Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute

The Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI) is an independent think-tank and the oldest organisation of its kind in Switzerland. It is located in Rüschlikon, near Zurich. The GDI is located on the edge of the Park im Grüene.

Established on 1 September 1963, the research institute was conceived by and named after the founder of Migros, Gottlieb Duttweiler. Taking his principle of "Focus on people and not on capital" as its starting point, the GDI researches and debates issues relating to the fields of consumption, trade and society, and current topics of relevance to business and society. It is owned by the "Im Grüene" Foundation, which is co-financed by Migros, Switzerland's largest retailer.

Dr. David Bosshart has headed up the GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute since 1999.

The GDI publishes its research findings in its quarterly "GDI Impuls" and in numerous studies. It awards the prestigious Gottlieb Duttweiler Prize at intervals of several years.

Adele and Gottlieb Duttweiler established the "Im Grüene" Foundation as far back as 1946 with the aim of setting up an institute that could conduct scientific research in the cooperative-society and merchandise-sourcing fields. They wanted to promote events, training courses and meetings that would serve as bridges between people and between nations.

But Gottlieb Duttweiler did not lay the foundation stone for the GDI until 1962, shortly before his death. It was built in the "Im Grüene" Park, the location of the founder's former residence, as an independent research institute for business and social studies. His vision of integrating the economy with society, his enormous inquisitiveness about the future and his thinking on issues of social responsibility have been the basis of the GDI's activities right down to the present day.

The GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute has been conducting independent research for more than forty years. Its aim is to promote unorthodox and unconventional thinking and thereby generate groundbreaking ideas and approaches to problems. The GDI endeavours to be a meeting place, a space for bold ideas and for communication that transcends boundaries.

Thanks to its networking, the GDI functions as a worldwide knowledge platform for researching and discussing economic and social issues and making the results available to a broader public.

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Wikipedia