Ernst-Jan van Hattum is an industrial designer and holder of several patents. Of Dutch origin, he currently resides in Switzerland where he is an avid climber, taking advantage of the many climbing opportunities both indoors and out. Since 1997, he has served as Chairman of the O2 Global Network Foundation, the governing body behind the O2 Global Network on Sustainable Design, with more than 82 O2 representatives in 53 countries and an e-mailing list with over 1450 subscribers. He has served as editorial board member of "The Journal for Sustainable Product Design" and was part of the organizational team of SusProNet, the EUc's first Thematic Network on Product Service Development.

After receiving his M.Sc.Eng. in Industrial Design in 1989 from the Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands, Ernst-Jan worked as R&D Manager and Industrial Designer for Promech Sorting Systems BV, a producer of sorting systems for clothing, books, CDs and other products, which are used within the logistic centres of companies such as INS-Iwama, Miki Naniwa Fashion, Nippon Express, Sashida, Shimamura, SSD (Japan, in joined cooperation with Toyo Kanetsu K.K. Tokyo), but also Sears, GAP (USA), Benetton (Italy), Lingenbrink (Germany) among others.

In 1989, Ernst-Jan began applying Ecodesign principles to his work and designed a low-energy, 95% recyclable sorting system that was selected as best practice example of Dutch Ecodesign and was presented by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in a video for entrepreneurs entitled "The Profit of Environmental Product Development".

From 1998 until 2002, Ernst-Jan was senior project advisor and deputy manager of the Innovation Relay Centre Netherlands (IRC NL) in the Hague at Senter, an agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. IRC NL is part of the IRC network for Technology Transfer within Europe (irc.cordis.lu/). During his time there, Ernst-Jan's technology area was Sustainable Design/Eco-Innovation, the Environment and (Renewable) Energy. He also served on the board of the Thematic Group Environment within the IRC and Senter.

Through his privately owned business XStern, near Zurich, he offers services in Design and Innovation for Sustainability and organizes practical workshops for both private industry and academic institutions. From high-tech industrial systems to low-tech artisanal collaborations he uses a whole-systems approach to design that considers not only the environmental aspects and impact of materials and processes but the social and cultural factors that are an essential part of truly sustainable products and services.