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Strengthening Europe’s Digital Sovereignty

Hasso Plattner Institute
Strengthening Europe’s Digital Sovereignty

Hasso Plattner in conversation with HPI students. Photography by HPI/Reinhardt & Sommer GbR, 2024

Key Facts

Focus Area

Science + Education

Active since

1998

News

18 September 2025

New to the Leadership Team at HPI

The Hasso Plattner Foundation has appointed Dr. Henrik Haenecke as Managing Director of Finance and Administration at HPI, effective October 1, 2025. He succeeds Dr. Marcus Kölling, who left the institute on April 30, 2025.

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Our Flagship Project

Established in Potsdam in 1998, the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) is unique in the German academic landscape. Academically structured as joint Faculty of Digital Engineering with the University of Potsdam, HPI combines excellent research and teaching with the advantages of a privately financed institute and a tuition-free study program. It champions the brightest minds of the next generation and equips them with the knowledge and tools to create lasting solutions. By supporting HPI, we are contributing to Europe’s digital sovereignty.

Website

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  • Hasso Plattner Institute graduation ceremony, September 2023, Potsdam 
    ©HPI/Kay Herschelmann

Testimonials

  • “I founded HPI to share my experience with others. I studied at an excellent university in Karlsruhe and built a successful career at IBM and SAP. Through the Foundation, I want to give back by supporting education and creating opportunities for the next generation.”

    Prof. Hasso Plattner

    Founder 

  • “My wish for HPI is to be a place of experimentation, where students can try new things, not be afraid to fail, and start again. I also hope that two future Nobel Prize winners, perhaps in Medicine or Economics, will come from HPI.”

    Dr. Rouven Westphal

    Member of the Executive Board 
    Hasso Plattner Foundation

A Campus for Digital Progress

  • Photography by HPI/Kay Herschelmann 2019

With its practice-oriented clusters – Data and AI, Digital Health, Foundations, Security, Business & Society, and Systems –, HPI works on issues that contribute to solving some of the most pressing societal challenges.   

As of July 2025, HPI has more than 2.700 graduates, 800 enrolled students, almost 30 active professors, a Bachelor program in IT systems engineering, and two Master programs in computer science and digital health. In addition, HPI offers programs for founders, tech talent and professionals through its HPI Engine, Maker Universe, and the d-school. 

Students benefit from a modern, open campus, and real opportunities to turn ideas into practice. HPI's international network is strengthened by five academic partnerships with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Cape Town, University of California Irvine, and the HPI for Digital Health at Mount Sinai. 

The Hasso Plattner Institute has three campuses at Griebnitzsee. 

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With the support of the Hasso Plattner Foundation, a new building was constructed and opened on Campus II in 2018. 

The Foundation handed over another annex (Institute Building House L) to the Institute in late 2021 in the front area of Campus II on August-Bebel-Straße. This building offers 4,400 square meters (47,000 sq. ft.) of space to accommodate two modern lecture halls, multiple seminar and video conference rooms, offices, a TV studio, a multifunctional hall, a cafeteria, and a data center with modern broadband network architecture.  

In December 2024, the Hasso Plattner Foundation begun construction on a new HPI building – House M on Campus II. The building, with a floor area of approximately 1400 square metres, will be used primarily as a lecture hall. In addition to more lecture rooms, the upper floor will house an office area with approximately 16 workstations and various meeting rooms. The project is scheduled for completion in June 2027.

  • HPI House L

  • HPI II House L

  • HPI Campus 2 House M

Looking ahead

More than twenty-five years ago, the first students began their education at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam. We applaud HPI’s achievements to date and look forward to its promising future. “We can be proud of what we have achieved. We have prepared for the future and now are actively shaping it!”“We want to attract the best minds in Europe to the HPI.” These are just some of the impressions from HPI’s recent graduates.   

Looking ahead, HPI aims to become the leading Institute for digital engineering in Europe. Beyond excellence in teaching and research, it drives the adoption of digital technologies. This makes HPI a top choice for the next generation of computer scientists, digital leaders, and innovators eager to turn bold ideas into reality. It brings us a decisive step closer to our goal of strengthening Europe’s digital sovereignty.

  • HPI Graduation, Photography by HPI/Kay Herschelmann

  • SAP CEO Klein visit HPI, Credits: Hasso Plattner Institute, 2024

  • HPI 25th Anniversary Fireside Chat 2024, Photography by HPI/Reinhard und Sommer

  • “Don’t worry. Be HPI” Team Run, Credits: HPI, 2024

  • Students at the AI@HPI Conference, Credits: Nicole Krüeger, 2024

Milestones

We focus our resources on long-term projects where we believe that we can make a difference. Our aim is to ensure that our philanthropic activities have a lasting positive impact on the people and organizations we work with. This requires time, perseverance, and an entrepreneurial mindset.

Discover some examples here:

More Projects in Science + Education

As part of this focus area, we support additional initiatives and partnerships, including:

Further Information

HPI Logic Model

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Contact

Dr. Moritz Matthey

Head of Program Management

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