#hasso plattner

[stockstarsblog]

Abschied von einer Legende: Hasso Plattner verlässt SAP

Hey Tumblr-Freunde,

vor ein paar Tagen haben wir über Hasso Plattner, einen der Gründer von SAP, gesprochen. Jetzt gibt es große Neuigkeiten! Der charismatische 80-Jährige hat sich offiziell von seinem Posten als Aufsichtsratschef des Softwaregiganten verabschiedet. Und wie könnte man solch einen Abschied besser feiern als mit einer epischen Gala?

Ein Abend voller Stars und Emotionen

Die Gala fand in der beeindruckenden SAP-Arena statt, wo sich 4.000 Menschen versammelten, um Hasso Plattner zu ehren. Darunter waren nicht nur Mitarbeiter und frühere Größen von SAP, sondern auch hochkarätige Gäste. Moderiert wurde der Abend von keinem Geringeren als Günther Jauch, und für die musikalische Untermalung sorgte die fantastische Sängerin Anastacia. Und ja, Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz war auch da, um die Lebensleistung von Plattner zu würdigen.

Einblicke in die Feier

Christian Klein, der aktuelle Vorstandschef von SAP, eröffnete die Gala mit einer Rede. Es gab auch Video-Grußworte von Baden-Württembergs Ministerpräsident Winfried Kretschmann und Microsoft-Gründer Bill Gates – ziemlich beeindruckend, oder?

Als Hasso Plattner selbst ans Mikrofon trat, wurde es ernst. Der öffentliche Teil der Gala endete, und die Presse musste den Saal verlassen. Plattner, der eher zurückhaltend in Bezug auf seine Arbeit ist, wurde der Rummel sichtlich zu viel.

Hasso Plattner: Ein bescheidener Visionär

Plattner, der vor rund 50 Jahren zur Gründungsmannschaft von SAP gehörte und nach seiner Vorstandszeit noch 20 Jahre im Aufsichtsrat saß, ist bekannt für seine Bescheidenheit. Trotzdem hinterlässt er ein riesiges Erbe: SAP ist heute Europas größtes Softwarehaus mit rund 110.000 Mitarbeitern und etwa 30 Milliarden Euro Jahresumsatz.

Ein besonderer Abschied

Besonders bemerkenswert war auch das Gespräch, das Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz vor der Gala mit den Arbeitnehmervertretern von SAP führte. Es zeigt, wie wichtig Plattners Arbeit und die Zukunft des Unternehmens auch auf politischer Ebene sind.

Zum Schluss

Hasso Plattners Abschied markiert das Ende einer Ära, aber auch den Beginn eines neuen Kapitels für SAP. Es bleibt spannend zu sehen, wie sich das Unternehmen weiterentwickeln wird. Was denkt ihr über diese Veränderung? Lasst es mich in den Kommentaren wissen!

[wdr2-rlbmut]

Held at the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany:

Paul Signac, The Port at Sunset, Opus 236 (Saint-Tropez), 1892

Oil on canvas, 65 x 81,3 cm

Signed and dated lower left: P. Signac 92; inscribed lower right: Op 236

Inv.-no. MB-Sig-03

In 1892, Paul Signac transferred his yacht Olympia to Saint-Tropez, still an unassuming fishing village at the time, where he bought a house on the coast. He painted this composition there that same year. The application of the complementary colors violet and orange in tiny dots causes the picture to vibrate. Light is no longer featured as an atmosphere that surrounds an object but instead as stimulating particles. ~~ from the museum website.

[telugutimesdigimedia]

Puneeth Ranjan as SAP Chairman!

Indian American businessman and former CEO of Deloitte Global Puneeth Ranjan is likely to be selected as the next chairman of Germany-based European multinational software company SAC SE. The SAP Supervisory Board has proposed Ranjan's name to succeed Hasso Plattner, the current chairman. After Ranjan's nomination to be elected as a new member of the Supervisory Board, Plattner started the succession process of the Supervisory Board.

[bspoquemagazine]

Das Minsk im August-September: Soft Power & Noah Davis

­­­­­­SOFT POWER LETZTER AUSSTELLUNGSTAG  AM 11. AUGUST 2024­ Die Gruppenausstellung Soft Power stellt Textilgestaltung als künstlerisches Ausdrucksmittel vor, mit dem Machtverhältnisse infrage gestellt werden können. Die Ausstellung begreift Textilien nicht nur als handwerklich oder industriell gefertigte Objekte, sondern auch als Teil von Systemen. Dazu gehören die Produktions- und…

[alexrentsch]

Potsdam Griebnitzsee

Universität Potsdam

Canon TS-E 17mm f/4L@Canon EOS 5D Mark III

[yourawolfboyy]

Prof. Hasso Plattner

[sawdustandglitter]

Metamaterial Mechanisms by The Human Computer Interaction Lab at Hasso Plattner Institute

[joostjongepier]

Wat?   Die Brücke von Argenteuil und die Seine (ca. 1883), Rue Halévy, Blick von einem Balkon (1877), Rue Halévy, Blick aus der achsten Etage (1878) en Paar beim Spaziergang (1881) door Gustave Caillebotte, Die Themse (1875) door Berthe Morisot, Le Havre, Sonnenuntergang am Meer (1885) door Eugène Boudin en Der hafen bei Sonnenuntergang, Opus 236 (Saint-Tropez) door Paul Signac

Waar?   Tentoonstelling Impressionismus - Die SammlungHasso Plattner in Museum Barberini, Potsdam

Wanneer?   12 augustus 2024

Behalve de Modigliani-tentoonstelling is er in Museum Barberini ook een expositie met impressionistische (en ook postimpressionistische) schilderijen uit de collectie Hasso Plattner, oprichter van het museum. Het is een indrukwekkende collectie met 114 meesterwerken van 23 kunstenaars. Met veertig werken van Claude Monet bezit Museum Barberini de grootste collectie schilderijen van deze kunstenaar buiten Frankrijk.

Ook van de, door mij bewonderde, impressionist Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894) bevat de collectie een aantal fraaie werken. De Argenteuilbrug was herbouwd na de Frans-Duitse oorlog van 1870-1871. Het gietijzeren geheel was een product van moderne Franse techniek. Argenteuil , een geïndustrialiseerde buitenwijk van Parijs, had een grote aantrekkingskracht op kunstenaars. Ook zijn er een tweetal schilderijen van de Rue Halévy, een straat bij de Opéra Garnier. Heel fleurig is Paar beim Spaziergang met een dame en heer op de rug gezien, terwijl ze een zomers wandelingetje maken.

Bewonderaar ben ik ook van Berthe Morisot. De collectie van Hasso Plattner bevat een, voor haar doen, apart werk. Op de meeste werken die ik van haar ken, zien we vrouwen. Hier is echter geen mens te zien. Ze schilderde het werk tijdens een verblijf in Londen. Daar bestudeerde ze in de National Gallery het werk van William Turner. Het inspireerde haar tot het maken van dit schilderij van de Theems, het enige werk dat ze tijdens haar verblijf in de Engelse hoofdstad maakte.

Een, tot nu voor mij onbekende, impressionist is Eugène Boudin (1824-1898). Hij geldt als pionier van het schilderen in de open lucht. Een fraai zeestuk is Le Havre. Sonnenuntergang am Meer. Het licht van de ondergaande zon doet de contouren oplossen en strand en wolkenlucht haast versmelten tot één geheel. Alleen een dunne lichte streep vormt de horizon die beide sferen van elkaar scheidt. Het schilderij doet mij enerzijds denken aan  werk van Turner, maar roept ook associaties op met Monets Impression Soleil Levant, al is de kleurstelling van de ondergaande zon heel anders dan die van Monets opkomende zon.

Pointillisme is een techniek waarbij stippen verf ongemengd op het doek worden geplaatst. Daarbij worden complementaire kleuren naast elkaar gezet, die in het oog van de kijker tot een geheel versmelten. In het algemeen ben ik niet zo’n fan van pointillistische schilderijen. Ik vind het technisch knap, maar vaak overtuigt het resultaat me niet omdat het een te gekunstelde indruk maakt. Zoals altijd zijn er echter uitzonderingen op de regel. Zo’n uitzondering is Der Hafen bei Sonnenuntergang, Opus 236 (Saint-Tropez) van Paul Signac. Hier werkt het naast elkaar plaatsen van de complementaire kleuren violet en oranje bijzonder goed. Zo zorgen voor een warm, gouden licht zoals de laatste zonnestralen een gouden gloed over de aarde kunnen leggen.

[adrianodiprato]

+ “You can't use up creativity. the more you use, the more you have.” ~ Maya Angelou

Game Changers | Series Sixteen Reflection

For Series Sixteen, we immersed ourselves in the essence of creativity and explored why it's such a fundamental aspect of human existence where we unpacked the provocation - Why creativity matters?

In Series Sixteen of the Game Changers Podcast, we spoke to seven remarkable individuals – the Chair of the Global Institute of Creative Thinking and Co-Founder of Rethinking Assessment, the Associate Director of Creativity, Culture & Education (CCE), the Associate Principal of Global Village Learning, a Professor of Education from The University of Sydney and Co-Founder 4C Transformative Learning, an Adjunct Professor from the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University and author of Design for Belonging, an Advertising Guru and Broadcaster, and an Experience Coordinator and author of Everyday Creative. 

Each one of these remarkable people challenged our binary thinking of creativity. Game Changers who planted the seeds for each of us to grow in our understanding of how we cultivate the character of creativity in our learning communities, and across business and society. 

Episode One | Bill Lucas

Key learnings – Our discussion with Bill Lucas, Chair of the Global Institute of Creative Thinking and Co-Founder of Rethinking Assessment, actively promoted creative thinking in schools and the development of creative learning habits in the classroom. Bill’s insights, much like those in his book Creative Thinking in Schools: A Leadership Playbook, underscored the value of Curiosity—encouraging educators and students alike to engage deeply with creative processes and think beyond conventional boundaries.

Episode Two | Lamis Sabra

Key learnings – Our conversation with Lamis Sabra, Associate Director of Creativity, Culture & Education (CCE), illuminated the transformative power of creative thinking in education. Lamis emphasised how creativity can support young people from diverse backgrounds in their learning journeys and prepare them for the world of work. This conversation highlighted the importance of Compassion—understanding and addressing the diverse needs of learners to ensure they thrive in all aspects of life.

Episode Three | Mykel Dixon 

Key learnings – In our dynamic and deeply honest conversation with Mykel Dixon, Experience Coordinator and author of Everyday Creative, we delved into the power of storytelling and joy in unlocking our full creative potential. Mykel's deeply honest insights into overcoming barriers to creativity and reclaiming our vibrant selves resonated with Curiosity—a drive to actively engage with and explore our inner creativity and the world around us.

Episode Four | Pip Cleaves

Key learnings – Our conversation with Pip Cleaves, Associate Principal of Global Village Learning, was a compelling example of Courage. Pip’s willingness to challenge traditional educational paradigms and embrace innovative approaches demonstrated the boldness required to transform schooling and make a significant impact on students’ lives.

Episode Five | Susie Wise

Key learnings – Susie Wise, Adjunct Professor from the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University and author of Design for Belonging, shared valuable insights on using design tools to foster inclusion and collaboration. Her approach to creating environments that nurture belonging, and transformation highlighted the role of Conviction—committing to ethical practices that prioritise inclusivity and genuine engagement in learning and leadership.

Episode Six | Russel Howcroft

Key learnings – Engaging with Russel, Advertising Guru and 3AW Broadcaster, provided a unique perspective on creativity through the lens of Courage. Russel’s ability to lead and push boundaries in the creative industry showcased the fearless attitude needed to embrace and mainstream innovative ideas.

Special Series | Michael Anderson 

Key learnings – In Phil’s special series conversations with Michael Anderson, Professor of Education from The University of Sydney and Co-Founder of 4C Transformative Learning, they explored tools for future-focused educational transformation. Michael’s insights into advancing learning and leadership underscored the importance of Courage in pioneering change and preparing schools for the future.

Creativity is the pulsating life force of our civilization, an intricate thread woven into the fabric of our progress. It's the driving factor behind our cultural evolution, from the ancient cave paintings that spoke of our stories to the digital art that articulates our contemporary narrative. It transcends time and medium, shaping our understanding of the world and propelling us forward.

Thank you to Bill, Lamis, Mykel, Pip, Susie, Russel and Michael for sharing your story, your purpose, your creativity with us all.   

And finally, we should never forget that each person in a learning community is home to a unique life. It is as simple and complex as that. Born from the construct of love – of self, for place, for planet, and for the other.

Listen to our Series Sixteen | Epilogue via streaming platforms - SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts & Spotify.

Adriano Di Prato is a best-selling author, broadcaster, co-host of the Game Changers podcast series, and the Academic Operations Manager at LCI Melbourne, a progressive art, design + entrepreneurship private institute of higher education.

[stockstarsblog]

Hasso Plattner: Innovator, Mentor, Kunstförderer

Hey Tumblr-Community! Heute, in der allerersten Biographie meines kleinen Blogs, nehme ich euch mit auf eine Reise durch das Leben von Hasso Plattner, einem der Köpfe hinter dem Software-Riesen SAP und einem echten Visionär in Technologie und Kunst.

Vom Berliner zum Global Player

Geboren am 21. Januar 1944 in Berlin, hat Hasso Plattner mehr erreicht, als die meisten von uns in einem Dutzend Leben könnten. Nach seinem Nachrichtentechnikstudium an der Universität Karlsruhe startete er seine Karriere bei IBM, aber das war ihm nicht genug. 1972 zog er weiter und gründete SAP, einen Namen, den heute jeder kennt, der auch nur entfernt etwas mit Unternehmenssoftware am Hut hat.

Professor und mehr

Aber Plattner ist nicht nur ein Business-Mogul. Er hat auch die akademische Welt erobert. Seit den 90ern verknüpft er als Professor die Welten von Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft. Das Highlight? Sein eigenes Institut, das Hasso-Plattner-Institut für Softwaresystemtechnik in Potsdam, das er 1998 ins Leben rief. Dort formt er die nächste Generation von IT-Leadern, die unsere digitale Welt gestalten werden.

Ein Herz für die Kunst

Und falls ihr dachtet, das wäre alles: Nein! Plattner hat auch eine tiefe Leidenschaft für Kunst und Kultur. 2017 eröffnete er das Museum Barberini in Potsdam, ein Kunsthaus, das sich nicht nur durch seine beeindruckende Sammlung von Impressionismus bis zur zeitgenössischen Kunst auszeichnet, sondern auch durch seine Geschichte – es steht auf den Trümmern eines im Krieg zerstörten Palais.

Bleibende Eindrücke

Nicht nur in der Kunstwelt hat Plattner Spuren hinterlassen. Das MINSK KUNSTHAUS, ein weiteres kulturelles Projekt in Potsdam, kombiniert Kunst aus der DDR-Zeit mit zeitgenössischen Werken und bietet einen einzigartigen Einblick in die deutsche Geschichte.

Anerkennung, die sich gewaschen hat

Hasso Plattner ist nicht nur ein Macher, sondern auch ein vielfach Geehrter. Von Ehrendoktortiteln bis zum renommierten Werner-von-Siemens-Ring, seine Liste der Auszeichnungen ist so lang wie beeindruckend.

So, liebe Leute, das war ein kurzer Einblick in das faszinierende Leben von Hasso Plattner. Von Technologie über Bildung bis hin zur Kunst hat dieser Mann wirklich alles berührt, was unsere moderne Welt prägt. Lasst euch von seiner Geschichte inspirieren, denn wie Plattner zeigt, gibt es keine Grenzen, außer denen, die wir uns selbst setzen!

[hockeyreport]

Sharks name Ryan Warsofsky the 11th head coach in team history

San Jose Sharks General Manager Mike Grier today announced that the team has named Ryan Warsofsky as Head Coach. Warsofsky will become the 11th head coach in Sharks franchise history. “We’re very excited to announce Ryan as the 11th head coach of the San Jose Sharks,” said Grier. “His track record of success at nearly every level of hockey as a head and assistant coach speaks for itself. Ryan knows our existing group well, has the respect of the players who he will be working with, and will be a great teacher for the young players who will be joining our organization.” “I’m overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement to be named as the head coach of the San Jose Sharks,” said Warsofsky. “This a tremendous opportunity to continue to be part of a well-respected organization, and my family and I couldn’t be more excited for this next chapter. I want to thank our Owner Hasso Plattner, President Jonathan Becher, General Manager Mike Grier and Assistant GM’s Tom Holy and Joe Will for their trust in me. This is an organization that has a rich history of winning, and I can’t wait to get to work on coaching a team that our fans can be proud of.”

[bspoquemagazine]

40. Werk Claude Monets in der Sammlung Hasso Plattner

Das 1888 entstandene Gemälde Antibes von den Gärten von Salis aus wurde am 15. Mai – und damit exakt 150 Jahre nach der Finissage der ersten Gemeinschaftsausstellung der Impressionisten – durch die Hasso Plattner Foundation erworben. Das Museum Barberini begrüßt mit dem Werk das 40. Gemälde Claude Monets und den bereits dritten Ankauf im Lauf des Jubiläumsjahres in der Sammlung Hasso Plattner,…

[arisesever]

Olaf Scholz Leads Farewell Tributes to Hasso Plattner

http://dlvr.it/T72Cp5

[sunaleisocial]

HPI-MIT design research collaboration creates powerful teams

New Post has been published on https://sunalei.org/news/hpi-mit-design-research-collaboration-creates-powerful-teams/

HPI-MIT design research collaboration creates powerful teams

The recent ransomware attack on ChangeHealthcare, which severed the network connecting health care providers, pharmacies, and hospitals with health insurance companies, demonstrates just how disruptive supply chain attacks can be. In this case, it hindered the ability of those providing medical services to submit insurance claims and receive payments.

This sort of attack and other forms of data theft are becoming increasingly common and often target large, multinational corporations through the small and mid-sized vendors in their corporate supply chains, enabling breaks in these enormous systems of interwoven companies.

Cybersecurity researchers at MIT and the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Potsdam, Germany, are focused on the different organizational security cultures that exist within large corporations and their vendors because it’s that difference that creates vulnerabilities, often due to the lack of emphasis on cybersecurity by the senior leadership in these small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Keri Pearlson, executive director of Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan (CAMS); Jillian Kwong, a research scientist at CAMS; and Christian Doerr, a professor of cybersecurity and enterprise security at HPI, are co-principal investigators (PIs) on the research project, “Culture and the Supply Chain: Transmitting Shared Values, Attitudes and Beliefs across Cybersecurity Supply Chains.”

Their project was selected in the 2023 inaugural round of grants from the HPI-MIT Designing for Sustainability program, a multiyear partnership funded by HPI and administered by the MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MAD). The program awards about 10 grants annually of up to $200,000 each to multidisciplinary teams with divergent backgrounds in computer science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, engineering, design, architecture, the natural sciences, humanities, and business and management. The 2024 Call for Applications is open through June 3.

Designing for Sustainability grants support scientific research that promotes the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on topics involving sustainable design, innovation, and digital technologies, with teams made up of PIs from both institutions. The PIs on these projects, who have common interests but different strengths, create more powerful teams by working together.

Transmitting shared values, attitudes, and beliefs to improve cybersecurity across supply chains

The MIT and HPI cybersecurity researchers say that most ransomware attacks aren’t reported. Smaller companies hit with ransomware attacks just shut down, because they can’t afford the payment to retrieve their data. This makes it difficult to know just how many attacks and data breaches occur. “As more data and processes move online and into the cloud, it becomes even more important to focus on securing supply chains,” Kwong says. “Investing in cybersecurity allows information to be exchanged freely while keeping data safe. Without it, any progress towards sustainability is stalled.”

One of the first large data breaches in the United States to be widely publicized provides a clear example of how an SME cybersecurity can leave a multinational corporation vulnerable to attack. In 2013, hackers entered the Target Corporation’s own network by obtaining the credentials of a small vendor in its supply chain: a Pennsylvania HVAC company. Through that breach, thieves were able to install malware that stole the financial and personal information of 110 million Target customers, which they sold to card shops on the black market.

To prevent such attacks, SME vendors in a large corporation’s supply chain are required to agree to follow certain security measures, but the SMEs usually don’t have the expertise or training to make good on these cybersecurity promises, leaving their own systems, and therefore any connected to them, vulnerable to attack.

“Right now, organizations are connected economically, but not aligned in terms of organizational culture, values, beliefs, and practices around cybersecurity,” explains Kwong. “Basically, the big companies are realizing the smaller ones are not able to implement all the cybersecurity requirements. We have seen some larger companies address this by reducing requirements or making the process shorter. However, this doesn’t mean companies are more secure; it just lowers the bar for the smaller suppliers to clear it.”

Pearlson emphasizes the importance of board members and senior management taking responsibility for cybersecurity in order to change the culture at SMEs, rather than pushing that down to a single department, IT office, or in some cases, one IT employee.

The research team is using case studies based on interviews, field studies, focus groups, and direct observation of people in their natural work environments to learn how companies engage with vendors, and the specific ways cybersecurity is implemented, or not, in everyday operations. The goal is to create a shared culture around cybersecurity that can be adopted correctly by all vendors in a supply chain.

This approach is in line with the goals of the Charter of Trust Initiative, a partnership of large, multinational corporations formed to establish a better means of implementing cybersecurity in the supply chain network. The HPI-MIT team worked with companies from the Charter of Trust and others last year to understand the impacts of cybersecurity regulation on SME participation in supply chains and develop a conceptual framework to implement changes for stabilizing supply chains.

Cybersecurity is a prerequisite needed to achieve any of the United Nations’ SDGs, explains Kwong. Without secure supply chains, access to key resources and institutions can be abruptly cut off. This could include food, clean water and sanitation, renewable energy, financial systems, health care, education, and resilient infrastructure. Securing supply chains helps enable progress on all SDGs, and the HPI-MIT project specifically supports SMEs, which are a pillar of the U.S. and European economies.

Personalizing product designs while minimizing material waste

In a vastly different Designing for Sustainability joint research project that employs AI with engineering, “Personalizing Product Designs While Minimizing Material Waste” will use AI design software to lay out multiple parts of a pattern on a sheet of plywood, acrylic, or other material, so that they can be laser cut to create new products in real time without wasting material.

Stefanie Mueller, the TIBCO Career Development Associate Professor in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and Patrick Baudisch, a professor of computer science and chair of the Human Computer Interaction Lab at HPI, are co-PIs on the project. The two have worked together for years; Baudisch was Mueller’s PhD research advisor at HPI.

Baudisch’s lab developed an online design teaching system called Kyub that lets students design 3D objects in pieces that are laser cut from sheets of wood and assembled to become chairs, speaker boxes, radio-controlled aircraft, or even functional musical instruments. For instance, each leg of a chair would consist of four identical vertical pieces attached at the edges to create a hollow-centered column, four of which will provide stability to the chair, even though the material is very lightweight.

“By designing and constructing such furniture, students learn not only design, but also structural engineering,” Baudisch says. “Similarly, by designing and constructing musical instruments, they learn about structural engineering, as well as resonance, types of musical tuning, etc.”

Mueller was at HPI when Baudisch developed the Kyub software, allowing her to observe “how they were developing and making all the design decisions,” she says. “They built a really neat piece for people to quickly design these types of 3D objects.” However, using Kyub for material-efficient design is not fast; in order to fabricate a model, the software has to break the 3D models down into 2D parts and lay these out on sheets of material. This takes time, and makes it difficult to see the impact of design decisions on material use in real-time.

Mueller’s lab at MIT developed software based on a layout algorithm that uses AI to lay out pieces on sheets of material in real time. This allows AI to explore multiple potential layouts while the user is still editing, and thus provide ongoing feedback. “As the user develops their design, Fabricaide decides good placements of parts onto the user’s available materials, provides warnings if the user does not have enough material for a design, and makes suggestions for how the user can resolve insufficient material cases,” according to the project website.

The joint MIT-HPI project integrates Mueller’s AI software with Baudisch’s Kyub software and adds machine learning to train the AI to offer better design suggestions that save material while adhering to the user’s design intent.

“The project is all about minimizing the waste on these materials sheets,” Mueller says. She already envisions the next step in this AI design process: determining how to integrate the laws of physics into the AI’s knowledge base to ensure the structural integrity and stability of objects it designs.

AI-powered startup design for the Anthropocene: Providing guidance for novel enterprises

Through her work with the teams of MITdesignX and its international programs, Svafa Grönfeldt, faculty director of MITdesignX and professor of the practice in MIT MAD, has helped scores of people in startup companies use the tools and methods of design to ensure that the solution a startup proposes actually fits the problem it seeks to solve. This is often called the problem-solution fit.

Grönfeldt and MIT postdoc Norhan Bayomi are now extending this work to incorporate AI into the process, in collaboration with MIT Professor John Fernández and graduate student Tyler Kim. The HPI team includes Professor Gerard de Melo; HPI School of Entrepreneurship Director Frank Pawlitschek; and doctoral student Michael Mansfeld.

“The startup ecosystem is characterized by uncertainty and volatility compounded by growing uncertainties in climate and planetary systems,” Grönfeldt says. “Therefore, there is an urgent need for a robust model that can objectively predict startup success and guide design for the Anthropocene.”

While startup-success forecasting is gaining popularity, it currently focuses on aiding venture capitalists in selecting companies to fund, rather than guiding the startups in the design of their products, services and business plans.

“The coupling of climate and environmental priorities with startup agendas requires deeper analytics for effective enterprise design,” Grönfeldt says. The project aims to explore whether AI-augmented decision-support systems can enhance startup-success forecasting.

“We’re trying to develop a machine learning approach that will give a forecasting of probability of success based on a number of parameters, including the type of business model proposed, how the team came together, the team members’ backgrounds and skill sets, the market and industry sector they’re working in and the problem-solution fit,” says Bayomi, who works with Fernández in the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative. The two are co-founders of the startup Lamarr.AI, which employs robotics and AI to help reduce the carbon dioxide impact of the built environment.

The team is studying “how company founders make decisions across four key areas, starting from the opportunity recognition, how they are selecting the team members, how they are selecting the business model, identifying the most automatic strategy, all the way through the product market fit to gain an understanding of the key governing parameters in each of these areas,” explains Bayomi.

The team is “also developing a large language model that will guide the selection of the business model by using large datasets from different companies in Germany and the U.S. We train the model based on the specific industry sector, such as a technology solution or a data solution, to find what would be the most suitable business model that would increase the success probability of a company,” she says.

The project falls under several of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, including economic growth, innovation and infrastructure, sustainable cities and communities, and climate action.

Furthering the goals of the HPI-MIT Joint Research Program

These three diverse projects all advance the mission of the HPI-MIT collaboration. MIT MAD aims to use design to transform learning, catalyze innovation, and empower society by inspiring people from all disciplines to interweave design into problem-solving. HPI uses digital engineering concentrated on the development and research of user-oriented innovations for all areas of life.

Interdisciplinary teams with members from both institutions are encouraged to develop and submit proposals for ambitious, sustainable projects that use design strategically to generate measurable, impactful solutions to the world’s problems.

[jcmarchi]

HPI-MIT design research collaboration creates powerful teams

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/hpi-mit-design-research-collaboration-creates-powerful-teams/

HPI-MIT design research collaboration creates powerful teams

The recent ransomware attack on ChangeHealthcare, which severed the network connecting health care providers, pharmacies, and hospitals with health insurance companies, demonstrates just how disruptive supply chain attacks can be. In this case, it hindered the ability of those providing medical services to submit insurance claims and receive payments.

This sort of attack and other forms of data theft are becoming increasingly common and often target large, multinational corporations through the small and mid-sized vendors in their corporate supply chains, enabling breaks in these enormous systems of interwoven companies.

Cybersecurity researchers at MIT and the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Potsdam, Germany, are focused on the different organizational security cultures that exist within large corporations and their vendors because it’s that difference that creates vulnerabilities, often due to the lack of emphasis on cybersecurity by the senior leadership in these small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Keri Pearlson, executive director of Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan (CAMS); Jillian Kwong, a research scientist at CAMS; and Christian Doerr, a professor of cybersecurity and enterprise security at HPI, are co-principal investigators (PIs) on the research project, “Culture and the Supply Chain: Transmitting Shared Values, Attitudes and Beliefs across Cybersecurity Supply Chains.”

Their project was selected in the 2023 inaugural round of grants from the HPI-MIT Designing for Sustainability program, a multiyear partnership funded by HPI and administered by the MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MAD). The program awards about 10 grants annually of up to $200,000 each to multidisciplinary teams with divergent backgrounds in computer science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, engineering, design, architecture, the natural sciences, humanities, and business and management. The 2024 Call for Applications is open through June 3.

Designing for Sustainability grants support scientific research that promotes the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on topics involving sustainable design, innovation, and digital technologies, with teams made up of PIs from both institutions. The PIs on these projects, who have common interests but different strengths, create more powerful teams by working together.

Transmitting shared values, attitudes, and beliefs to improve cybersecurity across supply chains

The MIT and HPI cybersecurity researchers say that most ransomware attacks aren’t reported. Smaller companies hit with ransomware attacks just shut down, because they can’t afford the payment to retrieve their data. This makes it difficult to know just how many attacks and data breaches occur. “As more data and processes move online and into the cloud, it becomes even more important to focus on securing supply chains,” Kwong says. “Investing in cybersecurity allows information to be exchanged freely while keeping data safe. Without it, any progress towards sustainability is stalled.”

One of the first large data breaches in the United States to be widely publicized provides a clear example of how an SME cybersecurity can leave a multinational corporation vulnerable to attack. In 2013, hackers entered the Target Corporation’s own network by obtaining the credentials of a small vendor in its supply chain: a Pennsylvania HVAC company. Through that breach, thieves were able to install malware that stole the financial and personal information of 110 million Target customers, which they sold to card shops on the black market.

To prevent such attacks, SME vendors in a large corporation’s supply chain are required to agree to follow certain security measures, but the SMEs usually don’t have the expertise or training to make good on these cybersecurity promises, leaving their own systems, and therefore any connected to them, vulnerable to attack.

“Right now, organizations are connected economically, but not aligned in terms of organizational culture, values, beliefs, and practices around cybersecurity,” explains Kwong. “Basically, the big companies are realizing the smaller ones are not able to implement all the cybersecurity requirements. We have seen some larger companies address this by reducing requirements or making the process shorter. However, this doesn’t mean companies are more secure; it just lowers the bar for the smaller suppliers to clear it.”

Pearlson emphasizes the importance of board members and senior management taking responsibility for cybersecurity in order to change the culture at SMEs, rather than pushing that down to a single department, IT office, or in some cases, one IT employee.

The research team is using case studies based on interviews, field studies, focus groups, and direct observation of people in their natural work environments to learn how companies engage with vendors, and the specific ways cybersecurity is implemented, or not, in everyday operations. The goal is to create a shared culture around cybersecurity that can be adopted correctly by all vendors in a supply chain.

This approach is in line with the goals of the Charter of Trust Initiative, a partnership of large, multinational corporations formed to establish a better means of implementing cybersecurity in the supply chain network. The HPI-MIT team worked with companies from the Charter of Trust and others last year to understand the impacts of cybersecurity regulation on SME participation in supply chains and develop a conceptual framework to implement changes for stabilizing supply chains.

Cybersecurity is a prerequisite needed to achieve any of the United Nations’ SDGs, explains Kwong. Without secure supply chains, access to key resources and institutions can be abruptly cut off. This could include food, clean water and sanitation, renewable energy, financial systems, health care, education, and resilient infrastructure. Securing supply chains helps enable progress on all SDGs, and the HPI-MIT project specifically supports SMEs, which are a pillar of the U.S. and European economies.

Personalizing product designs while minimizing material waste

In a vastly different Designing for Sustainability joint research project that employs AI with engineering, “Personalizing Product Designs While Minimizing Material Waste” will use AI design software to lay out multiple parts of a pattern on a sheet of plywood, acrylic, or other material, so that they can be laser cut to create new products in real time without wasting material.

Stefanie Mueller, the TIBCO Career Development Associate Professor in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and Patrick Baudisch, a professor of computer science and chair of the Human Computer Interaction Lab at HPI, are co-PIs on the project. The two have worked together for years; Baudisch was Mueller’s PhD research advisor at HPI.

Baudisch’s lab developed an online design teaching system called Kyub that lets students design 3D objects in pieces that are laser cut from sheets of wood and assembled to become chairs, speaker boxes, radio-controlled aircraft, or even functional musical instruments. For instance, each leg of a chair would consist of four identical vertical pieces attached at the edges to create a hollow-centered column, four of which will provide stability to the chair, even though the material is very lightweight.

“By designing and constructing such furniture, students learn not only design, but also structural engineering,” Baudisch says. “Similarly, by designing and constructing musical instruments, they learn about structural engineering, as well as resonance, types of musical tuning, etc.”

Mueller was at HPI when Baudisch developed the Kyub software, allowing her to observe “how they were developing and making all the design decisions,” she says. “They built a really neat piece for people to quickly design these types of 3D objects.” However, using Kyub for material-efficient design is not fast; in order to fabricate a model, the software has to break the 3D models down into 2D parts and lay these out on sheets of material. This takes time, and makes it difficult to see the impact of design decisions on material use in real-time.

Mueller’s lab at MIT developed software based on a layout algorithm that uses AI to lay out pieces on sheets of material in real time. This allows AI to explore multiple potential layouts while the user is still editing, and thus provide ongoing feedback. “As the user develops their design, Fabricaide decides good placements of parts onto the user’s available materials, provides warnings if the user does not have enough material for a design, and makes suggestions for how the user can resolve insufficient material cases,” according to the project website.

The joint MIT-HPI project integrates Mueller’s AI software with Baudisch’s Kyub software and adds machine learning to train the AI to offer better design suggestions that save material while adhering to the user’s design intent.

“The project is all about minimizing the waste on these materials sheets,” Mueller says. She already envisions the next step in this AI design process: determining how to integrate the laws of physics into the AI’s knowledge base to ensure the structural integrity and stability of objects it designs.

AI-powered startup design for the Anthropocene: Providing guidance for novel enterprises

Through her work with the teams of MITdesignX and its international programs, Svafa Grönfeldt, faculty director of MITdesignX and professor of the practice in MIT MAD, has helped scores of people in startup companies use the tools and methods of design to ensure that the solution a startup proposes actually fits the problem it seeks to solve. This is often called the problem-solution fit.

Grönfeldt and MIT postdoc Norhan Bayomi are now extending this work to incorporate AI into the process, in collaboration with MIT Professor John Fernández and graduate student Tyler Kim. The HPI team includes Professor Gerard de Melo; HPI School of Entrepreneurship Director Frank Pawlitschek; and doctoral student Michael Mansfeld.

“The startup ecosystem is characterized by uncertainty and volatility compounded by growing uncertainties in climate and planetary systems,” Grönfeldt says. “Therefore, there is an urgent need for a robust model that can objectively predict startup success and guide design for the Anthropocene.”

While startup-success forecasting is gaining popularity, it currently focuses on aiding venture capitalists in selecting companies to fund, rather than guiding the startups in the design of their products, services and business plans.

“The coupling of climate and environmental priorities with startup agendas requires deeper analytics for effective enterprise design,” Grönfeldt says. The project aims to explore whether AI-augmented decision-support systems can enhance startup-success forecasting.

“We’re trying to develop a machine learning approach that will give a forecasting of probability of success based on a number of parameters, including the type of business model proposed, how the team came together, the team members’ backgrounds and skill sets, the market and industry sector they’re working in and the problem-solution fit,” says Bayomi, who works with Fernández in the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative. The two are co-founders of the startup Lamarr.AI, which employs robotics and AI to help reduce the carbon dioxide impact of the built environment.

The team is studying “how company founders make decisions across four key areas, starting from the opportunity recognition, how they are selecting the team members, how they are selecting the business model, identifying the most automatic strategy, all the way through the product market fit to gain an understanding of the key governing parameters in each of these areas,” explains Bayomi.

The team is “also developing a large language model that will guide the selection of the business model by using large datasets from different companies in Germany and the U.S. We train the model based on the specific industry sector, such as a technology solution or a data solution, to find what would be the most suitable business model that would increase the success probability of a company,” she says.

The project falls under several of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, including economic growth, innovation and infrastructure, sustainable cities and communities, and climate action.

Furthering the goals of the HPI-MIT Joint Research Program

These three diverse projects all advance the mission of the HPI-MIT collaboration. MIT MAD aims to use design to transform learning, catalyze innovation, and empower society by inspiring people from all disciplines to interweave design into problem-solving. HPI uses digital engineering concentrated on the development and research of user-oriented innovations for all areas of life.

Interdisciplinary teams with members from both institutions are encouraged to develop and submit proposals for ambitious, sustainable projects that use design strategically to generate measurable, impactful solutions to the world’s problems.

[suemnick]

Impressionismus in der Villa Barberini

Der Mäzen Hasso Plattner hat das Museum großzügig ausgebaut und mit bekannten Werken des Impressionismus über die gleichnamige Stiftung mit Kunstwerken ausgestattet. Alleine über 30 Werke von Monet gehören dazu! Im Moment wird ein Querschnitt daraus in der Villa ausgestellt. Wir sind etwas sprachlos darüber.