Strong Expertise in Key Competitive Areas

Germany possesses excellent research capabilities, a highly qualified workforce, and strong innovation hubs. At the same time, technological competitiveness is increasingly determined by how quickly scientific findings find their way into products, industrial processes, public administration, and healthcare. Particularly in international competition with the U.S. and China, the speed of this transfer is becoming a decisive location factor.

With the appointment of new members to its Board of Trustees, the FZI is therefore specifically strengthening expertise at the intersections of digitalization, industrial transformation, healthcare, innovation policy, and small and medium-sized enterprises. The board brings together the perspectives necessary to translate research more quickly into concrete applications and sustainable value creation.

As the Executive Director of ViDia Kliniken Karlsruhe, Caroline Schubert brings extensive experience in the strategic development of one of the region’s largest hospital networks. The digitalization of care processes, organizational transformation, and the further development of modern healthcare are among her key areas of responsibility:

“I see the digitalization and automation of processes in the healthcare sector as a crucial opportunity to make our workflows more efficient and safer. This creates room for the important work with patients as well as for the design of work processes, which can significantly reduce the workload on healthcare staff. Serving on the FZI Board of Trustees allows me to combine research and practice – for a connected and smart healthcare system for our region and beyond.”

Caroline Schubert enriches the FZI Board of Trustees with her expertise in the areas of digital healthcare and data-driven healthcare.

“The FZI is a high-performance institute for computer science and software development that makes important contributions to building digital and open ecosystems for the mobility solutions of the future and industrial AI. This is of great relevance to Germany’s digital sovereignty and the development of new business models for our economy,”

said Ernst Stöckl-Pukall. He heads the Digitization and Industry 4.0 division at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. His experience at the intersection of industrial policy, digitalization, and innovation promotion complements the FZI Board of Trustees’ focus, particularly in the areas of Artificial Intelligence and digital sovereignty.

Dr. Christine Neuy, Managing Director of microTEC Südwest e. V., brings fresh ideas for innovation-oriented collaborations and technology transfer, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as a long-time networker connecting business, academia, and politics:

“On the Board of Trustees, I would like to contribute the perspective of small and medium-sized enterprises and thus help ensure that application-oriented computer science research remains closely aligned with practical needs.”

Dr. Heike Busch is responsible for production planning and technical logistics at AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke. As a representative of the steel industry, she particularly wants to bring the perspective of an energy- and technology-intensive heavy industry to the work of the Board of Trustees:

“The transformation of our industry, in particular, offers valuable impetus for research, digitalization, and sustainable innovations. The FZI has been an outstanding research partner for us for years. I am particularly impressed by the commitment, curiosity, and innovative spirit with which future technologies are put into practice here.”