Michael Lipka received a diploma in communication engineering from the Technical University of Darmstadt in 1991 and a PhD in semiconductor technologies for RF devices from the University of Ulm in 1996. He held different management positions in the communications industry from 1991 to 2007 with Alcatel, Siemens, and NOKIA, focusing on technology management for narrow-band switching and mobile communication systems. Lipka was also a manager in after-sales-services responsible for system acceptance by pilot customers, specifically Deutsche Telekom and Singapore Telecom.

From 2007 to 2016 Lipka was a project manager for strategic long-term technology planning activities within Siemens Corporate Technology. Lipka was also part of the Management of “Pictures-of-the-Future” foresighting projects for different Siemens businesses and installments of this toolset as a global benchmark for corporate foresighting. Since 2017 Michael Lipka is the Chief Engineer of Huawei Germany for Strategic Planning.