Gunter Pauli - Entrepreneur, Founder ZERI, Systems Thinker

Entrepreneur, Founder ZERI, Systems Thinker

Gunter Pauli is a man on a mission - a serial entrepreneur, innovator and author of The Blue Economy, who is leading the ZERI Foundation, an open source research and experimentation network with a team of eminent scientists and design thinkers all over the world.

Their mission? To prove 100 manufacturing innovations with viable business models that could generate 100 million jobs in 10 years, all with zero waste impact on the environment.  A tough mission indeed, but one well worth taking on.

Each innovation is inspired by science and draw on biomimetics and the laws of physics.  They are summarized on the ZERI website and distributed around the world in partnership with UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) , UNIDO ( United Nations Industrial Development Corporation), and The Club of Rome.

Right now, Gunter and his team are focussed on designing battery-less devices to tackle the growing problem of Lithium batteries - a toxic by-product of our increasingly digital lives and a dangerous consequence of a lack of systems-thinking in the design of products.  Maybe we will hear some solutions by the time Gunter speaks at Amplify in June 2011.

Gunter Pauli was born in Antwerp and graduated in Economics before completing an MBA at INSEAD in France. His multifarious entrepreneurial activities span business, culture, science, politics and the environment. Under his leadership, a small European company pioneered the first ecological factory, the construction of which was completed in 1993.

He founded and directs the "Zero Emissions Research Initiative" of the United Nations University in Tokyo, redesigning manufacturing processes into non-polluting clusters of industries. He laid the basis for the design of the first zero emissions industrial park in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA.

Fluent in six languages, Gunter has written eight books which have been published in twelve languages.

This session is sponsored by IBM

Introducing the Workshop curator - Ian Dunlop

Gunter's workshop session is must-attend event for anyone interested in the sustainable future of our planet - which should include everyone who lives on it! 

Provoking debate and stimulating discussion between Gunter and the audience will be Ian Dunlop, the workshop curator and a man with wide experience in energy resources, infrastructure and international business.

Ian will draw on his many year's work in oil, gas and coal exploration and production for Royal Dutch Shell to enliven the debate, connect with the essential themes of the conversation and bring a practical, real world perspective to the workshop.

Ian chaired the Australian Coal Association in 1987-88. From 1998-2000 he chaired the Australian Greenhouse Office Experts Group on Emissions Trading which, under the Howard government, developed the first emissions trading system design for Australia.  From 1997 to 2001 he was CEO of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.  Ian has a particular interest in the interaction of corporate governance, corporate responsibility and sustainability.

Ian is an engineer from the University of Cambridge, he is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the Energy Institute (UK), and a Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME (USA). 

He is Chairman of Safe Climate Australia, Deputy Convenor of the Australian Association for the Study of Peak Oil, a Director of Australia 21and a Member of The Club of Rome. He advises and writes extensively on governance and sustainability.