About

Simon Höher is an Independent Strategic and Public Designer, and Systems Change Lead at Dark Matter Laboratories. He partners with organizations worldwide to navigate complex transitions and drive systemic innovation, focusing on sustainability, digital transformation, and public sector innovation.

Drawing on his interdisciplinary background in sociology, political science, economics, and philosophy—with a specialized focus on Systems Theory—Simon brings a holistic perspective to strategic challenges. His work explores emerging patterns within Just Transition processes, public innovation, and digital transformation.

Currently, Simon supports the European Commission's Net Zero Cities Mission, while working with a diverse range of global partners. His collaborations include the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Economic Forum, The New Institute Hamburg, and the African Centre for Cities in Cape Town. He has also worked with Mozilla Foundation, Open Knowledge Foundation, and BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt's RISE Cities program, alongside various corporations, municipalities, and ministries.

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

Simon serves as a visiting lecturer at the Faculty for Social Design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and is an alumnus of the European Policy Center's FutureLab in Brussels and MIT's International Development Innovation Network (IDIN). With over a decade of experience across public, private, and civic sectors, he continues to shape conversations around systemic change and innovation.