Hasso Plattner: Visionary with bold ambition

Hasso Plattner is a life-long creator. Together with his SAP co-founders, he was instrumental in creating and defining the modern Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) market, the backbone of today’s global economy. But his ambition isn’t limited to tech. His drive for innovation and broad access to education is fueled by his wish to make a lasting contribution and to give back.

For Hasso Plattner, there is one key to success: education. Experiencing a system of free public education proved to be life-defining for him. In 2015, he decided to give back by founding the Hasso Plattner Foundation. Its purpose? To educate and inspire current and future generations. 

In December 2025, we are celebrating our 10th anniversary. Starting with our founder, we want to shed light on the people and projects across our ecosystem: What are they passionate about? What ambition fuels them? What bold visions do they have for the future?

Hasso Plattner’s entrepreneurial mindset and drive for excellency became the cornerstones of the Foundation’s projects, which are focused on three key areas: science, environmental conservation, and art. Innovating means aiming for breakthroughs – but it is also about making a difference that lasts.

Born in Berlin-Grunewald near the end of the Second World War, Hasso Plattner’s early years were shaped by his father, who exposed him to new ideas and often took him by boat to Potsdam. The Cold War later cut him off from the city for many years. When he finally returned after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he climbed the Brauhausberg and found the once-renowned centre of art and science profoundly changed.

That moment sparked an idea: to bring to Potsdam a university inspired by America’s most prestigious institutions. But on his way back down the hill, he noticed a sign pointing to the existing University of Potsdam. When he shared his vision with Manfred Stolpe, who was at that time Minister-President of Brandenburg, he suggested starting smaller — by founding an affiliated institute. Thus the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) was born.

Hasso Plattner has long championed Germany’s publicly funded university system, which gave him — and many others — access to top-quality education. But he also wanted to rival the world’s best, and to establish a world-class discipline in information engineering. Today, he sees HPI as his second greatest professional achievement — after SAP.

On the 2nd of June 2025, together with the State of Brandenburg and the University of Potsdam we have announced a strategic partnership to position Potsdam as a science hub by promoting science and research and thus contribute to strengthening Europe’s digital sovereignty.

By 2035, the University of Potsdam will gain a new campus at Brauhausberg, enabling the HPI to expand its Griebnitzsee campus with renewed commitment to excellent research and teaching.

"With the new campus on the Brauhausberg, the University of Potsdam is moving into the heart of the city – both spatially and symbolically. At the same time, we are significantly expanding the Hasso Plattner Institute at Griebnitzsee to enable internationally leading research and teaching with a focus on artificial intelligence. Together, we are sending a clear signal: for education, openness, and sustainability. Europe needs places where talent from around the world can think, conduct research, and shape the future freely – and Potsdam will be such a place," says Prof. Hasso Plattner.

Between 2015 and 2025, the Foundation backed more than 50 projects across 20 countries. “The Foundation’s first decade was a formative chapter, during which we learned to create opportunities that expanded the impact of our initiatives,” says Hasso Plattner.   

At the Foundation, we think carefully about how to support projects not just for today, but for the long term. And although we are never done learning, one thing is clear to us: It takes courage to pursue an idea, and determination to keep going.

“Trust yourself to innovate,” said our Founder at the Design Thinking festival in Cape Town in September 2022. And we heed this call by helping our projects to pursue bold ideas. We cannot wait to see what the next decade will bring.

For our anniversary, we are sharing stories from across our ecosystem – snapshots of the people and ideas that drive them. New stories will appear on our anniversary page between July and December 2025. We invite you to follow along - and perhaps, find inspiration of your own.