About

Simon Höher helps organisations find new ways to navigate complex transitions. As Systems Change Lead at Dark Matter Laboratories, he brings a thoughtful, strategic approach to sustainability, digital transformation, and public innovation. His work is driven by the idea that real change requires a blend of systems thinking, practical experimentation, and critical reflection.

With a background spanning sociology, political science, economics, and philosophy, Simon combines interdisciplinary insights with a focus on Systems Theory. This perspective helps him tackle strategic challenges in a holistic and nuanced way, exploring emerging patterns in Just Transition processes, public innovation, and digital transformation.

Currently, Simon supports the European Commission’s Net Zero Cities Mission and collaborates with a wide range of global partners. His recent work includes projects with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Economic Forum, The New Institute Hamburg, Zentrum für Digitale Souveränität (ZenDis), and the African Centre for Cities in Cape Town. He has also partnered with the Mozilla Foundation, Open Knowledge Foundation, and the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt’s RISE Cities program, as well as various corporations, municipalities, and ministries.

Simon’s background includes co-founding a tech venture focused on design collaboration and open-source hardware, which was selected for Seedcamp, Europe’s leading startup accelerator. In 2014, he co-founded ThingsCon, an international community that explores ethics in IoT design and technology. His work has been featured in WIRED, Fast.co, Make: Magazine, and other prominent publications.

He also teaches as a visiting lecturer at the Faculty for Social Design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and leads the Protocol course on public innovation. As an alumnus of the European Policy Center’s FutureLab in Brussels and MIT’s International Development Innovation Network (IDIN), Simon brings a decade of experience working across public, private, and civic sectors.