Professor Jeremy Rifkin

Professor Jeremy Rifkin  is the founder and president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, organization which examines the economic, environmental, social and cultural impacts of new technologies introduced into the global economy. He has been an advisor to the European Union and other governments and heads of states as well as Fortune 500 companies' top people on actions that should be taken immediately to address the triple threat of the global financial crisis, energy crisis and climate change. Rifkin is one of the leading big-picture thinkers of our day and remains also as one of the most highly sought-after and highest rated speakers on the topic of globalization, sustainability, shifting to a new energy era and low-carbon economy and impact of scientific and technological changes.

Furthermore, Professor Rifkin is the principal architect of the European Union’s Third Industrial Revolution long-term economic sustainability plan to address the triple challenge of the global economic crisis, energy security, and climate change. He is also the founder and chairperson of the Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Roundtable, comprised of 100 of the world’s leading renewable energy and construction companies, architectural firms, real estate companies, IT companies, power and utility companies, and transport and logistics companies. Jeremy Rifkin’s global economic development team is the largest of its kind in the world and is working with cities, regions, and national governments to develop master plans to transition their economies into post-carbon Third Industrial Revolution infrastructures. He has been influential in shaping public policy in the United States and around the world.

Professor Rifkin holds a degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Since 1994, he has been a senior lecturer at the Wharton School’s Executive Education Program at the University of Pennsylvania, where he instructs CEOs and senior management on transitioning their business operations into sustainable Third Industrial Revolution economies.

Professor Rifkin’s monthly column on global issues appears in many of the world’s leading newspapers and magazines, including The Los Angeles Times in the United States, The Guardian in the U.K., Die Süddeutsche Zeitung in Germany, L’Espresso in Italy, El Mundo and El País in Spain and many others. He has been a frequent guest on numerous television programs, including Face the Nation, The Lehrer News Hour, 20/20, Larry King Live, Today, and Good Morning America. The National Journal named Rifkin as one of 150 people in the U.S. that have the most influence in shaping federal government policy.

He is the author of eighteen bestselling books on the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, the workforce, society, and the environment. His most recent books include: The Empathic Civilization (2010), The European Dream (2004), The Hydrogen Economy (2002), The Age of Access (2000) and The Biotech Century (1998) and The End of Work (1995).

“The unfolding global crisis that is beginning to envelop civilization forces us to ask whether we have reached a turning point in the history of the human race”, Professor Jeremy Rifkin