Hold Consulting was founded in 2022 by Dr. Arno Hold.

Dr. Hold has over 18 years of international professional experience in economic policy advice, international trade diplomacy, innovation & intellectual property, as well as ESG & sustainable development.

He worked as an Economist for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), as an Executive Director of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), and as Dean of External Relations and Lecturer on International Trade at University of St. Gallen.

Moreover, he held fellow positions at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the World Trade Institute (WTI) in Bern leading several research projects on innovation, IP and international trade. He worked Senior Consultant for various international institutions and regularly obtained expert mandates to provide economic policy advice and to implement trade cooperation projects across the globe.

He has lectured widely on the law and economics of international trade, innovation, and intellectual property, among others at the University of St. Gallen, the World Trade Institute of the University of Bern, the Transatlantic IP Summer Academy of Bocconi, the South-Western University of Finance & Economics in Chengdu, and at the Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences in Zurich.

Dr. Hold received a Ph.D. in International Affairs and Political Economy from University of St. Gallen. He is a graduate of the World Trade Institute’s Advanced Master of International Law and Economics Programme (MILE) and completed a master’s degree in Political Science at the Universities of Bern, Bologna and Zurich.

He is fluent in English and German with a good working knowledge of French, Spanish and Italian and a very basic knowledge of Mandarin.