Giancarlo Guizzardi (born 22 April 1975 in Vitoria, Brazil) is a Brazilian–Italian computer scientist specializing in conceptual modeling, enterprise modeling, applied ontology and ontology-driven information systems.

[jargon] He is a professor at the University of Twente, in The Netherlands, and a senior researcher and founding member of the Ontology & Conceptual Modeling Research Group (NEMO)[1] in Vitoria, Brazil.

[citation needed] He is a strong advocate of an approach to Conceptual Modeling known as Ontology-Driven Conceptual Modeling (ODCM).

ODCM proposes that, since Conceptual Modeling is about representing conceptualizations of reality to support human understanding communication and problem-solving, it must rely on foundations that take formal ontology in philosophy, cognitive science, philosophical logics and linguistic seriously.

[2] He defended his PhD thesis in 2005 in the University of Twente (with the highest distinction).