Dr. Nicola Blum

Dr. Nicola Blum is a lecturer at the Group for Sustainability and Technology. She currently teaches the Downloadseminar Business Models for a Circular Economyvertical_align_bottom. Nicola’s research and teaching centers around sustainable development and technological innovations in Switzerland and globally. She usually tackles questions of specific sustainability challenges by combining different perspectives, i.e. ecological with financial or economic with political.

Nicola worked in industry and academia alike. In her dissertation, Nicola investigated economic, political and social conditions for the (non-​) successful diffusion of renewable energy based village grids in South East Asia. Her most recent research focuses on the DownloadCircular Economy.vertical_align_bottom More specifically, on the re-​configuration of linear value chains into circular ones, and the required policy and industry changes. Nicola co-developed and led from 2018-2022 the DownloadNFP73vertical_align_bottom project DownloadTACLEvertical_align_bottom, as well as the DownloadThematic Synthesis across several NFP73 projects on Creating a Sustainable Circular Economy.vertical_align_bottom A strong additional pillar of Nicola’s work is outreach beyond academia as well as collaboration with industry. To this end, she has been part of the management board at DownloadImpact Hub Zurichvertical_align_bottom from 2013 until 2017, where she was responsible for people and organizational development and the start-​up incubation services. She co-designed and lead the DownloadNTN Innovation Booster Circular Building Industryvertical_align_bottom powered by Innosuisse and operated by sus.lab in collaboration with academic and non-academic partners. Further, Nicola is a member of the advisory board of the DownloadStiftung Drittes Milleniumvertical_align_bottom as well as part of the Downloadsustainability advisory board of the Basler Kantonalbank.vertical_align_bottom

Nicola holds a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering, a master degree in management, technology and economics and a diploma in didactics, all from ETH Zurich with stays abroad at KTH Stockholm and at TU Delft. Nicola gained further experience when working with DownloadATD QUART MONDEvertical_align_bottom in Paris, DownloadRoland Berger Strategy Consultantsvertical_align_bottom in Zurich, DownloadresponsAbilityvertical_align_bottom in Zurich, the clean energy investor DownloadE+Covertical_align_bottom in Amsterdam, and San José, Costa Rica, and the German International Cooperation DownloadGIZvertical_align_bottom in South East Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia). From 2018 until 2020 she was team coach at DownloadSTRIDEvertical_align_bottom, an entrepreneurial leadership un-​school. She also received several scholarships, including an 8-​year scholarship by the DownloadSwiss Study Foundationvertical_align_bottom and the one-​year DownloadMercator Fellowship on International Affairs (2010/11).vertical_align_bottom

Working Papers

• Fuehrer, S., Blum, N.U., Brandão, M.: “Transition to a Sustainable Circular Furniture Industry: Integrated Environmental and Economic Impact Assessment” (Working paper)
• Kulakovskaya, A.; Knoeri, C.; Blum, N.U.: “CEACE: a Method for Measuring the Economic Impacts of Circular Value Chains” (Working paper)
  
• Blum, N.U.; Haupt, M.; Fuehrer, S.; Desing, H.: “A Perspective based on different Swiss Circular Economy Research Projects - Why Circularity is not enough” (Working paper)
   

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

• Kulakovskaya, A.; Knoeri, C.; Radke, F.; Blum, N.U. (2022): “Measuring the Economic Impacts of a Circular Economy: an Evaluation of Indicators”, Circular Economy and Sustainability. doi:Downloadhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-022-00190-wvertical_align_bottom
  
• Bening, C.R.; Pruess, J.T.; Blum, N.U. (2021): "Towards a Circular Plastics Economy – Interacting Barriers and Contested Solutions for Flexible Packaging Recycling", Journal of Cleaner Production. Downloaddoi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126966vertical_align_bottom
  
• Blum, N.U.; Haupt, M.; Bening, C.R. (2020): "Why “Circular” doesn't always mean “Sustainable”" Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 162, November 2020, Downloaddoi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105042vertical_align_bottom
  
• Blum, N.U.; Sryantoro, R.; Schmidt, T.S. (2013): "Rural electrification through village grids - Assessing the cost competitiveness of isolated renewable energy technologies in Indonesia." Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 22, 482-496. Downloaddoi: 10.1016/j.rser.2013.01.049vertical_align_bottom
• Schmidt, T.S.; Blum, N.U.; Sryantoro, R. (2013): "Attracting private investments into rural electrification - a case study on renewable energy based village grids in Indonesia." Energy for Sustainable Development, 17, 581–595. Downloaddoi: 10.1016/j.esd.2013.10.001vertical_align_bottom
• Blum N.U., Bening C. R., Schmidt T. S. (2015):"An analysis of remote electric mini-grids in Laos using the Technological Innovation Systems approach." Technological Forecasting and Social Change. Downloaddoi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2015.02.002vertical_align_bottom
• Bening, C.R.; Blum, N.U.; Schmidt, T.S. (2015): "The need to increase the policy relevance of the functional approach to technological innovation systems." Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 16, 73-75. Downloaddoi: 10.1016/j.eist.2015.07.007vertical_align_bottom