Has been founder-director of the Product-Life Institute (Switzerland), the oldest established consultancy in Europe devoted to developing sustainable strategies and policies, since 1983. From 1986 to 2014, he was also director of risk management research of the Geneva Association. In 1971, he graduated from ETH Zurich with an MA in architecture; has been Visiting Professor, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, since 2005; a full member of the Club of Rome since 2013. He was awarded degrees of Doctor honoris causa by the University of Surrey (2013) and l’Université de Montréal (2016). In 1982, with ‘The Product-Life Factor’, he won a Mitchell Prize in Houston, TX; In 1978, together with Peter Perutz, he won a first prize in the competition of the German Future's Society, Berlin, with a paper on unemployment, occupation and profession.His ‘corner’ books are ‘Jobs for Tomorrow, the Potential for substituting manpower for energy’ (1981) and ‘The Performance Economy’ (2010).

Spotlight on current activity:

Promoting the understanding of the structure of an economy in loops and its drivers and obstacles (circular industrial economy); spreading the knowledge about the competitiveness of a performance economy selling goods and molecules as a service; and identifying the levers to speed up the shift from a linear industrial economy managing flows to an economy managing stocks; through workshops, lectures and policy groups; member of the Coordination Group of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform of EESC and the European Commission.

Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.