Having graduated from Imperial College, London, where
he read Mathematics, John Bambridge joined the European Patent Office in 1981.
After three years as a search examiner in The Hague and two years as a
substantive examiner in Munich, John Bambridge moved to Information Services to
set up the helpdesk for examiners. In 1990, he joined the Controlling Office
within the EPO, where he was responsible for the control of Automation
Expenditure and Planning. In 1994 he moved back to Information Services where he
initially managed the EPO's transition to a paperless document management system
and from 1999 untl 2007, he was responsible for the EPO's e-business initiative
epoline. In March 2007, he was appointed Principal Director for Patent
Grant Automation and is responsible for the documentation of the EPO as well as
the automation support for examiners and support staff.