Heiko Andreas von der Gracht

Timeline

1. 1978–2004

   Industrial engineering studies

   Born in Aachen in 1978, he grows up in Jülich and earns his Abitur at the Gymnasium Zitadelle Jülich in 1998. Between 1999 and 2004, he earns an industrial engineering degree through a dual program of Hochschule Niederrhein and Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Venlo, plus a Master of Science from the University of Plymouth.

2. 2005–2008

   Doctorate and Real-time Delphi

   From 2005 to 2008, he is a research assistant at the EBS University of Business and Law, where he completes a doctorate in futures studies under Christopher Jahns in 2008. Building on a 2006 paper by Theodore Gordon and Adam Pease, he develops a second Real-time Delphi platform by 2008, a computer-based version of the round-based Delphi survey.

3. 2009–2012

   A futures institute at EBS

   He founds the Centre for Futures Studies and Knowledge Management at EBS in 2009. In 2011, he and Theodore Gordon present a joint paper at the World Future Society's annual summit on lessons from 40 Real-time Delphi studies. In February 2012, EBS turns the centre into the independent Institute for Futures Studies and Knowledge Management (IFK) under his direction.

4. 2013–2017

   Futurist at KPMG

   In 2013, he moves to KPMG as a futurist and head of its think tank for futures management, and EBS gives him its 2013 Research Award. He completes his habilitation at the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg in 2017 under Evi Hartmann, with the cumulative thesis Fostering Strategic Foresight in Theory and Practice.

5. 2018

   A KPMG study on AI

   In 2018, he coauthors KPMG's Rethinking the value chain, a study on AI, humanoids and robots that sets out possible business applications and development scenarios to 2040. Early in 2018, he co-founds the journal Futures & Foresight Science with George Wright of the University of Strathclyde and George Cairns of Queensland University of Technology.

6. 2018–2023

   Chair of futures studies at Steinbeis

   In December 2018, Steinbeis University Berlin appoints him to the Chair of Futures Studies at its School of International Business and Entrepreneurship (SIBE), with research on strategic foresight, transformation and future skills. In 2021, he also takes over one of the seven core bureaus of the journal Technological Forecasting & Social Change, as editor for foresight. A Stanford/Elsevier citation ranking lists him among the top 2% most-cited researchers worldwide in 2023.

7. 2022–2023

   AI and futures research

   In June 2022, he coauthors the discussion piece Kann Künstliche Intelligenz Zukunftsforschung? (Can artificial intelligence do futures research?) in the Zeitschrift für Zukunftsforschung with Karlheinz Steinmüller, Aljoscha Burchardt of DFKI's Speech and Language Technology Lab and others. In 2023, he conducts a Delphi study with Sascha L. Schmidt, Daniel Beiderbeck and Gerrit Heidemann of WHU, in which 103 experts from eleven countries judge how blockchain, AI and immersive technologies could change professional football clubs by 2030.

8. Since 2024

   Professor at Krems

   In 2024, the University for Continuing Education Krems appoints him University Professor of Foresight and Digital Transformation through a special procedure under section 99a of Austria's Universities Act. At KPMG, he leads technology foresight initiatives on emerging technologies, especially artificial intelligence, digital twins and immersive technologies, and heads the firm's Metaverse initiative. On the KPMG Law podcast Zukunftsausblick Recht, he and KPMG Law partner Moritz Püstow discuss whether artificial intelligence could write clearer laws.