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The Product-Life Institute in Geneva is an independent institute which lives exclusively from contract research (studies, in-house seminars, teaching workshops and conference contributions), i.e. from selling our knowledge and time. The researchers of the institute work together or independently in their function as consultants to industrial companies, government authorities and universities. For many studies, we form project teams with other researchers and institutions. Our main focus is to develop innovative strategies and policies to foster the move towards a more sustainable society, for both industry and government.  

We work in most European countries, Northern America and Asia, in English, German and French.
Deutsch  français  italiano 

contacts      What's new
Objectives  Services provided by the Product-life Institute and its research associates  

Clients          

Private sector :
Companies of all industrial sectors, such as raw material production, transport, construction and building, production of vehicles ;
Service companies such as banks, insurance companies, foundations, scientific and economic associations.

Public sector :
The Ministries of Departments of the Economy, of industrial economic development, of social affairs and employment, of planning and budget, of the environment;
Offices in charge of technical cooperation and humanitarian aid to less developed countries ;

Universities and      technical                institutes.               

 
is a not-for-profit independent organization domiciled in Geneva, Switzerland, since its formation in early 1982. The Institute is financed exclusively by contract research.

is to open new frontiers of economic development based on the critical analysis and the optimization of the product-life of goods and services. The Institute and its associated research fellows can be contracted by any company or organization to do research and consulting work in the field of product life of goods and services.

uses appropriate means of communication to publish its research results of non-confidential nature, i.e. in the form of reports, conferences, brochures and books,

is managed by a Committee of Directors consisting of professionals in economic research on the industrial and the service sectors.

to identify the problems and to simulate the research in the field of wealth creation and welfare development, especially through the optimization of the product-life of goods and services.
to promote the studies, research and ideas linked to Wealth and Welfare along the lines inspired, among others, by :

  • The report to the Club of Rome Dialogue on wealth and welfare by Orio Giarini, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1980.

  • Jobs for tomorrow: the potential for substituting manpower for energy by Walter R. Stahel and Geneviève Reday-Mulvey, Vantage Press, New York, 1976/1981.

  • The limits to certainty, by Orio Giarini and Walter R. Stahel, Kluwer Adademic Publishers, Dordrecht and Boston, 1989/1993 (translated into several languages)

and later publications related to these issues.to make known the results of these studies and research activities in the scientific, industrial, intellectual and political circles, as well as to a wider public.

 Consulting:          
Briefings and seminar on information to client related problems,
Policy evaluation and definition for the product-life of a set of products or services,
In-house seminars to discuss the problems and opportunities involved in these issues.
Information:          
Comparative studies of international trends of markets and legislation with regard to product-life issues of goods and services.
Research:          
Critical analysis of the optimization of the product-life of goods or services,
Concrete proposals on how to improve the economic feasibility of goods by extending their useful life through product design, reconditioning and re-marketing , selective recycling, long-life component or product design,
Definition of new policies and industrial strategies that focus on product-life from cradle back to cradle, and related market research,
Project definition, evaluation and management,
Employment and product-life studies, Integration of industrial and services activities,
Integration of formal and informal economic activities,
Economics of the use of resources, resource productivity and environmental impacts.
Publications:          
writing/editing of articles, revues, conferences papers, books on product-life issues.
The quality of the research is guaranteed by the Directors of the Product-Life Institute, supported by an international Scientific Advisory Board.

 

 

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