Director
Professor Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl is director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI in Karlsruhe. She also holds the Chair for Innovation and Technology Management iTM at the Institute for Entrepreneurship, Technology Management and Innovation (ENTECHNON) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
She works on the conditions conducive to innovations and their impacts. Her research focuses on managing innovations and technologies, roadmaps, strategic foresight and planning, enterprise networks and knowledge management.
In addition, Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl advises stakeholders from business, science and politics, and thus makes a significant contribution to the innovation process in Germany. She is a valued expert in topics focusing on digitalization, sustainability, innovation, and futures research. Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl has repeatedly been named one of the “Top 100 most influential women of the German economy“.
Having graduated in clothing engineering as well as business studies, Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl earned a doctorate and then completed her post-doctoral habilitation at the Technical University of Munich. In recognition of her scientific achievements, the innovation researcher was appointed a member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) in 2012. From 2018 to 2020, she supported the research committee of the German Council of Science and Humanities and contributed her expertise in particular to compiling the position paper on the topic “Application orientation in research”.
Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl is also a valued expert in the political arena. In 2011/12, she accompanied the experts’ dialogue of the former German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel, where she chaired the working group “Innovation Culture” and advised the chancellor on shaping Germany’s economy and society in future. In the subsequent International German Forum in 2015, she acted as moderator for the group “The future needs holistic solutions”.
Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl has been involved in Baden-Wuerttemberg's “Strategy Dialog on the Automotive Industry” since 2017: from 2017 to 2021, as head of the working group “Research and Innovation Environment”, and since 2021, as a member in the Transformation Council / Focus Steering Group “Vehicle”. She closely accompanied the publication of “Future of mobility; Recommendations of mobility research”, which was published in 2022. In the context of Germany’s sustainability strategy, Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl was in the steering group of the government’s “Science Platform Sustainability 2030” between 2017 and 2021, and led the working group on “Work & Sustainability”. In addition, she provides support to the German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, DBU), and the Karl Heinz Beckurts foundation as a member of its board of trustees. In 2014 and again in 2019 and 2024, the German Foreign Office appointed her a member to the German-Chinese Dialog Forum, each time for a term of four years.
As a member of the structural commission to establish a new university in Nuremberg, Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl was involved in actively implementing new ideas in university teaching and research. She is chairperson of the scientific advisory board of the Doctoral College NRW, founded in 2020, and a member of the Programme Council of the Futurium since 2023. Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl is Chair of the University Council at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. She has been on the Board of Trustees for the Deutscher Studienpreis (German Thesis Award) since 2018. Furthermore, she supports the Körber Foundation in developing and conducting this award. In 2023, Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl was also appointed to the Expert Committee for the right to grant subject-limited doctoral degrees for research-intensive institutions of the Bavarian Universities of Applied Sciences.
The connections between industry to science and research are another interest of Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl. She has been a member of the supervisory board of Heidelberg Materials AG since 2012. In this function, she supports the nomination committee and chairs the sustainability and innovation committee, established in 2022. With her experience and expertise in the fields of innovation research, sustainability, foresight, strategy development and knowledge management, she represents a valuable addition to the company. She has also been a member of the supervisory board of MTU Aero Engines AG since 2013 and of the Supervisory Board of Semperit AG Holding since 2023.
Prof. Weissenberger-Eibl is the author of numerous publications and recently edited the volumes »Zukunftsnavigator: Individuelle und Organisationale Zukunftsfähigkeit« (2022) and »Zukunftsvision Deutschland: Innovation für Fortschritt und Wohlstand« (2019), published by Springer. She is also the editor of the series “Cooperation of Science and Industry”.
Further information can be found at https://weissenberger-eibl.de/.