Frank Piller

Frank T. Piller is a professor of management and the co-director of the RWTH Institute for Technology & Innovation Management at RWTH Aachen University, Germany, one of Europe’s leading universities of technology. Before entering his recent position in Aachen, he worked at the MIT Sloan School of Management (2004-2007) and has been an associate professor of management at TUM Business School. Prof. Piller’s current research focuses on the need of established corporations to deal with disruptive business model innovation and supporting organizational structures and cultures. At He is the Chairman of a cross-industry group hosted by VDI (Verein Deutsche Ingenieure) to develop standards for platform-based digital business models ("Fachausschuss Geschäftsmodelle für Industrie 4.0"), and is also member of the Academic Advisory Board of German’s national “Platform Industrie 4.0” by acatech. Frank Piller is an acclaimed speaker at management conferences and in executive education programs around the world. He has consulted and delivered executive workshops for most Dax30 and many Fortune500 companies and contributed teaching modules as a guest professor at a number of leading business schools like HKUST, IE Business School, Vlerick, St Gallen, or MIT. HE also received an award for teaching innovation within the German Exzellenzinitiative for introducing the first European MOOC with ECTS points, a potentially disruptive innovation to the business model of established universities. In addition to his academic endeavors, Frank is engaged as an investor, partner, or advisor in several companies.