Peter Bihr is a senior advisor & leader at the intersections of tech, policy, public interest & philanthropy. Working with philanthropic foundations, non-profits and public sector, his focus is on how emerging technologies can benefit society.
The through-line of his career has been to understand and shape how digital technology changes power dynamics, and to strengthen democracy and digital rights. With an experience of 15+ years, his work focuses on areas including tech policy, platform accountability, strengthening civil society, the impact of social media on democracy, as well as technologies including the Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities, and artificial intelligence (AI).
In addition to working as a consultant, Peter served as Interim Director for the European AI & Society Fund. He serves as special advisor to Stiftung Mercator’s Center for Digital Society. Peter co-founded ThingsCon e.V., a non-profit that advocates for responsible Internet of Things practices and was Managing Director of the independent consultancy The Waving Cat GmbH. Peter has co-founded several acclaimed emerging technology conferences including ThingsCon, UIKonf, and Cognitive Cities Conference, and chaired or curated leading conferences such as Interaction16, NEXT, and TEDxKreuzberg.
Peter was a Senior Mozilla Fellow (2018-19) investigating trustable technology, and an Edgeryders Fellow (2019) studying smart cities from a civil rights perspective. He co-wrote View Source: Shenzhen (2017) and Understanding the Connected Home (2015). Postscapes named him a Top 20 IoT Influencer (2019). Peter co-hosted Getting Tech Right, a podcast about how to think about the role of technology better.
His projects, ideas and antics have been featured in Forbes, the New York Times, SPIEGEL, The Guardian, ZDF, ZEIT and many other publications. His work has been shown at London Design Festival, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Fuori Salone. He blogs at thewavingcat.com.
To discuss ideas and projects, please free to get in touch. You can also find me on LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky.
Learn more:
- An overview of media coverage or appearances.
- Past and current clients and personal affiliations.
- A probably outdated version of this bio is available in German, too.
- Clients and conference organizers can find high-res headshots here.