the degree of MSc in Engineering from the University of Wales. Further appointments took him to The University of Calgary (1968¿77), Loughborough University of Technology (1977¿81) and the Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario (1981¿2000). Even though he retired from full-time employment in 2000, he was still involved in design teaching at RMC until 2007.

Ernst Eder attained an international reputation in systematic and methodical design engineering. He published more than 150 papers on design methodology and engineering education, and co-authored or edited 13 technical books on design engineering and the design process. He was a founder member of the Design Research Society (UK) in 1966, and The Design Society in 2000. In 2005 he was named Professor Emeritus from RMC, and in 2006 was admitted to the degree of Doctor honoris causa at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czech Republic. Stanislav Hosnedl, was born in 1942 in Czechoslovakia and graduated (Ing.) in Design Engineering at the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czech Republic, in 1964 in Machine Tool Design. He was employed in the engineering design and research departments in SKODA Concern Enterprises in Pilsen until 1990. He received his first doctorate (CSc.

) at the University of West Bohemia in 1984, thesis ¿Complex Function Analysis of Driving Mechanisms of Machine Tools using Computers¿. Since 1990 he has been lecturer in the Department of Machine Design, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. From 1990 until 2000 he was a Head of the Department with a staff of 30. From 2001 to 2006 he was Vice Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Hosnedl is author or co-author of 4 books, has 2 patents on inventions, more than 110 papers including more than 40 in foreign publications, more than 100 research reports, and main author of a large software package used in industrial practice and education since 1980.