Gert  Christen

Gert Christen


Gert Christen is the COO of City Innovate Foundation, whose mission is to solve urban problems through technology and open innovation, and who operates the Superpublic civic lab in San Francisco. He created City Innovate’s “Collider Methodology”, a user-centered approach to research one urban problem with one lead city and to subsequently share the solutions with many cities. Prior to returning to California he led startup incubators and the entrepreneurship department at his alma mater university in Zurich, Switzerland. He has been named one of 100 Digital Shapers of Switzerland and founded Startupfair, the largest event for the Swiss startup industry. His experience includes 7 years with Nokia in the USA and Latin America, where he created Nokia’s commercial content business. Prior he was active in Radiofrequency Identification with assignments in Europe and Asia. Gert earned his M.B.A. at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business in Dallas, Texas, USA.