After completing his four-year term of office, Jan Wörner will hand over the office of Scientific President of acatech - National Academy of Science and Engineering to Claudia Eckert on July 1, 2025 The professor at the Technical University of Munich and Director of Fraunhofer AISEC was unanimously elected by acatech's Executive Committee. Claudia Eckert joins Co-President Thomas Weber: Together they embody the cooperation between science and industry on innovation issues. Siegfried Russwurm, member of the acatech Executive Board and former BDI President, was elected acatech Vice-President.

Claudia Eckert is Managing Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security AISEC and Professor at the Technical University of Munich. She researches new methods and technologies to increase the security and trustworthiness of digital, networked systems. Claudia Eckert is a long-standing member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities and has been an acatech member since 2010; she became a member of the acatech Executive Board in 2014. She is actively involved in numerous scientific boards of trustees and advisory boards, such as the Board of Trustees of the Volkswagen Foundation, the Bavarian AI Council and the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Cyber Security Council. Claudia Eckert was honored in 2021 with the award of the Bavarian Order of Merit for outstanding achievements in the field of cybersecurity and in 2022 by being inducted into the Hall of Fame of German Research.  In 2023, the Technical University of Munich honored her with the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Medal for her outstanding contributions in the field of IT security. Back in 2014, she was honored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Informatics Society with the Germany’s Minds award for her commitment to advancing digital development in Germany with her ideas and projects.

“Claudia Eckert, an excellent technology scientist and sought-after IT security researcher, is taking over as acatech President,” says outgoing President Jan Wörner. “Being President of acatech was a very satisfying task for me, as I was able to contribute my experience from various previous positions, both nationally and internationally, to a special network of science and industry with a very broad range of topics.”

“Claudia Eckert's research is of outstanding importance for the security, resilience and innovative capacity of our country. As acatech President, she will bring enormous benefits to the fore to the Academy and our innovation location with her profound experience and networking,” emphasizes Thomas Weber. “On behalf of the Academy and personally, I would like to thank Jan Wörner for his outstanding commitment. He has made the voice of the technological sciences heard in difficult times in terms of both domestic and foreign policy and has strengthened acatech enormously in terms of content and structure. I would also like to thank Siegfried Russwurm, who is now even more involved on a voluntary basis as acatech Vice President.”

“Increasing innovative strength to strengthen Germany's competitiveness is one of the key tasks for the future. As a link between scientific invention and economic innovation, acatech has a key role to play here. As acatech President, I would like to work to further strengthen this important role of acatech in the innovation system and to substantially support Germany's competitiveness by actively shaping technology-driven innovations,” says Claudia Eckert. “We cannot solve the great challenges of our time with the same approach that we used when we created them,” emphasizes the designated acatech President, loosely based on Albert Einstein. “The wide-ranging scientific excellence of acatech's members and partners forms the indispensable foundation of our work. On this basis, we develop new approaches, impulses and concrete recommendations for policymakers based on facts and evidence. Building on this and in close dialog with politics, business and society, we identify future-oriented options for action and provide guidance on how Germany can strengthen its future viability.”

In addition, the acatech Executive Board has elected Siegfried Russwurm as one of acatech's Vice Presidents - alongside Ann-Kristin Achleitner, Ursula Gather, Stefan Oschmann and Christoph M. Schmidt. Siegfried Russwurm was President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI) from 2021 to 2024, a member of the Executive Board of Siemens AG from 2008 to 2017, most recently as CTO, and is active on several supervisory boards.  

Further information

acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering

Press release from acatech (in German)

About acatech - National Academy of Science and Engineering 

acatech advises policymakers and society, supports innovation policy development and represents the technological sciences internationally. The Academy fulfills its advisory mandate from the German federal government and the state of Bavaria in an independent, science-based and public interest-oriented manner. acatech highlights the opportunities and risks of technological developments and is committed to ensuring that ideas lead to innovation and innovation leads to prosperity, welfare and quality of life. acatech brings science and industry together. The Academy's members are outstanding scientists from the fields of engineering, natural sciences, medicine, humanities and social sciences. The senators are personalities from technology-oriented companies and associations as well as the major scientific organizations. In addition to the acatech FORUM in Munich as its headquarters, acatech has offices in Berlin and Brussels.