author

Dannie Jost has been Consulting Science Advisor and Senior Research Fellow at the World Trade Institute (WTI), NCCR Trade Regulation, Law Faculty, University of Bern, Switzerland since 2008. She works in policy and regulation issues where science, technology and trade are involved. Work in progress includes the regulatory challenges of nanotechnology and synthetic biology, and fundamental aspects of what constitutes patentable subject matter. Past work has included advising federal agencies on the scope of action for nanomaterials regulation within the framework of international trade law. This work is done in close collaboration with trade lawyers and other experts in nanotechnology and regulatory affairs.

Prior to her involvement with the WTI, Dannie Jost took an extended leave dedicated mostly to fiction writing. In addition, she consulted on innovation policy issues for, among others, the Swiss federal government.  She has also developed an insatiable curiosity for the developments in digital communication technologies. In particular the issue of knowledge ownership has been on her mind since the 90′s. Under the working title of Theoretical Man she is working on a book project that centers around the relationship between humans and technology.

From 1998 to 2002, Dannie Jost worked as a Technology and Patent Expert at the Swiss Federal Institute for Intellectual Property (IPI) in Bern. She initiated and negotiated the partnership of the IPI with the Swiss Economic Forum (SEF). She created and led training workshops in intellectual property for technology transfer officers, examined patents, and did complex prior art patent searches.

Before  joining the IPI Dannie Jost worked in private industry as a consultant for oil and gas clients in both formulation and implementation of strategies, as well as coaching leading decision makers and teams.

From 1988 to 1993 Dannie Jost was as a scientific collaborator and principal investigator at the Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany and a research fellow at Cornell University, Laboratory for Atomic and Solid State Physics, Ithaca, New York, USA.

Dannie Jost is an elected member of the Bernese city parliament (Berner Stadtrat) for the Liberal Democratic Party (FDP/PRD) since 2007 with an interruption for the first semester of 2009. Since 2010 she represents her party in the city’s committee for social, educational and cultural affairs (SBK). She is an advisory board member at innovation.tank (Seymar Gmbh), Zurich, Switzerland.

Dannie Jost holds a doctoral degree in natural sciences (Dr. Phil. Nat., Physics) from the University of Bern, Switzerland; a Master of Sciences from California State University,Los Angeles, USA; and a Bachelor of Science (Chemistry) from California State University Northridge,  USA. Before moving to Europe in 1982 she spent one year at the University of California San Diego.

Her academic and philosophical interests lie in self-organization and the dynamics of complex adaptive systems; trans-disciplinary research, in particular the consilience of law and science; intellectual property, innovation, development, sustainability and education.

updated: February 2012