About us
Matthias Burgbacher
Matthias is a sociologist and expert in the field of urban development, participation and facilitation. After studying sociology, psychology and education at Heidelberg University, he co-founded PLAN:KOOPERATIV in 2013, an agency that directs all kinds of dialogue, research and participation processes. Since 2013, he has been researching and teaching at the Department of neighbourhood planning at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and since 2017, he has been a Fellow of the Competence Center for the cultural and Creative Industries of the German Federal Government. In 2017, he founded the Amt für unlösbare Aufgaben (Office for unsolvable matters) in the context of a project with the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWI), which is working exhaustively on the topic of modernizing administration.
References/Awards:
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2013: award as “Kultur- und Kreativpiloten“ Germany
link
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2018: appointment as a Fellow of the Competence Centre for Creative Industries of the German
Federal Government
the fellow-network
- 2018: inclusion in the Business Punk Ranking 2019 in the category Social & Policy: "These ten people are improving our society" Watchlist 2019 - Business Punk
- 2019: appointment to the Public Participation Section of the association "Mediation and Conflict Management in the Construction and Real Estate Industry“
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Ernst Burgbacher
From 1998 to 2013 Ernst Burgbacher was member of the German Bundestag, from 2009 to 2013 Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and Federal Government Commissioner for SMEs and Tourism. Throughout his career, his main focus was on tourism policy, where he gained a high reputation as a recognized expert with much representable success (e.g. abolition of taxes on tips, facilitating the approval of signs advertising sights or scenic views on motorways, strengthening the GNTB, introducing the reduced VAT rate for the hospitality industry). He also worked in the areas of domestic, education and economic policy.
References/Awards:
- Initiation of the German project "Tourism in rural areas”
- 2009–2013 Member of the T20 (Tourism Ministers of the G20 Member States)
- Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur
- Honorary citizen of the city of Trossingen
- Awards of the IHK Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg and several tourism associations
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Christof Burgbacher
Christof is a trained hotel specialist with additional qualifications in European management. He completed his apprenticeship and parts of his professional career at the renowned Oetker Collection in Baden-Baden, Paris and Marrakesh, where he was member of the opening team of the Palais Namaskar. Christof learned the basics of sustainable tourism in 2008 during a management trainee at the award-winning Cayuga Collection in Costa Rica. In 2012 he founded the company Consulting-Elementerrre and he is an active expert for sustainable tourism in Morocco. He advises national and international companies as well as public organizations on development projects.
References/Awards:
- 2016: Appointment as an expert for the One Planet Travel with Care program of the UNWTO
One Planet Network
- 2018: Inclusion in the "global leaders network" of Green Destinations and appointment as a Preferred Partner of Green Destinations
Green Destinations
- 2019: “Global Hospitality Awards” winner of the Lux Life Magazine
Hospitality Award Winner
- Since 2020: Sales partner of Good Travel Morocco
Good Travel
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