Speakers 2025

Zeynep Arslan

AI Consultant at Forschungszentrum Jülich and Service Member of WestAI

Lucy Czachowski

Policy Officer Artificial Intelligence & Cloud, Bitkom

Lucy Czachowski is a Policy Officer for Artificial Intelligence and Cloud at Bitkom. She focuses on the practical application of AI and cloud technologies in regulated sectors such as healthcare, defense, finance, and public administration, as well as on their communication within political contexts. With a background in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and international experience, she combines technical expertise with strategic policy insight. Before joining Bitkom, she worked as an IT Project Manager at Lufthansa Technik and co-founded the AI startup Endeema.

Prof. Dr. Gerard de Melo

Chairman of the AI@HPI Conference, Chair of Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Systems, HPI

Gerard de Melo is a professor for AI and Intelligent Systems at HPI and at the University of Potsdam, where he leads the corresponding research group. Previously, he spent c. 10 years abroad, as an assistant professor at Rutgers University in the US and at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and as a post-doctoral research scholar at ICSI/UC Berkeley. He received his doctoral degree at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics. Gerard de Melo has published over 200 papers on various aspects of AI, including LLMs, knowledge graphs, and computer vision, and received a number of Best Paper awards. Some of his work has been covered by the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and numerous other media.

Anke Domscheit-Berg

Digital Policy Expert and Advisor, Speaker, Publicist

Anke Domscheit-Berg is a German book author and publicist who has been a member of the Bundestag from 2017-2025 representing her party as digital policy speaker and as member in the Bundestag Enquete Commission for Artificial Intelligence leading the project group „AI and the Government“. Prior to entering politics, she held several corporate roles for Accenture, McKinsey, and Microsoft Germany, and served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the World Future Council. Among other roles, she has been an Advisory Board member for the Federal Regulation Authority in Germany. Since April 2025 she has been working again as publicist and independent Digital Policy Expert and Advisor.

Her professional focus is on ethics and AI, digitalisation of public administation, climate impact of digitalisation, digital violence, cyber security, and digital sovereignty instead of a digital society dominated by a Tech Bro oligarchy.

Domscheit-Berg holds degrees in Applied Textile Art (GDR), International Business Administration (BA) and European Business Administration (MA, UK). With her husband Daniel, she lives in the State of Brandenburg, where they engage to pilot their vision of a digital society which benefits all, is sustainable and does not harm people or the environment. Together they founded a non profit, engaging in barrier free access to the internet, digital education, means of production, creativity and technology, known as „Verstehbahnhof“ in a rural trainstation building, recognized amongst many other awards, as one of the „Digital Places in the Country of Ideas“. To limit their digital climate footprint, access heat of their mini data center in the cellar is reused, and a self made solar fence provides energy for it.

Claudius Ellsel

Research Assistant, TU Berlin

Claudius Ellsel completed his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering with a specialization in construction engineering from 2014 to 2019 at RWTH Aachen. He continued his studies in Aachen, graduating with honors in 2020 with a master’s degree in development and construction.

During this time his work focused on construction methodological approaches and the product development process. His final theses, written in part at Forschungszentrum Jülich, more closely examined other areas such as additive manufacturing and machine learning.

Claudius joined the chair of Industrial Information Technology in March 2021.

Malte Firlus

Head of EU AI Policy at Amazon, Amazon

A leading voice in European AI politics, Malte directs Amazon's engagement on the landmark EU AI Act and other emerging policies. Drawing from over 15 years in telecoms and tech policy, he navigates the crucial intersection of industry and governance. As Amazon's Head of EU AI Policy in Brussels, he helps shape frameworks that balance technological advancement with public interest. In this role, he represents the perspective of a global technology leader that not only develops cutting-edge AI models but also deploys AI across Amazon's diverse business operations and products.

Rolf Fricke

Head of R&D, Condat AG

Condat AG is a leading provider of IT solutions for newsroom, editorial, and content management systems in the TV media sector, including for ARD, ZDF, RBB, LFM, MDR, WDR, GVL, DW, and BBC. Rolf Fricke is responsible for R&D at Condat, focusing on AI topics such as generative AI, machine learning, the semantic web, and metadata. He has worked on numerous R&D projects for the EU, BMBF, and BMWI as a software architect, researcher, developer, and manager. Rolf Fricke holds a degree in computer science from the Technical University of Berlin.

Mei Lin Fung

Vice Chair Steering Committee, UN AI for Good Impact

Mei Lin Fung is a globally recognized technology and policy leader, serving as Vice Chair of the UN AI for Good Impact Steering Committee and Chair of the IEEE SSIT Sustainability Committee. She co-founded the People-Centered Internet with Vint Cerf and currently co-leads the Nehitek Foundation. Her career spans roles at Shell, Intel, and Oracle, where she was part of the original team that pioneered Customer Relationship Management systems. 

She has co-authored numerous G7 Think Tank (Think7) policy briefs (2022–2025) on MSME financing, digital public infrastructure, and AI governance. Mei Lin served as socio-technical lead for the US Department of Defense’s Federal Health Futures project under Lt. Gen. Bruce Green, bringing Douglas Engelbart’s networked improvement communities into federal medicine.

Her current work emphasizes using Digital Public Infrastructure and securitization to finance MSMEs globally, while advancing inclusive science and AI governance. She continues to bridge technical communities (IEEE, ACM, ITU) with policy leaders worldwide.

Denny Gert

AI Consultant at Forschungszentrum Jülich and Service Member of WestAI

• Started to work on AI in 2016 at RWTH Aachen University in reasearch on autonomous vehicles
• After my time at university, worked in AI research at Europes defense startup Helsing
• Since 1 year at the Jülich Supercomputing Center, among other projects participating in WestAI as consultant and Jupiter AI factory

Prof. Dr. Maja Göpel

Political economist, transformation and sustainability scholar, Global Eco Transition gGmbH

Prof. Dr. Maja Göpel is a political economist and an influential voice for the sustainable transformation of society, working at the intersection of economy, politics, and society. The policy advisor, bestselling author (“Rethinking Our World”, “We can do better”, Scribe Publishers, translated into 10 languages, “Werte”, Brandstätter Verlag), and sought-after speaker is a professor for sustainability transformation at Leuphana University Lüneburg and founder of “Mission Wertvoll“.

She was Director of Research at The New Institute and Secretary-General of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). Before that, she headed the Berlin office of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy, after having helped set up the World Future Council for six years as Director Future Justice at the Brussels office and as Campaign Manager Climate Energy in Hamburg. Maja Göpel is a member of the Club of Rome, the World Future Council, the Balaton Group, and a co-initiator of the “Scientists for Future” network. She was a member of the Bioeconomy Council of the German Federal Government. 

Her work has been recognized with multiple awards in Germany, the most recent ones being the Theodor Heuss Prize and the Science Communication Medal of the Max Planck Institute Göttingen.

Dr. Benjamin Grimm

Minister for Justice and Digitalization, Landtag of Brandenburg / State of Brandenburg

Dr. Benjamin Grimm, born in Jerusalem in 1984, studied law at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) and at Humboldt University in Berlin from 2004 to 2009. He completed his legal clerkship at the Brandenburg Higher Regional Court from 2009 to 2011. In 2012, Dr. Benjamin Grimm completed his Master of Laws degree at Trinity College Dublin. He completed his academic career in 2016 with a doctorate.

From 2013 to 2019, Dr. Benjamin Grimm worked as a lawyer. He held the office of State Secretary in the State Chancellery of Brandenburg from 2019 to 2024.

Dr. Benjamin Grimm has been a member of the SPD since 2006 and a member of the Brandenburg State Parliament since October 2024.

Dr. Benjamin Grimm was sworn in as Minister of Justice and Digitalization of the State of Brandenburg on December 11, 2024.

Dr. Xenia Grote

Scientific Coordinator at University of Bonn and Project Manager of WestAI

Xenia Grote is the manager of the AI Service Center WestAI. With a background in business administration, market research, and behavioral science, she combines a passion for administration with transformational leadership. Drawing on many years of experience as managing director at an institute of the University of Bonn, she brings expertise in scientific, strategic, and operational management. At WestAI, she coordinates a consortium of six research institutions, promoting efficient processes and high-quality service delivery to make AI easily accessible for researchers and SMEs. Her personal focus lies on empowering teams and creating environments where people and ideas can thrive.

Prof. Dr. Philipp Hacker

Chair for Law and Ethics of the Digital Society, European New School of Digital Studies (ENS)

Prof. Dr. Philipp Hacker, LL.M. (Yale), holds the Research Chair for Law and Ethics of the Digital Society at the European New School of Digital Studies (ENS) at European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder). His research focuses on the regulation of digital technologies, particularly concerning artificial intelligence. Philipp often collaborates with computer scientists and mathematicians, especially on questions of explainable AI, algorithmic fairness, and AI’s climate effects. For his work, he received several academic prizes, such as the 2020 Science Award of the German Foundation for Law and Computer Science. He regularly advises national and EU legislators, regulatory agencies, and industry. Philipp co-founded and co-leads the International Expert Consortium on the Regulation, Economics and Computer Science of AI (RECSAI). Recently, he has been appointed General Editor of the novel, 11-volume AI and Society series published from 2025-2027 by Oxford University Press. He is a member of the Task Force AI Governance and of the Advisory Board on AI and Sustainability, both for the German Federal Government, and also co-chaired the Working Group on “AI Liability” for the European Parliament in 2024-25.

Nikolaus Hagl

Head of Sovereign Cloud / CEO, SAP SE / Delos Cloud GmbH

Nikolaus Hagl is the head of the Sovereign Cloud Germany division at SAP SE and the chief executive officer of Delos Cloud GmbH. He has extensive business experience in public administration and the IT industry.

After earning his degree in business administration from Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, he began his career with positions at ArztPartner, almeda, Tenovis, and Amadeus IT. Since joining SAP in 2009, Hagl has been involved in digital innovation.

He initially spent ten years in various consulting roles in customer service and sales. Since 2019, he has led the Public & Energy business unit and served on the SAP Germany management board. He has focused on understanding customer needs and providing the right solutions.

Falko Helm

Researcher, HessianAI.SC

Falko Helm is a PhD student at UKP Lab at TU Darmstadt, under supervision of Prof. Iryna Gurevych. Previously, he did a B. Sc. and M. Sc. in Mathematics at TU Darmstadt. His current research revolves around multimodal reasoning models.

Prof. Dr. Ralf Herbrich

Chair of Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability, HPI

Ralf Herbrich leads the group on Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability at the Hasso-Plattner Institute in Potsdam since May 2022. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President, Builder Platform & Artifi cial Intelligence at Zalando (2020 – 2022), Managing Director of the Amazon Development Center in Germany with its locations in Berlin, Dresden, Aachen and Tübingen and was Director of Machine Learning at Amazon in Berlin from (2013 – 2020). Prior to these roles at Amazon, he led Facebook’s Unifi ed Ranking and Allocation team in 2011. From 2000 to 2011, he served as Director of Microsoft's Future Social Experiences (FUSE) Lab UK and worked for nine years at Microsoft Research Lab in Cambridge, UK.

Adrian Holt

CTO and Co-Founder, FloodWaive Predictive Intelligence GmbH

Adrian Holt is Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at FloodWaive Predictive Intelligence GmbH, where he leads the development of novel AI-powered solutions for real-time flood forecasting and risk analysis. With a strong background in Computer Science, specializing in Data Science and Machine Learning, Adrian holds a Master's degree from RWTH Aachen University, where he graduated with distinction.

Adrian's work focuses on leveraging deep learning technologies to transform complex hydraulic simulations into rapid, sub-second predictions, significantly enhancing the responsiveness and accuracy of flood risk management. His contributions include designing scalable AI systems, developing efficient geospatial data pipelines, and creating user-friendly interfaces for visualizing flood risks and forecasting.

Prior to founding FloodWaive, Adrian was a Research Assistant at the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management (IWW) at RWTH Aachen University. During this time, he contributed to advancements in AI-driven early warning systems for urban flooding scenarios. 

Prof. Dr. Holger H. Hoos

Professor in AI at the RWTH Aachen University, Chair at CAIRNE

Holger H. Hoos holds an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship in AI at RWTH Aachen University (Germany), where he also leads the RWTH AI Center. Holger's research is aimed at methodological and technological advances in human-centred AI, AI for Good and AI for All. Specifically, he seeks to improve the efficiency of AI methods, by automatically increasing performance and reducing resource needs; and to broaden access to and use of cutting-edge AI methods. Overall, Holger and his group develop and study AI methods that augment rather than replace human intelligence, and that help human experts to overcome their biases and limitations. Known for his work on machine learning and optimisation methods for the automated design of high-performance algorithms and on stochastic local search, Holger has developed - and vigorously pursues - the paradigm of programming by optimisation (PbO); he is also one of the originators of the concept of automated machine learning (AutoML). Holger has a penchant for work at the boundaries between computing science and other disciplines; much of his work is inspired by and has broad impact on real-world applications.

In November 2021, Holger has been selected for an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship in AI, Germany's most highly-endowed research award, which honours its recipients for their outstanding research record and aims to facilitate long-term and groundbreaking research contributions. Supported by this award and substantial additional resources made available by the university, he started building a new research group at RWTH Aachen University (Germany), dedicated to methodological and technological advances in human-centred AI, AI for Good and AI for All, in January 2022.

Jakob Hördt

Researcher KISSKI, AI Service Centre for Sensitive and Critical Infrastructures

Jakob is a scientific employee at University of Göttingen/GWDG, where he is involved in the KISSKI and MCSE projects. 

He has a Master's degree in computer science from University of Göttingen.

Dr. Laura Jugel

Legal and Policy Officer in Unit AI Regulation and Compliance, AI Office, European Commission

Laura Jugel is a Legal and Policy Officer at the European Commission, where she works in the European AI Office in the team responsible for the EU AI Act.

Laura has been closely involved in the preparation and negotiations of the EU AI Act. In her current role, she works on coordinating and overseeing the implementation of the EU AI Act. Her areas of focus are regulatory simplification and the implementation of the EU AI Act within EU Member States.

Laura is a German fully qualified lawyer and has studied at the University of Mannheim and Sciences Po Paris.

Prof. Dr. Holger Karl

Project Lead of the AI Service Centre Berlin Brandenburg, HPI

Holger Karl is currently a professor of computer science at the Hasso-Plattner-Institute, focusing on network software, mobile and wireless networks, and data centers. He is leading several research projects at HPI, including the open6GHub project and the AI Service Center Berlin-Brandenburg. His academic career began with a degree in computer science from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, followed by a PhD from the Humboldt University of Berlin and postdoctoral work at the Technical University of Berlin. From 2004 to 2021, he was a professor at the University of Paderborn in the Computer Networks Group. His research is at the intersection of networking, distributed systems, and machine learning, exploring both "ML for networks" and the use of networks to improve distributed ML training or inference, referred to as "networks for ML".

Florian Kieser

Lead, Hessian.AI Service Centre

Florian Kieser is a versatile expert whose career path led him from studying industrial and mechanical engineering to project management in the business world, and finally to founding an AI-supported image processing start-up. Currently, he heads the Hessian AI Service Center. Since 2023, he has been committed to introducing companies, associations, public institutions, and start-ups to the world of artificial intelligence and helping them fully exploit the potential of AI.

Hauke Kirchner

Research assistant, GWDG

Hauke Kirchner began his career as a biologist at the University of Göttingen, specialising in ecology and bioinformatics. Combining these two areas of study in his Master's degree in Forest Science at the University of Applied Sciences Eberswalde (HNEE), he developed an interest in machine learning applied to remote sensing data and HPC systems for large-scale analysis. 

At the GWDG, he now supports researchers via the NHR Alliance (German National High-Performance Computing) and develops AI services as part of the KISSKI AI Service Centre and the EU AI Factory HammerHAI.

Dr. Joachim Köhler

Head of Department at Fraunhofer IAIS and Executive Director of WestAI

Dr Joachim Köhler heads the NetMedia department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS. Before joining the Fraunhofer Society in 1999, he worked on multilingual speech recognition methods in the research department of Siemens AG in Munich and Bocholt from 1994 to 1999. He earned his doctorate in this field at the Technical University of Munich. His research and areas of interest include language processing, generative AI, large AI language models, and the transfer of innovative AI technologies to businesses, media organisations, and the public sector. He played a key role in coordinating the OpenGPT-X project and publishing the Teuken language model. Joachim Köhler also coordinates the European flagship project DeployAI, which aims to establish the European AI-on-demand platform.

Lasse Kohlmeyer

Project Lead of the AI Service Centre Berlin Brandenburg, HPI

Lasse Kohlmeyer is the project manager of the AI Service Centre Berlin-Brandenburg, where he has been leading initiatives to support AI adoption and innovation since September 2023. Prior to this role, he gained experience in IT consulting as a software and data engineer from 2021 to 2023. He holds a Master’s degree in Data Engineering from the Hasso Plattner Institute, as well as Bachelor's degrees in Computer Science from the University of Leipzig and in Creative Writing and Cultural Journalism from the University of Hildesheim. Driven by a passion for bridging technology, language, and society, he advocates for human-centered AI that empowers people and fosters meaningful interaction between humans and machines.

Jamal Lammert

Policy Advisor, eco – Association of the Internet Industry

Jamal Lammert has been working since 2021 as a Policy Advisor for Politics, Law, and Regulation at the eco – Association of the Internet Industry in Berlin. His main focus areas are Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data policy. In this role, he has played a key part in shaping the association’s political positioning in the debate surrounding the European AI Act and continues to accompany its implementation at the national level.

A particular focus of his work lies in fostering innovation-friendly frameworks for the use of AI in business and society, especially in areas such as marketing and data-driven business models.

Jamal Lammert holds a degree in Political Science and is a certified AI Officer.

Michael MacFarland

Head of Operations and Chief Architect, USFINTECH

Michael MacFarland is a seasoned technology leader with a distinguished career in the financial services industry. Having served as the Head of Operations and Chief Architect at USFintech and the VP Chief Architect at Fannie Mae, Michael possesses deep expertise in large-scale systems architecture. His proficiency in interoperability and modernization of mission-critical platforms has enabled organizations to achieve significant advancements in their technological capabilities. Known for his strategic vision and innovative solutions, Michael is a key figure in driving transformative change in complex, high-stakes environments.

Prof. Dr. Christian Mayr

Professor, TU Dresden/SpiNNcloud Systems

Christian Mayr is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at TU Dresden, heading the Chair of Highly-Parallel VLSI-Systems and Neuromorphic Circuits. His career encompasses postings at Infineon, Philips, University Zurich, TU Dresden und John-Hopkins University Baltimore. His research interests include bio-inspired circuits, brain-machine interfaces, AD converters and general mixed-signal VLSI-design. 

He is author/co-author of over 200 publications and holds 4 patents. He is a PI in the EU flagship ‘Human Brain Project’ as well as in the German excellency clusters CETI and cfaed. His chair has spawned 4 spinoff companies with 250 employees.

Andreas Nauerz

Chief Product Officer (CPO), IONOS

Andreas Nauerz has been Chief Product Officer (CPO) at IONOS since September 2025. In this role, he is responsible for the global product strategy, the product portfolio, and innovation activities across all business units.

Andreas brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in the technology and software industry. In addition to software development, his expertise lies particularly in the areas of cloud computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

Most recently, he served as CTO and a member of the executive board at Bosch Digital, the digital division of the Bosch Group with around 12,000 employees worldwide. There, he was responsible for technology, products, and innovation, with a particular focus on generative AI in his later tenure. Prior to that, he was Managing Director, Co-CEO, and CTO of Bosch.IO, where he played a key role in shaping the company’s digital strategy and (A)IoT business.

Before that, Andreas spent over a decade at IBM. As Program Director, he played a key role in the launch of IBM Cloud Functions, IBM’s serverless platform.

Bao Nguyen

AI & Design Thinking Coach

I work as a coach for Artificial Intelligence and Design Thinking, combining technological expertise with creative methods. My goal is to make technology more accessible clear, practical, and focused on real impact. With a master’s degree in Information Systems and extensive experience as an IT Product Manager, I’ve worked with companies such as Henkel, Oetker Digital, IBM, EY, and Kleinanzeigen.de, and have developed AI learning formats for corporations reaching over 40,000 employees worldwide. I bring both strategic and operational know-how to the design of innovative learning environments. What matters most to me is that technology serves people, empowering them and creating genuine value.

Tim Noack

Researcher, Hessian.AI

Tim Noack holds a BSc and MSc in Mechatronics from TU Darmstadt, with a specialization in Embedded Systems during my master's studies. He is currently pursuing a PhD at TU Darmstadt's Embedded Systems and Applications Lab, where his research focuses on developing machine learning compilers for novel ML architectures.

Dr. Alexandra-Gwyn Paetz

Head of Technological Sovereignty & Innovation, Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR)

Dr. Alexandra-Gwyn Paetz has been Head of the Department for Technological Sovereignty and Innovation at the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space since August 2025, where she manages the High-Tech Agenda Germany.

From 2022 to 2025, she led the Berlin University Alliance and played a key role in shaping the profile of this network of excellence.

Prior to that, she spent several years in various roles, most recently as Head of Strategic Development and Communication, where she oversaw the merger of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. 

Before entering science management, the business administration graduate worked in the energy sector.

Ayushya Pare

Research Assistant, University of Bonn

Research assistant at university of Bonn. Focus Area: AI and HPC. 

Verena Pausder

Chairwoman, German Startup Association

Since December 2023, Verena Pausder has been Chairwoman of the German Startup Association. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung described her as a “driving force” — she stands for entrepreneurial passion, responsibility and a commitment to strengthening Germany’s future as a business hub. Together with a nine-member board, she advocates for easier access for international talent, more diversity in the startup community, stronger late-stage capital, better transfer from research, sustainable promotion of deep tech startups and a vibrant culture of entrepreneurship.

For many years, Verena Pausder has been one of the leading voices for digital education in Germany. Equal access to digital education for all children, she believes, is the foundation for a future-proof society. In 2017, she founded the non-profit Digitale Bildung für Alle e.V. and, together with the association, launched digitale-lernangebote.de in 2022 to give schools and parents transparency and guidance on digital learning tools.

Also in 2022, together with five co-founders, she took over the women’s team of FC Viktoria Berlin. Their goal: to lead the team from the regional league to the Bundesliga within five years and drive lasting progress in women’s football.

In her weekly podcast FAST & CURIOUS, co-hosted with Lea-Sophie Cramer, she discusses current trends in entrepreneurship and innovation — reaching over 30,000 listeners per week and ranking among Germany’s top 10 business podcasts.

Verena Pausder was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2016 and featured in Forbes Europe’s Top 50 Women in Tech in 2018. Born in Hamburg in 1979, she lives in Berlin with her husband and children.

Richard David Precht

Philosopher, Journalist, Author

Richard David Precht, born in 1964, is a philosopher, journalist, and author, and one of the most prominent intellectuals in the German-speaking world. He is an honorary professor of philosophy and aesthetics at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin. His books, such as “Wer bin ich – und wenn ja, wie viele?”, “Liebe - ein unordentliches Gefühl” and “Die Kunst, kein Egoist zu sein” are international bestsellers and have been translated into more than 40 languages. 

“Von der Pflicht. Eine Betrachtung” was published in 2021, followed in April 2022 by “Freiheit für alle. Das Ende der Arbeit wie wir sie kannten". In the latter, he shows how changes in the world of work are transforming our lives, our culture, our ideas about education, and ultimately society as a whole—and what enormous challenges politicians face, particularly in restructuring our social system toward an unconditional basic income.

In 2023, he published “Die vierte Gewalt” together with Harald Welzer. His essay “Das Jahrhundert der Toleranz”, published in May 2024, is a plea for a value-based foreign policy and refers to the need for a new world order in times of international crises. His latest essay, “Angststillstand. Warum die Meinungsfreiheit schwindet”, will be published in October 2025. Since 2012, Richard David Precht has hosted the philosophy program ‘Precht’ on ZDF. In the ZDF podcast “Lanz & Precht,” Richard David Precht and Markus Lanz discuss the socially and politically relevant topics of our time. In 2024, it became the No. 1 podcast in Germany.

Lars Quentin

Secure HPC Engineer, GWDG

Studied Applied Computer Science at University of Goettingen. Previously worked at University of Goettingen, as well as multiple Max-Planck Institutes. Currently working on the intersection of HPC, security, and confidential computing, with a focus on medical data.

Christoph Rabenseifner

Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank AG

Christoph brings over 20 years of experience in technology and banking. Working closely with Management Board Member Bernd Leukert, he shapes Deutsche Bank’s technology strategy and digital vision. As Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, Christoph is focusing on transformative initiatives such as the group-wide AI program and oversees the bank’s Corporate Venture Capital activities. After founding his own software company, he joined Deutsche Bank’s Investment Banking division in 2007, advising financial services clients on M&A, IPOs, and capital market transactions. Christoph is an alumnus of the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland), the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Columbia University (New York).

Christian Rupp

Chief Digital Officer, PROSOZ Herten GmbH; Chairman, Innovation Mine e. V.; Board Member, NEGZ

Christian Rupp holds a Master's degree in Artificial Intelligence (AI4Gov) with distinction from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and the Politecnico di Milano. He is currently the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) of the leading municipal software and consulting company PROSOZ Herten in Germany and Chairman of the Board of the Innovation Mine for Artificial Intelligence, and AI spokesperson of the National E-Government Competence Centre (NEGZ) in Berlin.

From 2003 till 2018 he was appointed by the Austrian Government as Federal Executive Secretary for eGovernment and Co-Head of the CIO Unit at the Austrian Federal Chancellery as well as the spokesperson for the Federal Platform Digital Austria. From 2016-2019 he was plenipotentiary digitalisation officer (CDO) of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and Director SME Digital. 

In the last twenty-five years, Christian Rupp has been involved as an expert in various committees of the European Commission, in developing digital strategies for different countries worldwide. As a special ambassador for ‘best practice austria’ he organises special international transfer programs between public administrations. 

As an Adj.Prof. he is teaching at various universities and has written more than hundred publications. He is awarded since 2019 with the Federal Decoration of Honour in Gold (Federal Cross of Merit) of the Republic of Austria. 

Sascha Safenreider

Researcher KISSKI, AI Service Centre for Sensitive and Critical Infrastructures

Sascha is a Doctoral Candidate specializing in High-Performance Computing (HPC), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Education. With an educational background, Sascha is embarking on a research journey to explore the intersection of advanced computational techniques and educational methodologies. The goal is to contribute to the development of innovative solutions that enhance learning experiences and outcomes.

Dr. Sebastian Schäfer

CEO, House of Finance & Tech Berlin

Sebastian heads the House of Finance & Tech in Berlin, shaping collaboration at the intersection of finance and emerging technology. His work emphasizes financial wellbeing as a guiding principle for the next generation of financial products and platforms. Before Berlin, he transformed TechQuartier in Frankfurt into a leading fintech ecosystem. He also invests in early-stage companies and teaches behavioral economics and entrepreneurship internationally.

Dr. Vera Schmitt

Head of XplaiNLP Research Group, TU Berlin

Dr. Vera Schmitt leads the XplaiNLP research group at Technische Universität Berlin, which is associated also with the Speech and Language Technology Lab at DFKI Berlin and the Center for European Research in Trusted Artifical Intelligence (CERTAIN). Her research focuses on explainable and trustworthy natural language processing (NLP), with a special emphasis on AI-based detection and understanding of mis- and disinformation and medical decision-support, as well as human-AI collaboration in high-stakes decision-making contexts.

While completing her PhD in Computer Science at TU Berlin on the Monetary Valuation of Privacy, Vera Schmitt founded the XplaiNLP group, which she has since developed into a dynamic and interdisciplinary research group. Under her leadership, the group currently runs several large-scale national and international projects – including VeraXtract, news-polygraph, VERANDA, and FakeXplain – and collaborates with partners such as DFKI, Fraunhofer HHI, Deutsche Welle, and Tel Aviv University. Together, they aim to make AI systems more transparent, robust, and aligned with societal values. With over €4 million in third-party funding raised, Dr. Schmitt’s work bridges the fields of explainable AI, natural language processing, and human-computer interaction. Her research has been recognized with multiple awards, including the GI Junior Fellowship (2025–2030) and her nomination among the “100 wichtigsten Köpfe der Hauptstadt-Wissenschaft” (Tagesspiegel, 2025).

Beyond academia, she actively contributes to public discourse on AI and information integrity, appearing in interviews with Tagesschau, BBC, Deutsche Welle, and BR. Through her work, Vera Schmitt seeks to advance AI technologies that empower users to understand, trust, and critically engage with intelligent systems.

Dr. Maxim Schnjakin

Head of AI Competence Center, Bundesdruckerei

Dr. Maxim Schnjakin has been working at Bundesdruckerei since 2014 as Principal Secure Identity in the innovation department and is responsible for researching, testing and developing new technologies in the security context. Another focus of his work is networking and disseminating innovation knowledge within the company.

Since 2023, he has been responsible for the AI Competence Center of the Federal Government. The DNA of the AI Competence Center is agile, user-centered technical development: in short iterations, the AI Competence Center team develops AI prototypes for various ministries. The work of the AI Competence Center shows where and how artificial intelligence is a suitable tool for the tasks and challenges of the federal administration and brings practical knowledge to the federal administration.

Bundesdruckerei is one of the world's leading providers of high-security technologies. With future-proof ID systems, state-of-the-art chip technology, and biometric processes, the Bundesdruckerei Group is responding to the growing global need for security and the ongoing expansion of international security standards.

Prof. Dr. Max Senges

Managing Director at the Institute for Electronic Business, University of the Arts Berlin

Max Senges (1978) is Professor for Entrepreneurship at the University of the Arts Berlin, as well as Director of the IEB a research & transfer institute associate with the University of the Arts Berlin. He is also Entrepreneur in Residence at the Entrepreneurship Foundation (www.entrepreneurship.de) and offers consulting and philosophical coaching.

From 2020 to 2023 Max was the founding CEO and Headmaster of 42 Wolfsburg and www.42.berlin. Before Max worked at Google for 10 years, mostly on Research Partnerships and Internet Governance. While in California (2014-2018) Max was the Program Manager for Google Research where he build and led Google‘s IoT R&D Expedition (in partnership with e.g. Carnegie Mellon, Cornell Tech and Stanford). Later he became the Head of Google‘s Hardware User Research team. For more than 10 years Max works for and collaborates with Vint Cerf on Internet Governance, interoperability and open standards.

Max holds a PhD and a Master’s Degree in the Information and Knowledge Society Program from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) in Barcelona as well as a Masters in Business Information Systems from the University of Applied Sciences Wildau (Berlin).

Martin Talmeier

Coach and Consultant for Digital Transformation, User-Centric Innovation, and AI Implementation, Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Berlin

Martin Talmeier brings over two decades of international experience in business development – from Luxembourg via Paris and Oslo to the USA. As a certified Design Thinking trainer, systemic coach, and AI trainer, he guides small and medium-sized enterprises through digital transformation.

Since 2018, he has been Project Lead at the Hasso Plattner Institute, heading the qualification division at Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Berlin – a project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. There, he leads the team and develops practical workshops on artificial intelligence and modern working methods.

His approach: To provide companies with access to AI and digital methods, and to empower them methodologically and technically so they can shape their transformation independently – adapted to their resources, their culture, and their pace.

Mert Tiftikci

Doctoral Researcher, hessian.AI c/o TU Darmstadt

I am a doctoral researcher at the Technical University of Darmstadt in the Software Technologies Group and hessian.AI. There, I am taking teaching responsibilities in courses and seminars and supervising undergrad and master's students. Previously, I have worked on natural language processing (NLP) projects in bioinformatics. I have also worked on image generation and editing with textual input to make such
multimodal models better steerable and explainable. Currently, I am investigating generative models for code. This involves examining their limitations and improving them using multimodal techniques where graphical representations of code are utilized along with textual input.

Prof. Dr. Maxim Ulrich

Chair of Financial Economics and Risk Management, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

Since 2014, Prof. Dr. Maxim Ulrich has held the Chair of Financial Economics and Risk Management at KIT. Before joining KIT, he served from 2008 - 2013 as a Tenure-Track Professor at Columbia Business School in New York, where he taught investment and asset pricing at the MBA, Executive MBA, Master, and Ph.D. levels. His research has been presented at leading academic conferences—including the AFA, WFA, EFA, EEA, and NBER Asset Pricing Meetings—and published in journals such as the Journal of Monetary Economics , the Review of Financial Studies and the Review of Derivatives Research.

Niclas Vogt

Head of Communications & Press Spokesperson, German Startup Association

Niclas Vogt leads Communications & Events and serves as Press Spokesperson at the German Startup Association – Germany’s largest startup network and the political voice of more than 1,200 innovative companies. Since 2021, he has shaped strategic communications, CEO positioning and media relations that strengthen Germany’s position as a startup and innovation hub – with the goal of making the country more innovative, courageous and digital.

With a background in communications, public affairs and politics, he combines strategic expertise with a strong commitment to advancing entrepreneurship and innovation. Previously, he served as Head of Office to a senior Member of the German Bundestag, gaining in-depth insight into political processes and stakeholder communication.

He studied Political Science, Public Administration and Communications in Konstanz, Grenoble and Sydney.

Russell Wald

Executive Director, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI)

Russell Wald is the Executive Director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), where he oversees research, education, finance, communications, and policy initiatives. He collaborates with HAI leadership to shape its strategic vision and human-centered mission. Previously, Wald served as HAI's Managing Director for Policy and Society. He co-authored key publications on AI and contributes to research on AI's role in digital media addiction. Wald has held various policy roles at Stanford, co-designed tech policy boot camps, and has experience with the World Affairs Council. He is a UCLA graduate and a Visiting Fellow at George Mason University.

Dr. Maximilian Lukas Wehage

Head of the Artificial Intelligence Project Group, Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation

Dr. Maximilian Lukas Wehage is Head of the Division AI Federal at the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation. There, he is responsible for establishing "BeKI" – the Advisory Center for Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration, which serves as a central networking and coordination point for AI projects within the federal administration.

Dr. Wehage studied law at Humboldt University of Berlin and earned his doctorate with a dissertation on German and European Antitrust Law. Since 2016, Dr. Wehage has worked at the Federal Government, where he has been involved in various departments dealing with projects related to the use of AI.

Dr. Karsten Wildberger

Federal Minister for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation

Dr. Karsten Wildberger, born in 1969, comes from Gießen and holds a doctorate in physics. After working as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group and international leadership positions at T-Mobile, Vodafone, Telstra (Australia) and E.ON, he was responsible as CEO at Ceconomy AG and Managing Director at Media-Saturn-Holding for the digital transformation of one of the biggest European retail companies. Under his leadership the online business was expanded and innovative digital business models were established. Since May 6 he is Germanys first Federal Minister for Digital Affairs.