Reinhard Ploss elected acatech President, Christoph Leyens and Frank Riemensperger appointed to Executive Board

Munich, 25 March 2022

The Executive Board of acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering has elected Reinhard Ploss (who will step down as CEO of Infineon on 31 March) as one of the Academy’s two Presidents, alongside Jan Wörner. The Executive Board has also appointed two new members: Christoph Leyens (TU Dresden) and Frank Riemensperger (former Senior Managing Director of Accenture Germany). Outgoing President Karl-Heinz Streibich will remain actively involved with acatech.  

Like his predecessor Karl-Heinz Streibich, acatech’s new President Reinhard Ploss has served as the CEO of a high-tech company and is a committed advocate of German and EU technology sovereignty. During his time as acatech President, Karl-Heinz Streibich drew on his experience as CEO of Software AG to put innovation and technology sovereignty at the centre of the public and policy agenda. Reinhard Ploss takes up his role as one of the Academy’s two Presidents following a successful career that culminated with a spell as CEO of Infineon Technologies, one of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers and system solutions providers.

“As the voice of the technological sciences, acatech provides advice to government and the general public that is in the public interest and delivers concrete benefits”, says Reinhard Ploss, speaking about his new position as acatech President. “Together with the many brilliant minds from science, industry and related organisations who form part of acatech, I will be striving to ensure that innovation policy decisions are based on state-of-the-art research and applications. A smart innovation policy will help Germany and Europe achieve their climate and sustainability targets, maintain their competitiveness and social balance, achieve technology sovereignty and become a global model and partner for sustainable business. I look forward to continuing Karl-Heinz Streibich’s successful work in partnership with Jan Wörner.”

Reinhard Ploss has been a member of acatech’s Executive Board since 2018 and has served as one of the Academy’s Vice-Presidents for the past year. On taking office as acatech President he will also join the acatech Management Board, which comprises the two Presidents and the Academy’s Managing Director, Manfred Rauhmeier.

“Karl-Heinz Streibich leaves behind a lasting legacy. I would like to thank him both personally and on behalf of acatech’s Executive Board and the Academy as a whole”, says acatech President Jan Wörner. “My new colleague, Reinhard Ploss, is one of the most highly regarded figures in the industrial research community. As the Academy’s two Presidents, we hope to embody the lively dialogue between science and industry that is at the heart of acatech as an organisation. It is this dialogue that allows the Academy to support sustainable innovation by providing advice that is both science-based and practical. We both believe that the international community can only solve global problems with the aid of state-of-the-art technology and through international cooperation between sovereign democracies.”

Referring to the current crisis in Ukraine, Jan Wörner adds: “We are shocked and saddened by the war in Ukraine and our heart goes out to everyone affected by it. The conflict is also highlighting our economy’s dependence on foreign resources and energy. For this reason, we believe that acatech’s future work should place particular emphasis on security, resilience, sustainability and innovation. By facilitating cooperation between science and industry, acatech can make an important contribution in this area.”

The outgoing President will remain actively involved with acatech. As acatech Managing Director Manfred Rauhmeier explains, “Karl-Heinz Streibich will continue to play an active role as a permanent guest of the acatech Executive Board, working to promote digital sovereignty and specifically to build sovereign data spaces for Germany and Europe. Due to his extensive experience and track record of neutrality and independence, Karl-Heinz Streibich has also been appointed Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Mobility Data Space (Datenraum Mobilität GmbH). It is in this area in particular that he has left a lasting legacy for German and European technology sovereignty. He provided important input for our publications on digital sovereignty and resilience during the coronavirus crisis, and also managed to bring various stakeholders together to found the Mobility Data Space, a collaborative venture between a range of major public and private partners. He was able to get all these partners working together in a pre-competitive environment.”

Speaking about his future work with acatech, Karl-Heinz Streibich says: “We want to support implementation of innovation policy strategies across the entire innovation chain by providing technological science advice and moderating the relevant platforms. The Mobility Data Space is a blueprint for creating other data spaces – and a new coalition of stakeholders will need to be built for each and every one. The interoperability of these data spaces is key to the eventual emergence of a comprehensive data space ecosystem that delivers digital sovereignty for Germany and Europe. To achieve this, I will be working with acatech to bring together the most suitable partners from science, industry, government and the public sector.”

Two new members have also been appointed to acatech’s Executive Board: Christoph Leyens, Director of the Institute of Materials Science at TU Dresden and Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS, and Frank Riemensperger, former Senior Managing Director of Accenture Germany. During his time as an acatech Member, materials scientist Christoph Leyens has participated in working groups on skills monitoring, additive manufacturing and the materials research framework. He is a former spokesperson and current deputy spokesperson of the Materials Science and Engineering topic network. Frank Riemensperger has been a leading contributor to working groups on the platform economy (Smart Service Welt) and AI-based autonomous systems, work that eventually led to the establishment of the AI platform Plattform Lernende Systeme (PLS). He is currently a member of the PLS Steering Committee and Deputy Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Mobility Data Space.

The current members of acatech’s Executive Board are as follows:

• Ann-Kristin Achleitner (G)
• Claudia Eckert
• Ursula Gather
• Jürgen Gausemeier (G)
• Armin Grunwald
• Christoph Leyens
• Stefan Oschmann (G)
• Reinhard Ploss (G)
• Manfred Rauhmeier (G)
• Ortwin Renn
• Hermann Requardt
• Frank Riemensperger
• Siegfried Russwurm
• Dirk Uwe Sauer
• Michael Schenk
• Christoph M. Schmidt (G)
• Thomas Weber (G)
• Jan Wörner (G)

(G) denotes members of the acatech Executive Board’s management committee, which manages acatech’s topics and programmes. The Executive Board is responsible for the Academy’s strategic management and for representing it externally. A maximum of twelve Executive Board members are elected from the General Assembly and up to six are elected from the Senate, while a further seat is occupied by acatech’s Managing Director.

Further information
https://en.acatech.de/academy/executive-board/

Contact
Christoph Uhlhaas
Head of Communication | Media & Policy

acatech – National Academy
of Science and Engineering

T 089 52 03 09 60
M 0172 144 58 52

uhlhaas@acatech.de
www.acatech.de

About acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering

acatech provides advice to government and the general public, supports policymaking in the field of innovation, and represents the technological sciences internationally. In accordance with its mandate from the Federal Government and the Länder, the Academy provides independent, science-based advice that is in the public interest. acatech clearly sets out the opportunities and risks of technological developments and is committed to ensuring that ideas become innovations and that these innovations in turn lead to greater prosperity, welfare and quality of life. acatech brings science and industry together. The Academy’s Members are prominent scientists from the fields of engineering, the natural sciences and medicine, as well as the humanities and social sciences. The Senate is made up of leading figures from technology companies and organisations, as well as the major science organisations. In addition to its headquarters at the acatech FORUM in Munich, acatech also has offices in Berlin and Brussels.