Bernd Fesel, Director of the European Creative Business Network (ECBN).

Fesel studied Economics and Philosophy in Heidelberg and Bonn and graduated with an economist degree. In 2003 he founded the Office for Culture and Economy and served as advisor f.e. of the German UNESCO Commission and German Federal Foreign Office. He initiated the first national conference on creative industries in Berlin from 2004 to 2009, which was co-organized with the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation. Bernd Fesel has been speaker in Hearings of the European Parliament (2017 on Brexit) and conferences across Europe, special focus is on the spillover effects of the arts and creative industries. He was board member of the European network on cultural management and policy (ENCATC) in Brussels from 2015 to 2017 and is since 2016 director of the European Creative Business Network (ECBN) in Rotterdam.