From 1969 to 1994, Prof. Hans Christoph Binswanger was Professor of Economics at the University of St. Gallen, where he founded the Institute for Economics and Ecology. His research has concentrated principally on environmental and resource economics, as well as monetary theory. The most important of his many publications is considered to be "Die Wachstumsspirale" (The Growth Spiral) (2006) in which he puts forward the theory that the economy is subject to the ineluctable pressure for growth. Binswanger’s views are seen in the academic world as original and inventive, but the details of his work are not without controversy.

Richard Florida is one of the most famous intellectuals and most sought-after speakers on economic competitiveness, demographic trends and cultural and technical innovation. Florida is Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute und Professor of Business and Creativity at the Rotman School of Management in the University of Toronto. He formerly held professorships at the George Mason University and at the Carnegie Mellon University and taught, as a visiting professor, at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Florida was awarded his Ph.D. from Columbia University. The most important of his many publications are considered to be the bestsellers, "The Rise of the Creative Class" (2002) and "Who’s Your City?" (2008). In his latest work, "The Great Reset", Florida deals with the notion of how new ways of living and working might revitalise the economy again after its collapse.

Prof. Gerd Folkers was appointed Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the ETH Zurich in 1991. Prior to this, he gained his doctorate at the University of Bonn in Germany and, after a variety of trips abroad to gain experience, worked at the Pharmaceutical Institute of the University of Tübingen in Germany, where, in 1990, he completed his habilitation with a thesis on drug design. He is a member of the Swiss National Research Council and a member of the board of several start-up companies. He founded a spin-off company to provide a virtual teaching platform in the field of biomedicine and has written and published numerous articles and books on drug research and development. Since 2004, he has been Director of the Collegium Helveticum, an institute belonging jointly to the University of Zurich and the ETH Zurich.

Florian Huber works freelance, mainly as a sports journalist. He is currently studying history, linguistics and political science at the University of Zurich.

Prof. Ulrich Körtner, born in 1957, has been Professor of Systematic Theology in the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the University of Vienna since 1992. After studying for his degree and doctorate in Protestant Theology in Bethel, Münster und Göttingen, he worked from 1986 to 1990 as a parish priest in Bielefeld and from 1990 to 1992 as Director of Studies at the Protestant Academy of Iserlohn. His main research interests are medical ethics, eschatology, apocalypticism and hermeneutics. In 2001, Ulrich Körtner was named Academic of the Year by the Austrian Association of Journalists for Education and Science (Klub der Bildungs- und Wissenschaftsjournalisten Österreich).

Prof. Ulf Lindgren has been Dean of the Lorange Institute of Business, Zurich since the spring of 2010. Before that, he was a partner in Nordic Management Limited, a company that he co-founded soon after gaining his degree. Later he became a partner at LEK Consulting, a member of the board at Endeavor Inc. and a director at Bain & Company Inc. Lingren gained both his MBA and his Ph.D. in "International Mergers and Acquisitions" at the Stockholm School of Economics. Prior to that he had studied Russian and Eastern European Culture at the University of Uppsala.

John Maeda is in great demand right across the world as a graphic designer and media artist and is one of the leading experts on simplicity in information technology. He was Professor of Media Art and Sciences and also of Design and Computation at the Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Maeda is currently President of the Rhode Island School of Design, one of the most renowned art colleges in the USA. His work has been awarded many prizes, including the National Design Award of the USA and the Mainichi Design Prize from Japan. His book "The Laws of Simplicity" (2006) is one of the most read books on the subject.

Prof. Ueli Mäder, Professor of Sociology at the University of Basel, is Director of the Institute for Sociology and in charge of post-graduate studies in conflict analysis. He is also a part-time professor at the FHNW School of Social Work.

Matt Mason is the bestselling author of "The Pirate’s Dilemma", the first book in the world to reach the number one spot on Amazon’s bestseller list (Economics/Free Enterprise), and the rap bestseller list at the same time. It went on to be published in ten other countries. Mason was recently voted "Pirate of the Year’ by the magazine "Business Week". He is currently Strategy Director at the Syrup agency. Mason began his career as a pirate radio and club DJ in London. After that, he became founding editor-in-chief of the influential magazine "RWD". He has written and produced television series, comics, videos and CDs. His journalistic writings have appeared in "The Guardian", "The Independent", "The Observer", "Music Monthly" and "Adweek", as well as in other publications in more than 20 countries.

Mian Mian, born Sheng Wang to a middle-class family in 1970, lives and works in Shanghai. Her first book "La la la" appeared in 1997. Like her novel "Candy", it was censored by the Chinese authorities but circulated widely in pirate copies. Her works have been translated into seven languages and have received international acclaim. In 2002, censorship of her books was lifted. Mian Mian is a key figure, not only as a writer, but also as a DJ and famous party organiser on Shanghai's clubbing and social scene. In the summer of 2009, the KiWi publishing house brought out a German translation of her latest book "Panda Sex".

Mian Mians Blog:
http://thegoodthebadthemianmian.blogbus.com

Michelle Nicol is a partner in the marketing agency "Neutral", exhibition curator, art critic and journalist. Part of her work involves developing new brand strategies for Puma at the interface with art.

Karsten K. Panzer – PerZan – works as an artist and researcher on his "iGene" project, a transdisciplinary metalanguage between art and the life sciences with a focus on genetics, biochemistry and brain research

Christopher Patrick Peterka is the Managing Partner of Gannaca, a consultancy firm for creative communication with offices in Cologne, New York and Shanghai. He advises companies, universities and NGOs on communication issues. He focuses on relevance, art and value orientation. He was just 16 when he founded his first company. He is a passionate collector and creator of contemporary art, leads discussions around the world and sails the oceans.

Prof. Harro von Senger, born in 1944, is a Swiss lawyer and sinologist. After gaining his doctorate and habilitation in law at the University of Zurich, he spent long periods of time in Taiwan, The People’s Republic of China and Japan before being awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Freiburg in 1981. From 1981 onwards, he was Associate Professor of Sinology at the University of Zurich and, from 1981 to 1989, research associate at the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law in Lausanne. From 1989 to his retirement in 2009, he was Professor of Sinology at the Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg im Breisgau. Harro von Senger is the author of many academic publications, including "Supraplanung: Unerkannte Denkhorizonte aus dem Reich der Mitte" (Supraplanning: An unknown Chinese planning concept) (Munich 2008) and "36 Strategeme für Manager" (36 Stratagems for Managers) (Munich 2009), the first book about the 36 Chinese stratagems to appear in the Western World.

Prof. Michael Siegrist is Professor of Consumer Behaviour at the Institute for Environmental Decisions at the ETH, Zurich. He studied psychology, business economics and journalism. Amongst other things he is investigating the ways in which people perceive the risks involved in new technologies, such as gene technology, nanotechnology and nuclear technology. Another of Michael Siegrist’s research interests is the perception of nutritional hazards.

Joachim Strähle, born in 1958, studied at the HWZ University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration in Zurich and in the USA. He held several management positions with Bank Julius Bär in New York. From 1999 to August 2006, he took various executive positions with the Credit Suisse Group both in Switzerland and abroad. Since 1 September 2006, Joachim Strähle has been CEO of the Bank Sarasin & Cie AG.

Prof. Steve Williams is the founder and Research Director of the Centre for Neuroimaging Science in the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College, London. When he gained his doctorate in 1988, he was the first scientist in the University of Cambridge to work on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). In addition to his university responsibilities, Steve Williams is the co-founder of the neuromarketing company Neurosenses Ltd., which specialises in giving neuroscientific guidance on consumer behaviour. He is also the author of over 300 articles in leading neuroscientific journals. Williams has devoted his latest work to imaging techniques, focusing on improving both diagnosis and clinical treatment.

Dr. Amrei Wittwer is a scientific researcher at the Collegium Helveticum. She studied pharmacy at the ETH in Zurich. Her main research interests involve the ways in which decision-making behaviour is influenced by risk or pain, as well as questions of predictability and replicability. In 2007, with Elvan Kut and Nils Schaffner, she won the "Förderpreis für Schmerzforschung" (Sponsorship Award for Pain Research) from the German Association for the Study of Pain (Deutsche Gesellschaft zum Studium des Schmerzes - DGSS)

Urs Zweifel studied oenology and is now Production Manager at the Zweifel wine company. The Swiss associate one thing above all else with the name Zweifel – potato crisps. However, under the umbrella of the family holding company, there is also a trading company alongside the crisps manufacturers as well as Zweifel & Co. AG. The latter runs five vineyards in the Zurich region, but also markets foreign wines on the Swiss market.