Koen Berden is Managing Director of Trade Impact, a small research and advisory firm focused on advising on smart trade and investment, Assistant Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam, and Executive Director for International Affairs at EFPIA. He is working on different projects related to international trade, investment, global value chains, sustainability and SMEs. In his different roles, he is focused on lecturing and researching on the potential impact of trade and investment agreements as well as ex-ante evaluations of trade agreements - e.g. at Erasmus University and College of Europe. He is particularly interested in the sustainable elements (social, environmental and human rights) and on how to stimulate innovation for long-term gains from trade and investment. Before starting Trade Impact, Koen served as Director of Outreach and Member of the Board of Directors at the World Trade Institute in Bern, Switzerland, and from 2006 – 2015, he worked at Ecorys, the oldest and one of the largest public-sector consulting firms in Europe, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where he was first Partner and Commercial Director and later served as Senior Partner and its Managing Director. For the Ecorys Group, Koen was EU Market Director, Chief Innovation Officer, and Chief Economist.
Koen did his PhD in Economics at the Tinbergen Institute on ‘Innovation, Uncertainty and Economic Growth’. Before that, he graduated with honours from Erasmus University Rotterdam in the double master of International and Financial Economics and did his International Baccalaureate at the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales.
As part of his other interests, Koen is currently member of the Supervisory Board of Clingendael, fellow of the Transatlantic Policy network, Executive Board member of the Women Economic Forum (WEF), member of the Studiegezelschap Economische Politiek, and member of the Rotterdam Economic Council.
