Talks
More than 200 talks since 2005, at companies, public institutions and scientific conferences. Where I can share them, the slides are here.
Recent talks
2026Regions, processes and stacks: brand and AI governance in a distributed industrial group. Workshop for an international industrial manufacturer. Slides (PDF) germany
2026Build with AI, run without it: what AI can do today, and where hospitals should start. Keynote for one of the largest private hospital groups in Switzerland. Slides (PDF) switzerland
2026Synthetic personas: value, limits, rules. E-commerce conference. Slides (PDF) · Essay switzerland
2026Building the next-generation hospital: AI, data integration and platform thinking. Academic medical centre. united states
2025Foresight-driven enterprise architecture. Architecture community of a global software company. germany
2025AI first: what machines can do, and what they cannot. Keynote and workshop for a global bank. germany
2025Dialog or dictate? Working together in times of AI. Workshop for a central bank. germany
2025Augmented, not automated: the future of work with AI. International engineering conference. switzerland
2024AI-enhanced design thinking: innovation beyond the algorithm. Pharmaceutical company. switzerland
Themes
My talks cluster around six themes.
2023 –Humans and AI. How do people and organisations work when AI drafts, decides and acts? My talks bring the evidence together: where AI lifts performance, where it erodes critical thinking, and why leadership shifts from command to orchestration. A recurring idea is that what AI can learn depends on what we can verify, so humans move from doing the work to setting the rules and checking the checkers. banks, central banks, hospitals, pharma, conferences
2014 –Design thinking and human-centred innovation. The thread through my whole career. From the Stanford roots of design thinking to needfinding in the field and rapid prototyping, these talks show leaders how to innovate from people’s real needs. They are full of cases from banking, mobility and health, and often include a short hands-on sprint so the room experiences the method instead of hearing about it. banks, insurers, manufacturers, pharma, universities
2014 –Digital transformation of organisations and their IT. Why do some organisations change and others stall? These talks cover agility in IT, the CIO’s move from supplier to partner, the digital workplace and employee experience, and our research on inertia and escalating commitment in transformation projects. cio networks, banks, public sector, industry
2014 – 17Industry 4.0, smart services and data-driven business models. How machine builders move from selling products to selling services: connected assets, predictive maintenance, big data and new business models, from light bulbs to elevators to air conditioning sold by the square metre. machine builders, industry associations, airports
2014 –Learning innovation by doing. How global student teams solve real challenges for companies within the SUGAR network founded with Stanford, and what this mission-based learning produces: prototypes, patents and start-ups, including one sold for a nine-digit sum. I also speak about design thinking for social impact, from community projects in Nairobi to train-the-trainer workshops in Shanghai. universities, corporate partners, ministries
2022 –Foresight and behaviour. Two newer threads. Strategic foresight helps leaders explore several futures instead of betting on one roadmap. Research on choice architecture and digital self-nudging shows how digital tools can help people make better decisions. enterprise architects, alumni, conferences
Listen and watch
2023Nudging: Kennst du diese Psychotricks? Terra Xplore, ZDF. Video, 17 min. Who nudges us, and is it manipulation? With our HPI experiment on vegetarian choices in the canteen.
2020Agil arbeiten mit Design Thinking Neuland, the HPI science podcast. 20 min. How companies introduce agile work, and which expectations are unrealistic.
2019Unternehmen auf Innovationskurs bringen mit Design Thinking Neuland, the HPI science podcast. 21 min. What makes a company innovative, and why it usually takes a change of culture.
All in German.
Invite me
Keynotes in English or German, often combined with a workshop. Write to me on LinkedIn or by email: uebernickel@gmail.com