Team

ethix derives its existence from a fascination with the rapid changes of our time. The lab for innovation ethics provides a structure that enables a dialog about the opportunities and risks that these changes bring to our society.

Johan Rochel

Co-Founder

When he began his philosophy degree, he did not expect that he would devote his time to jurisprudence as well. Today, he is committed to bringing the two disciplines together, with his particular passion being the search for philosophy within the law. The topics he addresses are all around the place in public debates: innovation, migration, international politics. The question of values and the question ‘why’ crop up again and again, and this impels him to seek debate everywhere and to take ethical topics into the public sphere, in community halls and the meeting rooms of far-flung restaurants. His aim in these engagements is to set up spaces and well-laid tables in readiness for real discussions, in which the arguments of all those who participate are carried forward into a shared debate. Occasionally, he hears his partner and two children say jokingly: “Papa’s job is holding drinks receptions and chatting with people.” And they are not entirely wrong.

Jean-Daniel Strub

Co-Founder

Early on in life, Jean-Daniel was transplanted from the edge of the city to the edge of the woods, resulting in a long journey to school that offered him ample opportunity to practice the art of examining ideas thoroughly. Even at that time, however, he was struck by the experience that engaging in this alone is less productive and exciting than doing so together with others. Time and again, his parents had to track him down at friends who lived somewhere along the way. Many years later, working as a bike courier in the city of Geneva, he discovered that contrary to certain fears, analog technology and human strength is not necessarily suppressed by digital technology, and in fact we should aspire to a productive interaction between them. Spurred on by many years of academic discussion on topics of political and medical ethics, and strengthened by several years of work in institutional science policy, the question of the social implications of innovation came up repeatedly. Because one thing’s for sure: innovation is always dealing with the world of tomorrow. And as the father of two daughters who will live out their lives in tomorrow’s world, he wants to play an active role in shaping it. This is why he his heart is not only with his family, but also in the local politics of Zurich – because in many respects cities are laboratories, where innovation find a way to shape how we live together.

Antoine Bühlmann

Innovation ethicist

Antoine is convinced that it is everyone's duty to question the world around us. But developing a critical vision of the world requires tools. In order to acquire these analytical tools, he acquired a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy and Political Science at the University of Lausanne which he finished in 2017. Although interesting, he perceived these disciplines as lacking reference to current events and reality. After a stay in Munich to improve his German, he began a Master's degree in innovation and society at the University of Neuchâtel in September 2019. His intention: to understand, in the face of the major changes represented by digitalization and the environmental crisis, what dangers and opportunities lie ahead of us in order to be able to contribute to a more just society.