Vivian Gomes is an internationally respected design and product leader who has been at the forefront of creating, building, scaling, and judging new products that make an impact in the real world. With over two decades of experience across product design, management, human-centered design, and large-scale innovation, he is widely regarded for his ability to assess and vision not just what is new, but what is viable, durable, and well-executed at scale. Vivian’s professional journey reflects a deep invention mindset, one rooted in identifying unmet needs, framing the right problems, and translating insight into products that can scale across markets and cultures. He has led the creation and evolution of products and platforms used by millions, spanning consumer electronics, e commerce, healthcare, telecom, fintech, media, energy, smart infrastructure, and enterprise systems. His work consistently sits at the intersection of customer value, operational feasibility, and business value. As Co-Founder and Chief Design Officer of SHNORH and Human Factors Research & Design (HFR&D), Vivian has guided organizations through the full product and platform lifecycle, i.e. from early concept and validation to launch, governance, and long-term portfolio management. He is known for identifying and establishing strong teams, product foundations, clear ownership models, decision frameworks, design and delivery standards, and cross-functional collaboration between product, engineering, research, and business teams. These structures have enabled faster execution, higher adoption, and sustained product quality across complex ecosystems. Earlier in his career, Vivian held senior global roles at Hewlett-Packard, where he founded and scaled one of the company’s first offshore usability and user-centered design teams. There, he contributed directly to major product lines by embedding research and product thinking into development decisions, influencing hardware interfaces, software workflows, and service experiences across global markets. His work has supported products with high value revenue impact and long operational lifespans, proving his perspective on product experience longevity, manufacturability, and lifecycle management placing people at the center of his work. Vivian later led global design and product transformation initiatives, overseeing more than 80 enterprise-grade platforms across analytics, GIS, defense, utilities, and smart city systems for large enterprises. Many of these products operated in safety-critical and infrastructure-heavy environments, requiring disciplined product management, clear prioritization, and rigorous evaluation of usability under real-world conditions. These experiences shaped his practical approach to judging innovations, as strong products are not only inventive, but dependable, understandable, and responsibly built. Beyond industry leadership, Vivian actively contributes to the global product and design community as a mentor, board advisor, and jury member. He has served on juries for leading international awards including the IDSA International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), the iF Design Awards, A’ Design Awards, and the Stevie Awards. He has dedicated over 10 yrs as a lead mentor at Google for Startups. Across these roles, he is recognized for his balanced judgment, evaluating invention, product strategy, execution quality, and long-term value rather than surface-level novelty. A frequent speaker and author, Vivian writes and presents on product ethics, invention-led design, systems thinking, and the responsibilities of product leaders in shaping technology at scale. His perspective is grounded, analytical, and experience-driven…shaped by years of building products, leading teams, and helping organizations turn ideas into outcomes that endure.

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