Production and Sustainability – Two Aspects of one Strategy



Wednesday, 15. October 2014 | 14:45 Uhr

Speaker

Juan Gonzales-Valero

Organisation

Syngenta AG

Reporting

Juan Gonzalez-Valero, Head of Public Policy and Partnerships at Syngenta, focused on innovations in his presentation. Lacking raw materials, Switzerland cannot completely feed itself. Innovations are needed to be able to achieve self-sufficiency and thus food security. However, innovations are only possible in an environment that is open to experiments and able to grow. When it comes to agriculture, Switzerland is overly cautious.

Gonzalez-Valero pointed out that the world population is growing daily by 200,000 people. Producing enough food for the growing population will be one of mankind’s greatest challenges. The available resources have already been severely strained. Millions of hectares of land have already been lost due to erosion, decay, and urban sprawl. Moreover, bio-diversity and, therefore, genetic resources are lost. How this challenge is tackled concerns everybody. Gonzalez-Valero expects that Syngenta will play an important role in helping farmers produce in more sustainable ways.

Learn more about this topic in the video of his presentation which he held at Academia Engelberg Foundation’s 13th Dialogue on Science.

Juan Gonzales-Valero

As the head of Public Policy and Partnerships at Syngenta, Juan Gonzalez-Valero develops and implements the company’s corporate public policy agenda. In this role, he envisions Syngenta going beyond corporate responsibility to the next level of building meaningful private-public partnerships and helping shape key global policy debates. He directs much of the company’s stakeholder outreach and engages frequently in public forums.

Previously, ashead of corporate responsibility, he initiated programs to strengthen Syngenta’s contribution to addressing global challenges through its products and people. Central to these efforts, Juan Gonzalez-Valero and his colleagues are focusing on how to empower farmers with the innovation and knowledge to grow more food from less of the valuable natural resources such as land, soil, water, and biodiversity. His keen belief that Syngenta can offer solutions to the world’s most pressing needs stems from his years working inSustainable Use, Stewardship and Ecology. This involved integrating sustainable agriculture and product stewardship programs into regional and country business strategies.

Gonzalez-Valero joined the company in 1990 and previously held several leadership positions in Environmental Sciences and Risk Assessment across Europe and the USA.

He holds a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Hamburg where his research focused on marine ecology and environmental Toxicology.

Donators and Partners

The ETH Board is responsible for the strategic leadership of the ETH domain and assumes the supervision of its institutions. Its close relationship with the ETH Council has contributed to the successful continuation of Academia Engelberg Foundation since 2000.

The Foundation promotes research into the connecting human fundamentals of science. Academia Engelberg Foundation and the Foundation for Basic Research in Human Sciences have entered into a cooperation agreement for the period 2011 to 2015.

Helvetia is a quality-oriented comprehensive insurance company with over 150 years of experience. Academia Engelberg Foundation is convinced it will be able to use important synergies from the partnership starting in 2015.

A partnership with the University of Lucerne has existed since summer 2013. Since 2016 we have also a parthership with the Faculty of Economics and Management of the University of Lucerne. Through these partnerships, synergies are used and joint projects are tested and realized. The University of Lucerne currently consists of three faculties: the faculties for Theology, Culture and Social Sciences, and Law.