Alumni Fireside Chat at HPI

10/18/2024

25 Years HPI - Past, Present, Future 

Guests on the podium: Dr. Rouven Westphal, member of the board of the Hasso Plattner Foundation, and HPI Managing Director Prof. Ralf Herbrich. Together they exchanged ideas and special moments with HPI alumni Lisa Ihde, Dr. Gero Decker, Alexander Kuscher and Fabian Lindenberg. An exchange focusing on the past, present and future of research and teaching at HPI - and above all, embracing the different perspectives on our institute.  

HPI: back in 1999  

Dr. Frank Pawlitschek, the Director of the HPI Engine, welcomed the audience to the HPI Event Space. The scenery: a digital fireplace blazing on a screen. He leads through this evening full of memories and ideas on how our institute should develop in the coming years. 

Frank Pawlitschek starts by looking back: what was it like in 1999 when the Hasso Plattner Institute welcomed its first students? Back then, Microsoft was the only tech company among the top companies in the world. Today there are many. Back then, the best-selling cell phone was still made by Nokia and only a fraction of the population even owned a cell phone. Today, however, there are more cell phone contracts than people. This is how things have changed.  

The Vision at start 

Rouven Westphal (Member of the Board of the Hasso Plattner Foundation) recalls the early years of HPI and the vision of its founder and benefactor. Above all, Hasso Plattner wanted to bring a practical approach to IT research and teaching. This was certainly a challenge at the beginning, but has been a "happy and successful endeavour".  

Successful HPI alumni  

Gero Decker was once a third-year student. Today he is General Manager SAP Signavio & Co-Managing Director SAP Berlin. With Signavio, he founded the first unicorn startup at HPI. For him, his time at the institute was “magical” due to all the inspiring people who gave him the confidence to know that he is on the right path. 

Lisa Ihde also remembers the many opportunities. Programming a website once brought her to HPI. Here she was able to implement ideas quickly - for example for Women in Tech Talks. Today, she is an author and Technical Account Manager at Google and is one of the “Forbes 30 Under 30”.  

Fabian Lindenberg is also a former student. The current Director of Product and Engineering (B2B) at Babbel was inspired by various experiences - Connect fairs, freshman seminars and the entrepreneurial spirit at HPI.  

Alexander Kuscher is now Senior Director of Product Management & Design at Google. For him, his time at HPI was a phase of freedom - a phase in which “anything was possible”. 

The future of HPI  

Ralf Herbrich emphasized that today and in the future, it is all about solving real-world problems. The Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability recommends that students should collect as many different experiences as possible. Especially with internships in companies. HPI creates very good opportunities here with its partnerships. Many companies are grateful for fresh, young ideas, especially from young people.   

And what would you like to see for the future of HPI? 

The panel was creative at the end of the debate. What should HPI accomplish in the future? “Two Nobel Prizes!” (applause from the audience). Also: to fail early and often in order to improve quickly. Keeping an eye on social problems, including climate change and the negative effects of artificial intelligence. Also on the wish list: more women, more diversity in IT. And quite simply: to attract the best minds in Europe to HPI.