Christian Schmitz is a global ecosystem architect, entrepreneur and venture catalyst focused on regenerative and purpose-driven innovation. After an international corporate career with Bayer, BASF and Henkel—where he managed product portfolios of approximately €50 million—he founded the boutique advisory firm Aventa in Japan in 2009. Through Aventa, he advised multinational and Japanese corporations, built and exited two joint ventures (€6M and €3M), and invested as an early-stage angel investor.

Prior to founding PDIE, Christian built one of the early cross-border startup platforms, the World Innovations Forum, connecting innovators across 50 countries through a global ambassador network. In 2019, he founded the Purpose Driven Innovation Ecosystem (PDIE Group), a global platform connecting corporates, startups, investors and academia to scale sustainable solutions in energy, food, cities and circular systems. PDIE is an official nominator for Prince William's Earthshot Prize and, under his leadership, has nominated 7 finalists and 2 winners across five consecutive years—positioning the ecosystem among the most effective nominators globally. Christian also founded the Global Regenerative Innovation Alliance (GRIA), connecting cities and surrounding bioregions.

He serves as Associate Partner at Venionaire Capital, supporting venture and M&A activities. Since 2022, he has been Senior Advisor to the Future Food Institute.