Univ.-Prof. Dr. Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl

Director

Professor Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl is director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI in Karlsruhe and the Joint Innovation Hub. At the Fraunhofer Heilbronn Research and Innovation Centers HNFIZ, she acts as deputy chair of the speaker's group and is head of the research and innovation center “Innovation & Foresight” in Heilbronn. She also holds the Chair for Innovation and Technology Management iTM at the Institute for Entrepreneurship, Technology Management and Innovation (ENTECHNON) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

She studied clothing engineering and business administration and completed her doctorate and post-doctoral qualification at the Technical University of Munich. She works on the conditions conducive to innovations and their impacts. Her research focuses on managing innovations and technologies, roadmaps, strategic foresight and planning, enterprise networks and knowledge management. Since 2012, she has been a member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), and supported the Research Committee of the German Council of Science and Humanities from 2018 to 2020.

In addition, Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl advises stakeholders from business, science and politics and thus makes a decisive contribution to the innovation process in Germany. She is a valued expert in the fields of innovation and futurology, digitalization and AI as well as sustainability. She is recognized as one of the ten leading personalities in the “Consulting” category in the “Top 100 of the Table 2025.” In 2024, she received the Rudolf-Diesel-Medaille in the “Best Support for Innovation” category. Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl has repeatedly been voted one of the “Top 100 most influential women of the German economy”.

Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl is also a valued expert in the political arena. Since 2018, she has been involved in Baden-Württemberg’s Strategy Dialog on the Automotive Industry (SDA) from 2017-2021 as head of the core working group “Research and Innovation Environment” and since 2021 as a member of the Transformation Council/Focus Steering Group “Vehicle”. She actively provided support for the 2022 publication “Zukunft der Mobilitätswirtschaft: Empfehlungen der Mobilitätsforschung” (Future of mobility; Recommendations of mobility research).

In the context of the German Sustainable Development Strategy, Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl was involved in the steering committee of the Science Platform Sustainability 2030 of the German Federal Government from 2017 to 2021 and led the “Work & Sustainability” working group. In 2011/2012, she helped shape the expert dialogue of the former Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel.

She has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Karl Heinz Beckurts Stiftung since 2014, a member of the Program Council of Futurium since 2023, a member of the Advisory Board of the Cross Innovation Hub since 2024 and a full member of the Board of Trustees at Steinbeis since 2025. The German Foreign Office appointed her to the German-Chinese Dialog Forum (DCDF) in 2014, 2019 and 2024, each for a four-year term. From 2014 to 2024, she supported the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) (German Federal Environmental Foundation) as a member of the Board of Trustees.

Since 2016, Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl has been a member of the University Council of the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences and its Chair since 2020. To advance innovative approaches in university teaching and research, Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl served on the Structural Commission for the establishment of a new university in Nuremberg, and since 2023, has served on the expert committee responsible for granting Bavarian universities a restricted right to confer doctorates. Since 2017, she has been a jury member and scientific partner of the Deutschen Innovationspreis (German Innovation Award). She is a member of the Academic Advisory Board (2021-2026) at the Doctoral School NRW and was its chair until 2024. 

The relationship between industry and science and research is an important concern of Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl. She was a member of the Supervisory Board of Heidelberg Materials and MTU Aero Engines. She is currently a Supervisory Board member at ExxonMobil Central Holding GmbH and at Semperit AG Holding.

Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl is the author of numerous publications and editor of the following volumes “Zukunftsgestalter Deutschlands: Pioniergeschichten aus Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft, Politik und Zivilgesellschaft” (2025), “Zukunftsnavigator: Individuelle und Organisationale Zukunftsfähigkeit” (2022) and “Zukunftsvision Deutschland: Innovation für Fortschritt und Wohlstand” (2019).

Further information can be found at https://weissenberger-eibl.de/.