There is one name that is closely linked to scientific think tanks – Prof Wolfgang Lassmann. His pioneering approach was to pave the way for cutting-edge businesses that emerged from universities in Germany. In the 1990s he became director of the Institute of Corporate Research and Corporate Management (IFU) and the Institute of Business Informatics and Operations Research at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. In 1999, he encouraged eight of his best students, including his son Andreas Lassmann and Tobias Schmidt, to found itCampus. Today, the two former students are directors of a company that has successfully established itself in Europe.

Prof Lassmann is one of the most renowned experts in the field of business informatics. His textbook “Wirtschaftsinformatik” (“Business Informatics”) has become a prescribed textbook for the bachelor degree in this discipline.

During his scientific career Prof Wolfgang Lassmann worked closely with his dissertation adviser Leonid V. Kantorovich, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1975. He also maintains scientific exchanges with Jesco Freiherr von Puttkamer, senior engineer at NASA. In 2006 Prof Lassman was appointed member of the Growth and Innovation Committee of the German government.

Company founder Prof Lassmann supports itCampus through his contacts in the university sector and in several boards which have resulted in valuable contacts to excellent researchers, partners and customers.

CV:

• born in 1938
• 1958–1964: studies engineering science at the University of Applied Science Leipzig
• 1965–1968: post-grad studies in business economics, business mathematics and business informatics at the University of Leipzig
• 1970: PhD on mathematical decision making
• 1979: postdoctoral lecturing qualification on development and substantiation of the “complex method” in Halle/Saale
• 1973–1986: collaborates with Nobel Prize Winner L. V. Kantorovich
• 1984–1992: university professor for business informatics at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU)
• 1992–2003: university professor for business informatics/operations research at MLU
• since 1997: chairman of the board of the Institute of Corporate Research and Corporate Management (IFU) at MLU
• 1996–2000: vice-dean (1996–1998) and dean (1998–2000) of the Faculty of Economics at MLU
• 2000–2003: vice-chancellor for information technology and university communication systems at MLU
• since 1998: member of the supervisory board of HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management (HHL) and other board memberships
• member and since 2007 president of the supervisory board of BISON Holding AG, Switzerland

main areas of research:

• optimisation calculations in operations research (substantiation of complex optimisation) and use of artificial intelligence methods
• CIM projecting and SAP solutions for ERP
• projecting in the fields of e-business and e-government
• intelligent facility management
• use of neuronal networks in medicine
• corporate concepts for restructuring information processing
• IT security

CV:

• born in 1937
• studies mathematics at the University of Leipzig
• PhD (1973) and post-doctoral lecturing qualification (1985) at the University of Applied Sciences Leipzig
• 1989: professorship for business informatics at the University of Applied Sciences Leipzig
• 1991–1992: professorship in “business informatics II” (interim) at the University of Osnabrück
• 1992: appointment as chair of the newly founded business informatics department of the University of Leipzig
• 1992–2003: retirement, director of the Institute for Business Informatics at the University of Leipzig
• since 1996: visiting professor at the University of Innsbruck
• 1997–2003: co-initiator and project manager of the education network and of the web based masters degree in business informatics
• member of several editorial boards including the magazine "Wirtschaftsinformatik" (Business Informatics), the Teubner set "Wirtschaftsinformatik" and the book series "Schriften zur Wirtschaftsinformatik" (Writings on Business Informatics)
• Member of the scientific advisory board of the informatik department at the Martin-Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
• Founding member of the Leipzig Association of Informatics (LIV)

main areas of research:

• E-Learning
• Information System Managment
• IT support for telecommunication
• Internet based teamwork
• Knowledge management

CV:

• born in 1946
• 1966–1971: studies business economics at the University for Social Sciences and Economics in Linz
• 1969–1971: works as operator, organizer and application programmer
• 1977: doctorate in social sciences and economics at the Johannes Kepler University Linz
• 1987: postdoctoral lecturing qualification in business informatics at the University of Linz
• 1987–1988: professor for business informatics at the University of Bamberg
• 1988–2004: full university professorship for business informatics and business economics at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Economics at the University of Innsbruck
• 1994–2000: visiting professor at the University of Leipzig
• since 2004: full university professorship for business informatics and business economics at Johannes Kepler University Linz
• since 2007: vice-rector for communication and public relations at the Johannes Kepler University Linz
• teaching and research at the universities of Bamberg, Halle-Wittenberg, Duisburg, New Orleans and Innsbruck
• until 1997: co-editor of the magazine Wirtschaftsinformatik (business informatics)
• consultant for the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Bavarian State Ministry for Technology and Innovation in the field of business informatics

main areas of research:

• process management
• knowledge management
• information engineering
• IT project management

CV:

Dr. Peter Kürpick, born in 1966, joined Software AG in April 2005, and in his role he is responsible for Research & Development of both Business Divisions, webMethods and ETS.

Before coming to Software AG, he was Senior Vice President Server Technology at SAP and as such was responsible for major parts of the SAP Netweaver stack, which is the foundation of all SAP applications. At the beginning of 2000 he acted as Executive Board Assistant, during which time he worked out of Palo Alto, New York and Germany for Prof. Dr. Hasso Plattner, former CEO and co-founder of SAP.  Dr. Kürpick started his career in IT in 1998, joining SAP as a software developer.

Dr. Kürpick earned a Diploma in Physics focusing on theoretical physics / supercomputer  topics in 1989 and a PhD in theoretical physics in 1993. From 1995 to1997 he did his postdoctorate in the United States, working at the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Kansas State University, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratories, Tennessee.