Dorothee Bär and Claudia Eckert take over management of Plattform Lernende Systeme

Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär and acatech President Claudia Eckert form the new dual leadership of Plattform Lernende Systeme. As co-chairs of the steering committee, they will steer the strategic and content-related direction of the network of experts on the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI). They succeed former Federal Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger and outgoing acatech President Jan Wörner.

Since 2017, Plattform Lernende Systeme has been pooling the AI knowledge of around 200 experts from business, science and society. Since then, the Federal Minister of Research and the President of acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering have held the office of co-chairs of the steering committee.

At the end of his four-year term, Jan Wörner will hand over the co-chairmanship of Plattform Lernende Systeme to Claudia Eckert on 1 July 2025. Claudia Eckert has been involved with acatech since 2010, as a member of the acatech Presidium since 2014 and in Plattform Lernende Systeme working group on 'IT Security, Privacy, Legal and Ethical Framework' since 2017. She is the managing director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security AISEC and a professor at the Technical University of Munich. Claudia Eckert conducts research into new methods and technologies for increasing the security and trustworthiness of digital, networked systems and is actively involved in numerous scientific curatorial and advisory boards. She has received several awards for her work in the field of cybersecurity, including the Bavarian Order of Merit in 2021, induction into the German Research Hall of Fame in 2022, and the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Medal from the Technical University of Munich in 2023.

Dorothee Bär has been Federal Minister for Research, Technology and Space since May 2025. She has been a member of the CSU party executive since 2001. Dorothee Bär has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2002 and was deputy chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group for family and culture from December 2021 until her appointment as Federal Minister. Prior to that, she held various senior positions in federal ministries and in the Bundestag, including, until 2021, Minister of State in the Federal Chancellery and Federal Government Commissioner for Digitalisation.

Under its new leadership, Plattform Lernende Systeme continues to promote social dialogue on the opportunities, challenges and framework conditions for the development and responsible use of artificial intelligence.