think tank
Main Laboratory Assistant for Green Liberals wants to combine science and politics
Julie Cantalou is the new president and Marcus Koch is the new head of GLP Lab. The second-generation management duo wants to expand with the think tank: French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino – but also internationally.
GLP-Lab’s new management team: Head Marcus Koch and president Julie Cantalo.
He was on the road in Madrid, Barcelona, Brussels and Southampton for eleven years. Political scientist Julie Kentalo (36) has always worked in strategy, whether it is for foundations or universities such as the University of Southampton.
She said she traveled “once around Western Europe” in her wandering years. In 2018, Berne natives returned to Switzerland to study in Geneva. For Zurich, where he is responsible for strategic processes on the staff of ETH President Joel Mesot.
At the earliest no request was returned from wandering years
Meanwhile, his strategic skills are also in demand at GLP-Lab, the political laboratory of green liberals. When she returned, she was asked if she would like to apply for the precidium. He did – and was chosen.
One of the deciding factors was Marcus Koch (31), who has headed the GLP Lab since 2020. Why did they choose Kentalu? She laughs and says: “I would like to know that.” Koch responded without hesitation: “It was a mixture of experience, strategic thinking, presentation and the human component.”
It is based on reciprocity. “I would have chosen Marcus as well,” she says. «He is a lucky hit. We killed it immediately. ” Cantalo, Strategic Thinker. And coach, manager. The Economist works as a political consultant.
Visit French-speaking Switzerland and small cities
GLP members Cantalou and Koch have clear plans for the future for the next five years. You want to expand to western Switzerland, Ticino and smaller cities with a think tank. The need for this seems very good. In the autumn, 60 people attended a launch event in Geneva, all wearing masks.
But the pair also wants to broaden the base and recruit new talent. “We want to inspire more people and thus promote more projects,” Cantalou says. “Development is an important aspect.” Today GLP-Lab consists of 100 so-called laboratory assistants. The extended environment consists of one thousand people.
“Development is an important aspect”: Julie Cantalu, president of GLP-Lab.
GLP-Lab should network internationally
At the same time, Cantalou and Koch planned to network the think tank more internationally. The company has contacts in Austria since its inception. GLP-Lab was founded on October 27, 2016, on the model of Neos-Lab, the liberal Neos party think tank.
Politabol should enable new forms of political participation. If you do not feel like a classic party bull tour, you can selectively work on individual subjects. GLP Lab was also a reaction to the slide to the right in the 2015 elections.
Cantalou and Koch replace national councilors Kathryn Bertsky (founder, president) and Corina Grigig (chief), who have established a political laboratory. Both are on the 20-member board. You managed to make Politrol a role model abroad.
Leo Varadkar will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House in 2020 as Prime Minister of Ireland. Today Varadkar is the head of government and chairman of the Irish Fine Gael Party, which visited the GLP Lab in Switzerland.
The Irish Fine Gael Party, whose party leader Leo Varadkar was Prime Minister of Ireland from 2017 to 2020, visited the laboratory in Switzerland and was impressed. “We will support Fine Gael in the development of their political laboratory,” the president says.
Large liberalism project in German-speaking region
Cantalo and Koch are planning an international project on 21st-century modern liberalism with liberal parties in Germany and Austria. FDP Switzerland is also «cordially invited», which Cantalou says. “Who, if not freedom, can contribute something important.”
In Switzerland, Politborob plans three thematic priorities for 2021. It seeks to promote dialogue and build bridges between science and politics. Epidemics have shown how important this exchange of knowledge is – and it currently works with only a few difficulties. “It’s about making better use of scientific knowledge for an evidence-based policy,” Julie Cantalo says. “Great Britain is five years ahead of us here.”
The think tank also wants to adopt modern forms of work such as home office, mobile work and co-working space. A third thematic area includes sustainable nutrition and agriculture.
It is unclear whether an online partnership platform will be used again, as in the grassroots democratic project “Digital’s Climboreal”. In 2020, in the midst of the epidemic, the stage was the norm.
150 people decide on the best ideas
The example shows how GLP-Lab works. 150 people logged in. He developed twelve ideas for climate-neutral settlement development. The community voted on the projects, and the three best ideas were presented to the Parliamentary Group of Green Liberals.
Marcus Koch, Lab Manager: “We will selectively use the digital partnership platform in the future.”
The most advanced is a project on decentralized energy storage systems that promote renewable energy and ensure supply security. “We will selectively use the digital partnership platform in the future,” says Koch, the laboratory manager. The main thing was to test whether people were ready to participate digitally. This was the situation.
Marcus Koch himself is a Lucerne resident who lives in Bern. When Carnival announces itself, it becomes homic. He is a member of the wagon assembly group Congressus Abreus, meaning “Boozy Assembly”. A pleasure he would have to do without this winter.
