Philippe Kern is founder and managing director of KEA, a unique research centre and consultancy, based in Brussels, specialised in advising territories and organisations on culture and sport since 1999. He successfully mediates between the cultural and creative sectors’ specificities and policy making. He is a copyright, trade and competition law specialist.
Kern initiates or manages high profile European and international projects in the field of research, peer-review, strategic advice, association management and consultancy on matters pertaining to the creative, culture, digital and sport economy. He is expert adviser to the European Commission, the European Parliament, WIPO, the Council of Europe, the EIB/EIF as well as numerous public and private organisations, from large multinationals to non-profit organisations. He worked in more than 30 countries for cities, regions or national governments. He set up and managed KEA’s office in Shenzhen (China) with 10 years’ experience of the Chinese market and active participation in EU-China dialogues.
He is a well-known guest speaker, writes blogs and authored the books: “European. What about Union? Culture in the European Union Project” (2018), and “The Future of Cultural Policies” (2020). He wrote the Manifesto for a Modern Cultural Policy (2020).
Kern was former Director of Public and Legal Affairs of PolyGram (now Universal) and head of the IFPI Brussels office. Kern founded IMPALA – the association of independent music companies in 2000 and acted as Secretary General from 2000 to 2008. Since 2019 he is chairman of b.creative an international association networking young cultural and creative entrepreneurs worldwide (www.bcreativetracks.com). He is also co-founder of the Cultural Policy Designer Network (CPDN). He graduated in law from the universities of Strasbourg and Paris as well as the College of Europe in Bruges.
