Nicolas J.A. Buchoud
Co-founder and President, Grand Paris Alliance for Metropolitan Development
Nicolas J.A. Buchoud is the co-founder and President of the Grand Paris Alliance for Metropolitan Development (Cercle Grand Paris de l’Investissement Durable), an awarded and independent think tank established in 2011 at the crossroads of inclusion, large scale investment projects and environmental transformations.
Nicolas is a member of the T20, the think tank engagement group of the G20, and the co-chair of the T20 task force on infrastructure investment and financing in 2019 and 2020.
He is also advising over a dozen academic, civic and CSR initiatives on urban and global transitions, among them the Trans Siberian Scientific Way (TSSW) in Siberia or the World Conference on Creative Economy (WCCE) successfully launched by Indonesia.
A trusted and creative metropolitan entrepreneur and policymaker, Nicolas leads the urban R&D and strategic advisory company Renaissance Urbaine he started in 2006 with Dr. Lan-Phuong Phan.
Specialized in multilateral negotiation and the management of complex science to policy interface in the field of sustainable development, he has a track record of successful achievements across Europe and globally from Vancouver to Vladivostok.
Nicolas has served over ten years in the public sector, as senior advisor to the President of Paris Ile de France Region for regional and strategic planning, deputy chief of staff for a city-mayor, expert for the French Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and as the director of a national urban regeneration project in the greater Paris metro area.
He regularly edits books, articles, reviews and reports on contemporary urban issues since the early 2000’s such as Strategic City / La Ville stratégique (2008). The Smart Cities We Need Manifest he released in 2016 has been adapted in Russian and in Arabic as well as in German, with a Hindi version to be completed in 2020.
Nicolas is a corresponding member of the Deutsche Akademie für Städtebau und Landesplanung (DASL) since 2007 and he has contributed to the development of European and global professional urban networks and with the UN across the globe.
He is an alumnus from Sciences Po Paris in public law and public administration (SP, 99), an alumnus from Sciences Po Paris school for urban affairs, and he holds a Master summa cum laude from Paris La Sorbonne university in 17th Century Chinese history.