Koen Berden

Dr. Koen Berden works for the European Federation for Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) where he is external Executive Director for International Trade, responsible for EFPIA’s international cooperations including in Russia, Turkey, China and Japan, as well as Brexit and the EU-US relationship. He promotes a dynamic trade and investment agenda in support of innovation in general and for the pharmaceutical industry in particular. Via broader alliances and research-based advocacy he engages with a wide range of stakeholders in areas like intellectual property, regulatory cooperation, market access and customs and tariff issues with regards to the production of innovative medicines. Koen is also assistant professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam. In these different roles, he is focused on promoting innovation, lecturing and researching on the potential impact of trade and investment agreements as well as ex-post evaluations of trade agreements. 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 and EFPIA, Koen served as Director of Outreach and Member of the Board of Directors at the World Trade Institute in Bern, Switzerland, where he was responsible for the WTI project portfolio and its strategic alliances. 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.