In this WRF-series, Studentreporters are catching conference attendees during coffee break to ask them about what they do and who they are. This time: Biologist Jörg Schmidt.
Ieva Maniusyte
Jörg Schmidt at the World Resources Forum, looking for new ideas.
Coffee break is just about to end, and there I see a man, standing with half-full cup of coffee, observing a crowd with a smile. He does not look like he has to rush and present something today.
Not everyone who comes to the World Resources Forum has a presentation to make. But they all have a story – and so does Joerg Schmidt, a biologist from Switzerland. “But I was born and raised in Germany”, he quickly adds. Now working at “Neosys”, he is also lecturing at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. “I teach sustainability management, and in “Neosys” we have a variety of different, complex projects, related to environmental issues and risk management.”
“So, how did you find out about the Forum”, I ask. Schmidt goes silent for a minute, and then gives a modest answer. “Well.. I just.. I just knew?” As he was interested in how growth can be maintained without relying on the usage of new resources, he came. But the fact that he is not one of the presenters does not mean he has nothing to say.
“I am sure that we could apply the knowledge that we have in biology for economics as well – the system that we see in nature was working perfectly for billions of years now, and it could be transferred into the process of creating new ideas.”