Education
Until 1982: Cantonal upper-secondary school for business and economics
1983-84: Economics studies in Basel
1984-90: Geography studies: Minor subjects: Botany, economics, environmental protection.
April 1990: Diploma, thesis on transportation development and traffic planning in Basel. Title: Means to environmentally fair transit in urban living space. A transport geographical perspective study for the area of Basel
November 2000: Promotion, thesis title: Novartis on the way to a global corporation? Selective, global expansion in the pharmaceutical industry Disputation: distinguished;
Dissertation: very good.
April 2008: Submission of habilitation project From the globe to the gene – how financial and institutional changes shape innovation processes in the pharma-biotech-complex.
Professional Activities
1982-1987: Varied employment during education
1987/88: Field training at the Office of Cantonal and City Planning, City of Basel: open-space planning, transport planning (four months)
1988: Field training at Gruner AG Engineering Firm: environmental impact reports, transport planning work (three months)
July 1988–April 1992: Research assistant at Gruner AG Engineering Firm (1988–90 part-time): comparison studies, environmental impact reports, emissions evaluations, various work in the area of territorial, traffic and refuse planning.
August 1992-July 1993: Secondary school teacher in Basel.
Sep. 1993-March 1996: Assistant at Institute of Geography, Basel University.
April 1996-Sep. 1996: Research in the U.S. on the topic of globalization of the chemicalpharmaceutical industry and regional conditions: Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and University of California, Berkeley, California.
April 1997–June 2000 Research assistant in the department of economic geography at the Institute of Geography, Hamburg University. DFG- Project: The Spatial Organization of Innovation Systems in Biotechnology’s Application Areas.
April 2000–Sep. 2001 Lecturer at the Universities of Hamburg und Bremen. March–April 2001 Research assistant in the department of economic geography at the Institute of Geography, Hamburg University.
Aug.–Oct. 2001 Research contract: Airbus Industries’ Site Strategies. Scenarios for the Production of the A380.
Feb.–March 2002 Project work: The governance of innovation relations in biotechnology. Research in Berkeley and San Diego, California.
April 2002–Sep. 2008 Senior assistant at the Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Department of Economic Geography and Regional Research.
Since October 2008 Professor of Economic Geography at the University of Salzburg.