Dr.-Ing. Herbert Zeisel

Head of the Directorate 'Key Technologies for Growth' | Federal Ministry of Education and Research

In 1983 Dr. Zeisel graduated as Dipl.-Ing. in Chemical-Engineering at the “Friedrich-Alexander-University” in Erlangen-Nuremberg. He started his professional career as Research Engineer at “PetroCanada” (Calgary, Canada) before he joined the “Institute of Fluid Mechanics” (Prof. Dr. F. Durst, University of Erlangen) in 1985 to do his PhD work.

After he was awarded his PhD, he got employed at the “VDI/VDE IT” in Berlin in 1988. While working there he was ordered to the “Federal Ministry for Research and Technology” (BMFT, Bonn) to work as a consultant in the field of “Micro Systems Technology”. In 1990 Dr. Zeisel got employed directly at the BMFT, working as a research manager. He worked in different fields such as “Microelectronics”, “Advanced Software Development”, “IT-Services” and “Internet Technologies”; since 1994 Dr. Zeisel filled these positions as “Head of Division”.

In 2002 Dr. Zeisel was ordered to the “DLR-Projektträger”, a part of the German Aerospace Agency (DLR). There he took over the position of the Coordinating Director in the field of “Information and Communication Technologies” (ICT). In addition, he was heading the “National ICT Contact Point” within the 6th and 7th EU Framework Program. On behalf of the BMBF he also represented Germany in the “Information Society and Technologies Committee” (ICT-C) and in several other EU and international organisations as head of the German delegation.

2010 back in the “Federal Ministry of Education and Research” (BMBF), Dr. Zeisel was responsible for “Nanotechnology and New Materials”. His special interest laid on “Materials and Safety in Battery Storage Systems”. Additionally Dr. Zeisel´s responsibilities included the supervision of 7 Leibniz Institutes (IFW, IPF, IOM, LiKat, ISAS, INM, DWI), 2 Helmholtz Centers (HZG, KIT) and 1 Max-Planck Institute (MPI-E), where he served as a member of the Board of Trustees. Currently Dr. Zeisel acts as Deputy Director General in the area “Key Technologies for Growth” at the BMBF.