“In practice, what matters is not whether the physician makes the right diagnosis but whether the patient recovers – that’s performance”  —  Peter F. Drucker*

Thinking and doing: We don’t stop at paper; instead, we translate our research into data analytics applications. Subsequently, this is put to the test, and adapted and refined in industry projects, encompassing both those owned by us and external entities (since 2019, including projects by Deutsche Telekom and subsidiaries).

Data analytics & software

• 2020-present   Creating Dataspace-as-a-Service (DaaS) and “dataphone” products based on Web3 decentralized tech that enable cross-organizational data sharing for digital twins, physical AI and super-apps, such as product carbon footprint (PCF)/ CO2 tracking, link
• 2021-24   Catena-X**: Dataspace software development for the first open data ecosystem for data sharing with sovereignty protection (link), in Eclipse Foundation Tractus-X, link
• 2021-24   Gaia-X 4 Future Mobility, advanced and intelligent mobility services, link
  – How to design a dataspace for mobility that is sustainable (modal shift to shared), safer (“seeing around corners”), cheaper (intermodal travel with existing vehicles)?
• 2020-21   RealLab Hamburg, intermodal mobility super-app
  – How to share data for seamless travel offers across (competing) providers? For case study, see link; for monetization, see link
• 2019-22   Human digital twins: DaWID, data-centered value creation platform for interactive, assistive service systems, link
  – How to design dataspace infrastructure for consumers to sell use of their data?
• 2015-17   Demand response optimization, Southern California Edison, link
  – How to reduce and time-shift residential power consumption to save power plants?
• 2015-16   Electrified mobility services, North America & Japan, Renault-Nissan, link
  – How to optimize municipal EV-based services – single/ multi vehicle fleets, docked/ free-floating, spot/ subscription pricing?
• 2009-16   New vehicle feature satisfaction & quality, real-life feature usage measurements with video data mesh & behavioral analytics, Germany-USA-China, Mercedes-Benz, link
  – How to build what customers truly want and keep it Most-Advanded-Yet-Acceptable (MAYA) to improve J.D. Power APEAL, and J.D. P Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS) ratings?
  – China’s 2026-2030 15th 5-Year Plan broadens this to every-day life training data capture needed to advance embodied intelligence for humanoid robots
  
• 2009-11   COMAND Online with NTG 4.5 as the brand’s very first connected car platform with Internet access and in-car apps, Mercedes-Benz, link
  – How to deliver a compelling head-unit-based in-car app experience under far tighter compute and bandwidth constraints of the vehicle than in the smartphone world?
• 2006-08   Telematics & remote vehicle diagnostics, USA, Mercedes-Benz, link
  – How to lower service cost and increase J.D. Power Customer Service Index (CSI), and J.D. P Quality and Reliability (first 3 years) ratings?
• 2006-07   Supply chain resilience, computational simulation, global, Renault-Nissan; story on simulation, link
  – How will the next recession increase supply chain vulnerability?
• 2005-06   Return on marketing investments, marketing mix & attribution algorithmics, USA, Renault-Nissan, see teaching case study, link
  – How to allocate marketing spend to maximize “bang for the buck”?
• 1998-99   Online communities with personalization, EU, Sony, link
  – How to personalize B2C channels using dial-up online link, like AOL/ America Online?
• 1996-97   Online retailing with one-to-one marketing, DE, Metro/ Primus-Online, link
  – How to customize offers in B2C online selling, like Amazon?

Awards

• 2025   Co-authored world’s 1st academic A-level publication on dataspace tech, which became top 3 most-read paper, LinkedIn
• 2025   Flex wins Ford’s “2025 Sustainability Supplier of the Year” award (link), we premiered with first Ford-Flex PCF data exchange using Catena-X provided by T-Systems at CES 2024, LinkedIn
• 2022   RealLab Hamburg is winner of “Innovationspreis Reallabore 2022”, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), link; for case study, link
• 2022   Best paper award – on data sharing with data sovereignty protection, annual German information systems (Wirtschaftsinformatik) conference, link
• 2015   “Ward’s Best Interior Winner” (client win; see “In-car Google”, link)
• 2014-15   “Smart Home & Energy” data analytics grant, Southern California Edison, see “Drucker in ngram viewer”, link
• 2012   “Mobile Excellence Award – Best Delivery Platform for Mobile” (client win; see similar, link)
• 2010   “Telematics Leadership Award” (client win)
• 2002-05   Web services/ software-as-a-service (SaaS) grants, Microsoft and Intel
• 2001   Visiting professor, Computer Science, Darmstadt University of Technology, German National Science Foundation scholarship
• 1998   Manager Magazin’s “Best E-Commerce Strategy Award” (client win)
• 1994-95   “Kenneth R. Ernst Thought Leadership Award” runner-up/ nominee, Andersen Consulting/ Accenture

* Penta, A. 2017. Peter Drucker Speaks. A holographic interview – from Emmy Award winning Anthony Penta (Drucker Day 2017-11-16), Drucker School of Management, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont CA, link
** Professor Chris Schlueter Langdon is SAFe PM-PO certified (link) and one of three Agile Product Managers responsible for the Catena-X software release made available as free and open-source (FOSS) software under the Eclipse Foundation in the Tractus-X project, link