Chief scientists

Top-class scientists from the OWL region of Germany and from around the world complement the management team at the Fraunhofer IEM with their technical expertise as chief scientists. The thinking behind this: The Fraunhofer IEM is expanding its portfolio into related fields of research — from basic research through to applications. Through events, the development of new projects or joint acquisition, the Fraunhofer IEM benefits from regular dialog on the latest research topics, fresh and unbiased perspectives and valuable tips and advice.

The chief scientists are proven experts in their field. With their collaboration, it is possible to enhance the profile of the core topic, namely holistic, interdisciplinary engineering for intelligent technical systems, while at the same time opening it up to new subject areas.

Prof. Elias G. Carayannis is Professor of Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Founder and Co-Director of the Global and Entrepreneurial Finance Research Institute (GEFRI) and Director of the European Union Research Center (EURC) at the School of Business at George Washington University. Prof. Carayannis’ teaching and research activities focus on strategic R&D partnerships between government, university and industry, technology roadmapping, technology transfer and commercialization, international science and technology policy, technological entrepreneurship and regional economic development.

He has published numerous journal articles in IEEE Transactions in Engineering Management, Research Policy, Journal of R&D Management, among others, as well as over fifty technical books on science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. He is editor of the journals Springer JKEC, Springer JIAE and IGI IJSESD and co-editor of numerous other journals.

Prof. Walter Sextro studied mechanical engineering with a focus on mechanics, measurement and control technology at Leibnitz University in Hannover and at Imperial College in London. After graduation, he became a development engineer and project coordinator for the design and optimization of drill strings for oil and gas production for Baker Hughes Inteq at the Drilling Research Center in Celle, Germany and Houston, Texas.

As a research assistant at Leibnitz University in Hannover, he received his doctorate in 1997 from the Institute of Mechanics. He was awarded the “Hannover Science Prize” for his doctor thesis in 1998. He then qualified as a professor in the field of mechanics and published his professorial dissertation on “Dynamical Contact Problems with Friction: Models, Methods, Experiments and Applications.” In February 2004, he accepted an offer of a professorship at the Institute of Mechanics and Transmission Engineering at the Technical University of Graz in Austria. Since March 1, 2009, he has held the Chair of Dynamics and Mechatronics at the University of Paderborn.