Dr. Claus Noppeney is a researcher, consultant and public speaker on the intersections of economy and culture, creativity and business, and organizational and aesthetic practices. He is a professor at Bern University of the Arts and the Business School of the Bern University of Applied Sciences, with a focus on catalyzing interdisciplinary collaborations.
Since 2009, Claus has developed and managed cultural, research and development projects related to the sense of smell: product development, customer experience, workplace, and art. He is responsible for two grants applications funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation focusing on processes of scent development. As such, he has been ethnographically following the work of perfumers and related professionals.
In 2014, he initiated (and co-founded) the Scent Culture Institute in Switzerland.
Prior to that, Claus was part of an international consulting firm specializing in strategy and organization development. He was responsible for major engagements in various industries, including higher education. In charge of international projects, he noted the importance of visual and aesthetic competencies in sustainable project implementation. This triggered the research and consulting platform CNC to support management in a visual world, which he jointly managed with the artist Armin Chodzinski.
Claus studied economics, management, philosophy and sociology at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and Constance University in Germany, as well as Duke and Harvard Universities in the US, as a visiting fellow for doctoral studies. His doctoral dissertation was awarded the Amicitia Prize for the best doctorate at the University of St. Gallen, as well as the Peter Werhahn Prize for outstanding contribution to management theory.