Prof. Dr.-Ing. Winfried Graf

Winfried Graf studied Computer Science and Medicine at RWTH Aachen from 1982 to 1988, with a focus on AI. He then worked as a research associate at the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering (IBMT) on medical image processing, before moving in 1990 to the newly founded German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) in Saarbrücken. There he researched intelligent user interfaces and earned his doctorate in 1995 under Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Wahlster. As part of his international research projects, including stays at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada), he wrote more than 50 peer-reviewed publications on intelligent multimedia systems and built industrial AI applications, for which he received the European ITEA'95 Award.

After his doctorate, Dr. Graf moved to industry in 1998, working as a top-management consultant, particularly at the intersection of telecommunications and healthcare. His positions included Kienbaum Management Consultants, Ericsson Consulting, and Apollis AG (McKinsey & Company / General Atlantic Partners). From 2004 he built several digital companies as a serial founder, including AldiTalk/smobil and Onefootball. Alongside this he taught at universities including INSEAD, EBS, and TH Brandenburg, in computer science and entrepreneurship. In 2014, together with colleagues, Dr. Graf founded the Berlin Digital Group (BDG), a consultancy for digital innovation and transformation focused on HealthTech, New Energy, FinTech, and the public sector, which he has led as Managing Partner since.

He was appointed Professor of Digital Health with a focus on IT in the Health Sciences Department at IB Hochschule in 2024.