Professional background

Florian Peter Iwinjak has been working for the United Nations for several years and joined the United Nations Brussels Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) two years ago. As a programme and liaison officer in the Brussels Representation Office he advocates for UNIDO’s expertise, provides policy advice and monitors EU-funded UNIDO programmes. Moreover, he liaises and coordinates with key partners such as the United Nations Brussels Team, the EU institutions or the ACP secretariat. He started his UN career with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a programme and research assistant at the UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery in Geneva focusing on mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into development planning. Prior to that, he worked in commercial management departments of Robert Bosch (automotive industry) in Spain and Oerlikon-Schlafhorst (textile industry) in China. Furthermore he conducted strategic market research and consulted of Austrian exporters to Brazil in the Austrian Trade Commission in Sao Paolo. Finally, he also volunteered for civil society in Kenya and for the Red Cross in Austria for many years.

Academic background

Florian holds three master degrees from Austrian universities, in Export-Oriented Management, in International Development Studies and Political Sciences. His scientific research concentrated on the obstacles to sustainable development in Latin America, climate change and energy in the EU development cooperation as well as climate change and vulnerability in Africa. Through his interest in foreign cultures and languages, he could acquire proficiency in German, English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and French.