Bernd Fesel studied Economics and Philosophy in Heidelberg and Bonn and graduated with an economist degree. He has been visiting professor at the University of Bonn, University of Arts Berlin and currently at the Institute for Culture and Media Management, KMM Hamburg. In 1990 he started his career in the art market, becoming 1997 Managing Director of the German and then the European Gallery Association. He also served as speaker of the German Arts Council. In 2003 he founded the Office for Culture and Economy and served as advisor f.e. of the German UNESCO Commission and German Federal Foreign Office. He initiated the first national conference on creative industries in Berlin from 2004 to 2009, which was co-organized with the Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation. Then he served as vice director at the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010, since 2011 as senior advisor at the european centre for creative economy - a legacy of RUHR.2010. Bernd Fesel has been speaker in Hearings of the European Parliament (2017 on Brexit) and conferences across Europe, special focus is on the spillover effects of the arts and creative industries. He initiated and leads the European Research Partnership on Cultural Creative Spillovers. He was board member of the European network on cultural management and policy (ENCATC) in Brussels from 2015 to 2017 and is since 2016 director of the European Creative Business Network (ECBN) in Rotterdam. In 2021 he initiated the ICE Consortium with 50 partners from 18 nations applying to the Europe wide call of European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) for a Knowledge and Innovation Community for the Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries. This application has been selected. Since 2023 Bernd Fesel is CEO of the EIT Culture & Creativity.