Michael Kaschke, Jury Chair 2020-2021, Science and Innovation Management
In 2020, Prof. Dr. Michael Kaschke became Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Karlsruhe, Germany. He previously served as President & CEO of Carl Zeiss AG in Oberkochen, a position he held from 2011 to 2020; he sat on the ZEISS Executive Board for a total of 20 years. In addition to his office as Chairman of the Supervisory Board at KIT, Michael Kaschke is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Carl Zeiss Meditec AG in Jena, a company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (TecDax), and a Member of the Supervisory Boards of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA in Düsseldorf, Deutsche Telekom AG in Bonn, and Robert Bosch GmbH in Gerlingen-Schillerhöhe.
He is also a Member of the Supervisory Board of the German Museum in Munich. In 2009 Kaschke was made an honorary professor in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. He gives lectures on optical medical technology and on the management of innovation processes. Dr. Kaschke is also a guest lecturer at renowned international research and educational institutions, like the Harvard Business School in Boston.
From 2014 to 2020 he sat on the German Council of Science and Humanities, one of Germany’s foremost scientific-political advisory committees. Dr. Michael Kaschke studied physics at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. In 1986 he earned the title of Dr. rer. nat, and in 1988 became a Dr. sc. nat. As part of his scientific work, he conducted research into the generation and application of ultra-short laser pulses.