Professor Wolfgang Wahlster
            

Advisory Board Chair
Research Center for Artificial Intelligence

Wolfgang Wahlster received his doctorate in computer science in 1981 and was already at the age of 29 one of the first professors for artificial intelligence (AI). Today, he is considered one of the fathers of Industry 4.0 and a pioneer of AI in Germany and Europe. As founding director of the German Research Center for AI (DFKI) and later as CEO, he developed DFKI into the world's largest research institution in this field with more than 1200 employees by 2019. He currently serves as chief strategic advisor (CEA) to the DFKI executive board. He is on the Executive Committee of member board of the International Computer Science Institute at UC Berkeley (USA) and is a member of the Nobel Prize Academy in Stockholm, the German National Academy Leopoldina as well as Acatech and BBAW. For his research achievements, he was awarded the German Future Prize and the Grand Cross of Merit by the Federal President of Germany. Other awards include four honorary doctorates in Darmstadt, Linkoeping, Maastricht and Prague. In Saarland, he has been awarded the Saarland Order of Merit, as a Saarland Ambassador and as an honorary citizen of his native city of Saarbrücken. As a member of numerous advisory bodies to the German government, such as the Partners for Innovation and the Research Union, he has co-founded three national innovation platforms. He holds a seat on ten industrial supervisory boards and technical advisory boards of large companies, medium-sized enterprises and start-ups.