Hasso Plattner Institute

For the design thinking institute at Stanford University in the United States, see Hasso Plattner Institute of Design.

Hasso Plattner Institute
Hasso-Plattner-Institut für Digital Engineering gGmbH
MottoDesign IT. Create Knowledge.
Typeprivately financed university institute
Established1998
DirectorTobias Friedrich, Ralf Herbrich, Marcus Kölling
Total staff
389
Students1,000
Location
Potsdam
,
Germany

52°23′38″N 13°8′1″E
AffiliationsUniversity of Potsdam
Websitehttps://hpi.de/

The Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering gGmbH (German: Hasso-Plattner-Institut für Digital Engineering gGmbH; HPI) is an information technology non-profit company affiliated with the University of Potsdam in Potsdam, Brandenburg, northeastern Germany.

The teaching and research of HPI are focused on "IT-Systems Engineering". HPI was founded in 1998, and is the first, and as of 2018, the only entirely privately funded faculty[1] in Germany. It is financed entirely through private funds donated by billionaire Hasso Plattner,[2] who co-founded the software company SAP SE, and is currently the chairman of SAP's supervisory board. From 2004 to 2023 the institute was headed by Christoph Meinel. On April 1, 2023, a team consisting of Tobias Friedrich, Marcus Kölling and Ralf Herbrich took over the management of the institute.[3]

Lecture halls (old picture without main building in the background)
Campus panorama view
A-B-C building (former main building)

History

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The HPI was founded in October 1998 as a public–private partnership.[4] The private partner is the Hasso Plattner Foundation, which is the administrative body responsible for the HPI and its only corporate member. The foundation's legal status is that of a GmbH, a limited-liability company according to German law. As the public part of the partnership, the State of Brandenburg provided the estate where several multi-storey buildings were built to form a nice campus. Hasso Plattner declared to provide at least 200 million Euros for the HPI within the first 20 years.[5] He is also actively involved as a lecturer and head of the chair on Enterprise Platform and Integration Concepts,[6] where the in-memory technology was developed. In 2004, he received his honorary professorship from the University of Potsdam.

Since 2007, the HPI maintains a particularly close cooperation with the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, part of Stanford University's School of Engineering. In addition to the exchange of students and scientists, an annual workshop on Design Thinking is held in Germany. German companies are simultaneously involved in joint international development projects between Potsdam and Palo Alto aimed at simplifying the implementation of such projects on both sides of the Atlantic with the help of tele-teaching technology.[citation needed]

Criticism

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In 2024 HPI was heavily criticized for Union busting against the founding activities of a Works council. Posters for workers' assemblies has been removed and about €200,000 been paid to the law firm Pusch Wahlig Workplace Law specialized for anti-union measurements. As a result, the institute founded an alternative committee which has been criticized for being a "fake council" only existing to bypass the right to organize.[7][8] The association "aktion ./. arbeitsunrecht", which campaigns against labor injustice and for more democracy in business and industry, considers the actions of the Hasso Plattner Institute to be criminal within the meaning of § 119 of the Works Constitution Act. The law firm Pusch Wahlig Workplace Law had also already attracted attention through union busting at Flink[9][10] in Berlin as well as at the car rental company Sixt[11] and the beverage supplier Flaschenpost.[12] A spokesperson for the legal protection department of the German Trade Union Confederation judged the HPI's actions to be "clearly unlawful".[13] The events were also discussed in the Brandenburg state parliament at the request of the Left Party.[14] The Left Party, the SPD and the Greens took a clear stance in support of setting up a works council and against Union busting. The far right wing party AfD strongly questioned Correctiv's account and spoke out in favor of academic freedom.[15][16][17] At the beginning of April 2024, HPI employees voted with a majority of 68% for the establishment of the Institute Council.[18]

Mr. Net: interactive sculpture designed by the Spanish artist Jaume Plensa

openHPI

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In 2012, based on HPI's long lasting tele-TASK[19] research project, openHPI[20] has started to work. openHPI is an Internet educational platform for offering massive open online courses (MOOCs), which is embedded in a global social network. It offers free interactive online courses about different topics in information technology. Participants can become familiar with basic topics of computer science, and IT systems engineering as well as with advanced current research topics in IT. They also have the ability to discuss issues and to develop solutions in a virtual community with participants from around the globe.[21]

Rankings and awards

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The Center for Higher Education Development (CHE) is an independent private non-profit organization, founded by the German Rectors' Conference and the Bertelsmann Foundation.[22] According to its university ranking in 2020, HPI's Bachelor's and Master's programs are among the four best-ranked computer science programs in the German-speaking countries with the Bachelor's program valued highest in 18 out of 28 analyzed categories and among the best in five additional categories.[23][24]

In 2012, HPI and SAP received the German Innovation Prize (Deutscher Innovationspreis), a prize awarded by Accenture, EnBW, Evonik and Wirtschaftswoche, for the development of the in-memory database SAP HANA.[25]

References

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  1. ^ Mallwitz, Gudrun (4 April 2017). "Bundesweit erste privat finanzierte Fakultät an Uni". Berliner Morgenpost (in German). Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  2. ^ roinsider (24 July 2018). "German billionaire makes biggest donation to a Romanian university in 30 years". Romania Insider. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Hasso-Plattner-Institut verabschiedet langjährigen Direktor Christoph Meinel". hpi.de (in German). Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  4. ^ "Organization". Hasso Plattner Institute. Retrieved 5 October 2019. ...founded in October 1998 as part of a public-private partnership...
  5. ^ Wilkens, Andreas (5 November 2004). "Hasso-Plattner-Institut soll "Weltklasse-Niveau" erreichen". heise online. Archived from the original on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  6. ^ "Founder Hasso Plattner". Hasso Plattner Institute. Retrieved 5 October 2019. Plattner not only finances HPI, as head of the 'Enterprise Platform and Integration Concepts' department...
  7. ^ Dowideit, Anette (1 March 2024). "Hasso-Plattner-Institut verhindert Betriebsrat – und lässt sich das über 200.000 Euro kosten" [Hasso-Plathner-Institute prevents working council and let it cost them more than €200,000]. correctiv.org (in German). Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  8. ^ "Für mehr als 200.000 Euro: Potsdamer Hasso-Plattner-Institut verhindert Betriebsrat". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). ISSN 1865-2263. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  9. ^ "Handelsblatt". www.handelsblatt.com. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  10. ^ "Kehrtwende vor dem Berliner Arbeitsgericht: Vorerst kein Betriebsrat beim Lieferdienst Flink". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). ISSN 1865-2263. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  11. ^ Wyputta, Andreas (24 November 2021). "Sixt verhindert Betriebsrat: Schluss mit lustig". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  12. ^ Pressemitteilung (4 March 2024). "Hasso-Plattner-Institut: Union Busting durch Pseudo-Betriebsrat. Wann ermittelt die Staatsanwaltschaft?". arbeitsunrecht in deutschland (in German). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  13. ^ Lelek, Christian. "Vorwürfe gegen Hasso Plattner Institut: Betriebsrat verhindert?". nd-aktuell.de (in German). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  14. ^ Vandre, Isabelle (26 March 2024). "Die Linksfraktion macht Verhinderung des Betriebsrates am Hasso-Plattner-Institut im Landtag zum Thema". Die Linke Fraktion im Landtag Brandenburg (in German). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  15. ^ "104. Sitzung des Brandenburger Landtags". www.rbb-online.de (in German). 21 March 2024. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  16. ^ Damus, Sahra (21 March 2024). "Rede im Landtag: Mitbestimmung absichern - keine Ausnahme für das Hasso-Plattner-Institut!". Fraktion BÜNDNIS 90/DIE GRÜNEN im Brandenburger Landtag (in German). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  17. ^ Oeynhausen, Daniela. Correctiv und Linke nehmen Plattner-Institut ins Visier – wir verteidigen die Wissenschaftsfreiheit! (in German). Retrieved 20 April 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
  18. ^ "HPI staff votes for Institute Council". hpi.de. 12 April 2024.
  19. ^ HPI Internet Lecture Video Archive
  20. ^ openHPI: The MOOC platform of the HPI
  21. ^ Willems, Christian; Jasper, Johannes; Meinel, Christoph (26 August 2013). "Introducing hands-on experience to a Massive Open Online Course on openHPI". Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment and Learning for Engineering (TALE). pp. 307–313. doi:10.1109/TALE.2013.6654451. ISBN 978-1-4673-6355-6. S2CID 22137372.
  22. ^ "Funding of the Center for Higher Education Development (CHE)".
  23. ^ "HPI in the CHE ranking". Hasso Plattner Institute. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  24. ^ "CHE 2020 ranking for computer science". Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  25. ^ Behme, Henning (17 March 2012). "SAP und HPI erhalten Deutschen Innovationspreis 2012". heise online. Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2019.

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Media related to Hasso-Plattner-Institut at Wikimedia Commons

52°23′37″N 13°07′56″E / 52.39361°N 13.13222°E / 52.39361; 13.13222

  1. ^ Oeynhausen, Daniela. "Correctiv und Linke nehmen Plattner-Institut ins Visier – wir verteidigen die Wissenschaftsfreiheit!".
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