Zollverein School Blog

So today let’s move on to topic 2. on my list from yesterday’s posting: Zollverein School’s new president Andrej Kupetz. However prior to do so I should tell you where his predecessor Prof. Dr. Ralph Bruder is heading for.

Ever since the beginning of this year Bruder is Professor and Head of Institute of Ergonomics (one of the most prestigious academic chairs in this domain in Germany) at the Darmstadt University of Technology. If you have a look at his vita you will recognize that this move is another consequent step in his career. As a trained engineer he’s somehow going “back to the roots” since he’s started his academic career exactly at this university more than 20 years ago.

Interestingly in May this year I’ve written a blog posting titled “Innovation = Engineering” where I’ve discussed the (very often) missing linkages between Engineering, Innovation & Design (A study lead by the Association of German Engineers, VDI somehow describes this gap). Accordingly I find that the appointment committee did a good job when they’ve decided that after the first period represented by Bruder and his background in design + engineering now Kupetz, the trained designer and manager follows. From my perspective the successive nomination of these two professionals is adequately addressing the past and future challenges of the school.

However in order to provide you with some background information on Andrej Kupetz here’s a snippet from a recent press release about him:

Having completed his studies in industrial design, philosophy and product marketing in Berlin, London, and Paris, Andrej Kupetz held a variety of posts including that of design manager at Deutschen Bahn Medien GmbH and that of guest professor at the Berlin University of the Arts. As Managing and Technical Director of the German Design Council in Frankfurt, Kupetz has over the past seven years consistently advanced the council’s role as a service-oriented institute and ensured greater independence from public funding. Under his leadership, the council made progress in linking design to business and science themes and increasing the profile of the council as an advisory body in all areas especially with regard to the public, which is so sensitive to design. ‘I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead a school that is so unique in Europe and whose curriculum is so focussed on increasing professionalism in design, one of the most important economic factors of our time. I welcome the fact that the school’s students come from both the field of design and the field of business.’

Personally I first met and worked with Andrej & the German Design Council (GDC) some years ago. In late 2000 GDC and the Design Management Institute, Boston (DMI) hosted “The 10th International Forum on Design Management Research and Education in Frankfurt, Germany. I’ve had the idea of reconnecting the two institutions not only because they’ve already sent delegates to their board of directors, but also because the GDC is hosting one of the most comprehensive collection of international design literature in Germany. I could have spent hours in their library which is managed by . If you should ever have the chance to stop by just drop her a note and GDC will be happy to welcome you.

In the light of topic 3. (see my previous posting) I think the combination of being rooted within the top level of German design advocacy via the GDC together with its strong international links will prepare Zollverein School of management and design for their next challenges quite well. The upcoming Full-time MBA completely held in English and with applications from across the globe is clearly reflecting this evolution … Stay tuned!

 

This entry was posted by Ralf Beuker on Wednesday, July 26th, 2006 at 18:51 pm and is filed under Announcement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.