Fostering Entrepreneurship in Higher Education (in German)

Zahar Barth-Manzoori is the Director of the German Center for Research and Innovation (DWIH) in San Francisco. After completing her doctorate in Middle Eastern Studies at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel – supported by a scholarship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation – she began working at the DAAD in Bonn in 2011 as head of the Events and Visitor Programs Department. In 2015, she took over the position as Head of Section Joint Scholarship Programs Middle East, North Africa, returning to her professional roots. From May 2020 until her departure for San Francisco, she played a leading role in setting up DWIH San Francisco as head of the DWIH management office at DAAD. As an experienced science manager and passionate networker, she is particularly looking forward to initiating international university collaborations, fostering knowledge transfer between research, business and society, and supporting research-based innovation in San Francisco.  

Olaf Groth is a scholar-entrepreneur, capacity builder, strategy adviser, author and speaker for the AI and emerging tech-driven transformation of global organizations and economies.

Groth has 28 years of experience as an executive and adviser building strategies, programs,  ventures and capabilities across 35+ countries with multinationals (e.g. AirTouch, Boeing, Chevron, GE, Qualcomm, Q-Cells, Vodafone, Volkswagen, etc.), consultancies, startups, foundations, governments and academia. Groth is the founding CEO of advisory thinktank Cambrian Futures(opens in a new tab) and of concept development firm Cambrian Labs. He serves as professional faculty for strategy, policy, technology and futures at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, adjunct professor of Practice at Hult IBS, and honorary adjunct professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, teaching across the US, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Tobias Straube is a global analyst, advisor, and entrepreneur specializing in the intersection of DeepTech, business, and government. With over 10 years of experience, he has led and co-designed a wide range of international strategy and research projects for governments in the Middle East, Europe and Afirca and businesses in the US and Europe. Notable accomplishments include a comparative analysis of national AI strategies, development of AI governance frameworks for organisations, an assessment of the global data sphere, a case study on autonomous driving and concept designs in climate tech, Web3 and FinTech, amongst others. Tobias has also co-authored eight patents related to data privacy management and contributed to the National AI Strategy Framework and the Project for Responsible Technology of the World Economic Forum. Next to his role as VP Analysis at Cambrian, Tobias also holds a board member position at Digital Waves, a Swiss-based investment service provider, and is a co-founder of Scio Network, an advisory platform for economic development. Additionally, he is an assistant lecturer at UC Berkeley Executive Education and Hult International Business School. His articles and OpEds have been published in Wired, WirtschaftsWoche, California Management Review, ZeitOnline, and European Business Review, amongst others. He holds an Executive MBA from Hult International Business School and a BA degree in international Political Management from Bremen University of Applied Sciences, both with distinction. Tobias is also an alumnus of the German Merit Foundation.