Jean-Charles Bigot is the ESA representative in Japan and recently moved to Tokyo, to setup and open the first ESA permanent office in Asia.

He was previously working in ESA HQ, Paris, France, in the International Relations Department in charge of cooperation with countries in the Asia-Pacific regions. He used to represent ESA at the COPUOS (Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space) and also served as Secretary of ESA's International Relations Committee.

He started his career as Earth observation engineer in space industry in France and in USA, and moved to ESA to work on various EO space missions in the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes in Frascati, near Roma in Italy, before moving to ESA HQ.

Of French nationality, he is a graduate of a French engineering school, holding a master's degree in electrical engineering and a specialised master's degree in space engineering.