Norbert Szyperski

Prof., Ph.D., MBA

 

Founder and Managing Partner

 

Norbert Szyperski is founder and managing partner of InterScience. He is Chairman or Member of supervisory boards int the IT sector as well as in media and logistics. Additionally, he is honorary professor at the University of Cologne and heads the Betriebswirtschaftliche Forschungsgruppe Innovative Technologien (Business Research Group on Innovative Technologies) and the Arbeitsgruppe Gründungsökonomie und Entrepreneurship (Working Group on Foundation Economics and Entrepreneurship). He is also honorary president of the German Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship Program.

Professor Szyperski has more than 40 years of consulting experience in strategy and strategic management, entrepreneurship, technology innovations, and relationship management. He has founded or accompanied the start-up phase of more than 100 companies in new media, telecom and logistics. Besides, Professor Szyperski has co-founded and serves as senior advisor to a number of non-profit and lobby organizations, such as the Business Angels Netzwerk Deutschland e.V. BAND (German Business Angels Network) and the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) in Berkley, CA. He chairs the Arbeitskreis Electronic Commerce im Mittelstand (Working Group on Electronic Commerce for Medium-Sized Enterprises) of the Federal Government of Germany and is also a senior advisor for the Federal Government with regard to various initiatives, like Existenzgrgründungen aus Hochschulen EXIST (Founding University Spin-Offs). Professor Szyperski held the position of chairman of the board of the Gesellschaft für Mathematik und Datenverarbeitung (GMD - Society for Mathematics and Data Processing) and was the founding president of the Deutsches Forschungsnetz (DFN - German Research Net). In 1986, he was elected as Chief Executive Officer of Mannesmann Kienzle GmbH in Villingen-Schwenningen.

 

Professor Szyperski has an MBA and a PhD from the Free University Berlin. From 1962 to 1963 he was visiting Assistant Professor of Management at the University of Florida in Gainesville, on a scholarship as the first German fellow of the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship Program. After returning to Germany, he worked as research assistant at the Free University Berlin and as research director of the Betriebswirtschaftliches Institut für Organisation und Automation BIFOA (Business Institute for Organization Design and Automation) in Cologne. He was awarded the venia legendi in 1969 by the University of Cologne. From 1970 to 1981 he was the Professor of the Seminar for Business Administration and Strategic Planning. During this time he initiated and fostered many research and consulting projects, with a special focus on entrepreneurship as well as information and communication technologies.

 

Professor Szyperski is the author or co-author of more than 100 books and journal articles. He is also the editor and co-editor of numerous book series and journals. All together, he supervised about 70 dissertations and 14 professors. In recognition of his exceptional public service, Professor Szyperski was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz Erster Klasse (Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany) in 1984 and the Grosse Bundesverdienstkreuz (Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany) in 2004. For his outstanding contribution in the field of business information systems he received an Honorary Doctorate by the Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Austria, in 1994.