For a good 200 years, continuing and unprecedented progress in our living conditions has led to changes in our social structures and forms. The consequence, visible to all, is a demographic change with manifold effects for which we have no experience to fall back on:

• longer individual life spans
• low birth rates
• ageing societies
• increasing migration.

This megatrend will not lose momentum in the 21st century. However, its effects differ from nation to nation and significantly shape their socio-economic, political and cultural framework. This population development is thus a reality with far-reaching effects on the economy, society and political processes. It affects us on both an individual and collective level. But how can we draw benefits and advantages from these unavoidable changes for political processes at national, regional and international level? How can these insights be better integrated into strategic planning processes?

Dr. med. Hans Groth, 24 years in various positions at Pfizer Inc., Chairman of the World Demographic & Ageing Forum, St. Gallen/Switzerland, and former Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation to the United States, Dr. Martin Dahinden, will speak on this topic.

We look forward to an exciting discussion (modarated by Dr. Heinrich Kreft), which we can continue afterwards at a small reception at the kind invitation of the Swiss Embassy.

Please, REGISTER HERE

Dr. med. Hans Groth, MBA is Chairman of the Board of the World Demographic & Ageing Forum (WDA Forum). In addition, he is member of the Board of Directors of ZurzachCare AG - a Switzerland-based chain of rehabilitation clinics. From 2009 - 2019, Dr. Groth has been a guest lecturer at the University of St. Gallen (HSG)/Switzerland with the topic “Megatrend: Global Demographic Change”.

Till 2013 Hans Groth has been working with Pfizer Inc. for twenty-four years. He has comprehensive experience in over 30 healthcare markets including Western Europe, Eastern Europe & Central Asia and North America. His responsibilities have included medical affairs, clinical research, regulatory, marketing & sales as well as international public affairs including negotiating pricing & access conditions with government authorities, NGOs as well as healthcare payers.

In 2003, he was appointed “Pfizer Global Health Fellow” by UNAIDS to conduct case studies in Central Asia and Siberia in order to quantify the threat potential of HIV/AIDS/TB in that region. For his ongoing commitment towards supporting public health infrastructure projects in Southeast Siberia and Kirgizstan, he received in 2008 the “Pfizer Global Health Fellow Award”.

For the past twenty years, Dr. Groth has been studying the interaction between global demographic change, economic development, wealth and societal stability (c.f. “Europe’s Demographic Challenge - Unlocking the Value of Health” Hans Groth & Nicholas Eberstadt, 2007, “Population Dynamics in Muslim Countries – Assembling the Jigsaw” Hans Groth & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2012, “Africa’s Population: In Search of a Demographic Dividend or Social” Hans Groth & John May, 2017). The focus of his research has built upon theories of economic development & productivity and employing the value of health, education and progress in societal governance as sustainable tools to unlock new ways to tackle the imminent challenges of demographic change.

Martin Dahinden is a Swiss diplomat. He was Ambassador to the United States from 2014-2019, prior to which he headed the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC (2008-2014) and was Director of Resources at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (2004-2008). From 2000-2004, he built up the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining, a humanitarian foundation against anti-personnel mines. As a diplomat, he has served also in Paris, Lagos (Nigeria), New York (Mission to the UN), Brussels, Geneva and Bern.

Martin Dahinden is a member of the Advisory Group of the UN Children's Fund UNICEF (New York), a lecturer at the University of Zurich in the field of security and foreign policy (Institute of Political Science) as well as a board member of the World Demographic and Aging Forum WDA and a foundation board member of the think tank ICT4Peace.

He holds a doctorate in business administration and was a researcher of economic and social history at the University of Zurich. Before joining the diplomatic service, he worked for a bank (Credit Suisse) and for a publishing house (ExLibris).

Dr. Heinrich Kreft M.A., B.A. (USA), holds the Chair for Diplomacy II at Andrássy University Budapest and is Director of its Center for Diplomacy. Previously, he was Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (July 2016 - August 2020), Special Ambassador for Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue and for International Academic Relations, and Deputy Head of the Planning Staff of the Federal Foreign Office. Other assignments in his 35-year career have taken him to Washington, Tokyo, Madrid and La Paz.

In between, he was a visiting fellow at the Henry L Stimson Center, the Heritage Foundation, the Brookings Institutions, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Transatlantic Academy of the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington, DC.

Heinrich Kreft studied political science, modern history and sociology at Juniata College, Huntingdon, PA (USA) , at the Institute d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and the Institute des Hautes Etudes de L`Amérique Latine of the Sorbonne Nouvelle as well as at the Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster. He has published extensively on international relations. His most recent publications are on China and the broader Middle East.