Members of the Supervisory Board
© Philipp Plum/Fraunhofer Fokus
Chairwoman
Prof. Dr. Ina Schieferdecker
Head of the department „Research for Digitization and Innovation“ in the Federal Ministry for Education and Research
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ina Schieferdecker is head of the research department for innovation and digitisation at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research since 01.10.2019. Previously she was head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems (FOKUS), professor at the Technical University of Berlin for quality engineering of open, distributed systems and director of the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, the German Internet Institute. She is a member of the Academy of Engineering Sciences (acatech). She was a member of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), the High-Tech Forum 2025 (HTF), the Sustainability 2030 Science Platform, and the scientific and technical director of the Technology Foundation Berlin (TSB). She has received numerous awards for her scientific work, including the EUREKA Innovation Award and the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation Prize for Young University Teachers.
© Staatskanzlei/Jennifer Weyland
Deputy Chairwoman
Anke Rehlinger
Minister President of Saarland
Anke Rehlinger is a politician and has been Minister-President of Saarland since April 2022 and Chairwoman of the Chairwoman of the SPD branch for the State of Saarland since 2018. After studying law at Saarland University, where she graduated in 2000 with the first state examination, Rehlinger completed supplementary studies at the German University of Administrative Sciences in Speyer. From 2001 to 2003, she was a legal trainee at Saarland’s Ministry of Justice. She was called to the bar in 2005 and one year later became a partner in a supralocal law firm in Losheim. At that time, Rehlinger, who became an SPD member in 1998, was already deputy chairwoman of the SPD branch for the Merzig-Wadern district, and in 2006 she was elected chairwoman. From 2014 until her election as Minister-President, she was Minister of Economy, Work, Energy, and Transport and Deputy Minister-President of Saarland. From 2012 to 2014, she already held the office of the Minister of Justice and Environment and Consumer Protection in Saarland. Anke Rehlinger was born in Wadern and lives in Nunkirchen in the Hochwald.
© Astrid Eckert
Prof. Dr. Susanne Albers
Chair of Algorithm and Complexity, Technical University of Munich
Susanne Albers is a Computer Scientist and a Full Professor for Algorithms and Complexity at the Computer Science department of Technical University of Munich. From 1984 until 1990, she studied Mathematics, Computer Science, and Business Administration at the University of Osnabrueck. In 1993, Albers completed her phD at Saarland University. Until 1999, she worked at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and spent her research stays in the USA, in Japan, and in other European countries. Additionally, Albers received the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society in 1993. In 1999, she was awarded her Habilitation and accepted a Chair at the University of Dortmund, which she held until 2001. Her research area comprises the design and analysis of algorithms, in particular online and approximation algorithms. Furthermore, she also focuses on algorithmic game theory and Algorithm engineering. As a Professor, Albers also taught at University of Freiburg and Humboldt University Berlin. Since 2013, she has been a Professor at the Technical University of Munich, where she is holding the Chair for Algorithms and Complexity. In 2008, she received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation, the highest honor awarded in German research including a financial support of 2.5 Mio. euros. She is also a member of the German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina, the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz as well as a Fellow of the German Association for Computer Science (GI) and the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science.
© Daniel Hager/ Microsoft Switzerland
Catrin Hinkel
Country General Managerin of Microsoft Switzerland
Catrin Hinkel is Country General Managerin of Microsoft Switzerland since May 2021. The German national studied at the University of Reutlingen (European Business School in Reutlingen and London). After graduating, Catrin Hinkel worked in various roles for Accenture, most recently as Senior Managing Director for Cloud First Strategy & Consulting in Europe. She is a member of the Executive Committee of digitalswitzerland and a board member of the association ASUT. She is also a member of the Supervisory Board of CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security and spokesperson of the Board of "Generation CEO", a non-profit association and established network for women leaders in German-speaking countries. Catrin Hinkel is the mother of two children and lives in Zurich.
© Claudia Ehrlich
Prof. Dr. Manfred Schmitt
President of Saarland University
Manfred Schmitt is a Professor for Molecular and Cell Biology and the President of Saarland University. Manfred Schmitt completed his undergraduate and doctoral studies at the University of Mainz. After finishing his PhD and receiving a research scholarship by the German Research Foundation (DFG), he spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher at the UMass Medical School in Worcester, USA. In 1990, he became a research assistant at the University of Mainz; he was awarded his Habilitation in Microbiology in 1993. In 1996, Manfred Schmitt was appointed Professor for Molecular and Cell Biology at the Center for Human and Molecular Biology (ZHMB) at Saarland University, where he held the position of Director between 2003 and 2011. From 2009 until 2014, he was the Vice-President of Education at Saarland University. He has been the President of Saarland University since March 1, 2017. Despite two offers of Chairs at Heinrich-Heine University of Düsseldorf in 2007 and TU Dresden in 2012, Manfred Schmitt decided to build his teaching and research career at Saarland University. He is involved in the collaborative research center SFB 1027 “Physical modelling of non-equilibrium processes in biological systems”. Additionally, he is also engaged in two DFG-funded priority programs and an international graduate school (IRTG 1830) involving Saarland University, Kaiserslautern University of Technology, and the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. From 2008 until 2017, Manfred Schmitt also held the position of Program Advisor at the German-French University (DFH) for German-French degree programs in biology.
© Mutzel
Prof. Dr. Petra Mutzel
Chair of Computational Analytics, University of Bonn
Petra Mutzel holds the Chair of Computational Analytics and is heading the group „High Performance Computing and Analytics” at the University of Bonn. After earning her diploma in Mathematics at the Augsburg University and finishing her doctorate in Computer Science at the University of Cologne, she joined the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Saarbruecken and obtained her habilitation at Saarland University in 1999. She held the Chair for Algorithms and Data Structures at TU Wien (1999 – 2004) as well as the Chair for Algorithm Engineering/Experimental Algorithms at the TU Dortmund University (2004 – 2019). Her research focuses on design, theoretical analysis, and experimental evaluation of algorithms (“Algorithm Engineering”), especially in the areas of “Network Analysis and Visualization”, “Combinatorial Optimization” as well as “Big Data Analysis” and their application in natural sciences. The “Alcatel SEL Stiftung für Kommunikationsforschung” awarded her the research prize “Technische Kommunikation 2000“. From 2013 to 2018, Petra Mutzel was an elected member of the “DFG-Senatsauschuss” and the “DFG-Bewilligungsausschuss” for Collaborative Research Centers (SFB).
© ETH
Prof. Dr. Srdjan Capkun
Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board
Srdjan Capkun (Srđan Čapkun) is a Full Professor in the Department of Computer Science, ETH Zurich and Director of the Zurich Information Security and Privacy Center (ZISC). He was born in Split, Croatia. He received his Dipl.Ing. Degree in Electrical Engineering / Computer Science from the University of Split in 1998, and his Ph.D. degree in Communication Systems from EPFL in 2004. Prior to joining ETH Zurich in 2006, he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Networked & Embedded Systems Laboratory (NESL), University of California Los Angeles and an Assistant Professor in the Informatics and Mathematical Modelling Department, Technical University of Denmark (DTU). His research interests lie in system and network security. His focus areas are wireless security (in particular secure positioning) and system security where he focuses on trusted computing and blockchain technologies. He is a co-founder of 3db Access, a company focusing on secure distance measurement and proximity-based access control, and of Sound-Proof, a spin-off focusing on usable on-line authentication. In 2016, he received an ERC Consolidator Grant for a project on securing positioning in wireless networks.
Dr. Siegfried Dais
Former Deputy Chairman of the Board of Management of Robert Bosch GmbH
Siegfried Dais studied physics at the University of Stuttgart. He wrote his diploma and doctoral theses at the Institute of Physics of the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research (now MPI for Intelligent Systems). He deliberately chose an industrial career and started his professional path in 1979 in advance development at Robert Bosch GmbH. After further stations, among others in the development of integrated circuits and communication technology, Siegfried Dais became Managing Director of Robert Bosch GmbH in 1998 with responsibility for the central divisions of Research / Advance Development as well as several business units. Since 2004, he has been Deputy Chairman of the Board of Management, responsible for the central functions of product planning and technology of the business sectors of Automotive Technology, Consumer Goods, and Building Technology as well as Research, Advance Engineering, and IT. In 2007, the shareholders of Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG appointed Dais as an additional limited partner. The Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand exercises the entrepreneurial shareholder function at Robert Bosch GmbH and plays a crucial role in determining the strategic direction of the corporate group. Dais retired from the board of management at the end of 2012 and from the industrial trust in 2017.
Dais was a member, and later chairman, of the university council of the University of Stuttgart, a member of the Senate of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, the German Research Foundation, and the Helmholtz Research Foundation, as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of two Max Planck Institutes.
Dais was a member, and later chairman, of the university council of the University of Stuttgart, a member of the Senate of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, the German Research Foundation, and the Helmholtz Research Foundation, as well as a member of the Board of Trustees of two Max Planck Institutes.
