Björn Conrad
Non-Resident Fellow
Björn Conrad is a non-resident fellow with the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin. He is CEO and co-founder of Sinolytics LLC, a specialized consultancy providing expert analysis and strategic advice on China. His areas of expertise include China’s technological and digital transformation, China’s industrial and technology policy as well as environmental policy, climate change, and energy.
Before starting Sinolytics in 2018, he was vice president research at the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), Europe’s largest think tank furthering policy-oriented research on contemporary China. He joined the founding team at MERICS in 2014 after working for the joint program of the World Bank and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as an Investment Officer, designing and managing numerous projects in China and its neighboring countries. Prior to that, he worked for the World Bank’s Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Washington DC, where he primarily focused on climate change and environmental issues in East Asia.
From 2008 – 2011 Björn was a research associate with GPPi in Berlin, where he built up the institute’s focus area Rising Powers and Global Governance. Prior positions include teaching fellowships at Harvard University and the University of Trier and also internships with the German Foreign Office in Berlin and the UN Secretariat in New York. He was also a visiting associate with the Boston Consulting Group’s Munich office. His commentaries have appeared in the International Herald Tribune, European Voice, Handelsblatt, ZEIT online, and EU Observer.
Björn received a master’s degree in sinology, political science, and economics from the University of Trier and a master’s of public policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School, where he studied from 2005 to 2007 as a Fulbright scholar. He spent the academic year 2002 – 2003 at Peking University and has regularly lived and worked in China since then. He has held scholarships from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes), the Fulbright Commission, the Asia Europe Foundation, and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).