Prof. Dr. Frank Piller
Academic Director
Executive MBA Technology Management
Short Biography
Prof. Frank Piller is a professor of technology management at RWTH Aachen University, Germany's leading institute of technology and its national center for production engineering. At RWTH, he heads the Institute for Technology & Innovation Management and is academic director of the Executive MBA program. His research interests include mass customization and how established companies can become better business model innovators in times of disruptive change.
Frank Piller received his doctorate in Mass Customization from the University of Würzburg (2000) and habilitated in 2004 on Open Innovation and User Innovation at the TUM Business School, TU Munich, where he headed the research group “Customer Driven Value Creation” at Prof. Ralf Reichwald’s IOM chair.
He is the chairman of the largest German cross-industry network on "Business Model Innovation for Industry 4.0", an initiative of more than 40 companies organized by VDI, the Association of German Engineers. In this and similar roles, Prof. Piller is involved in shaping the digital agenda of many European and US market leaders. In addition to his academic endeavors, Frank is involved in several companies as an investor, board member, or technical advisor.
His research work has received numerous awards, most recently the PDMA Co-Creation Award or the nomination for the “Innovating Innovation” award from Harvard Business Review and McKinsey. Frank Piller's most recent research focuses on the impact of AI and ML on new product and process development in the age of Industry 4.0, Digital Transformation and the Internet of Things.