--- title: Talks · Falk Uebernickel url: https://uebernickel.com/talks author: Falk Uebernickel description: Keynotes and talks by Falk Uebernickel on AI at work, human oversight of AI, design thinking and digital transformation, with slides, podcasts and video. --- # 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 - 2026: Regions, processes and stacks: brand and AI governance in a distributed industrial group. Workshop for an international industrial manufacturer. [Slides (PDF)](https://uebernickel.com/papers/Uebernickel_2026_Brand-and-AI-governance_slides.pdf) (germany) - 2026: Build 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)](https://uebernickel.com/papers/Uebernickel_2026_Build-with-AI-Run-Without-It_slides.pdf) (switzerland) - 2026: Synthetic personas: value, limits, rules. E-commerce conference. [Slides (PDF)](https://uebernickel.com/papers/Uebernickel_2026_Synthetic-personas_slides.pdf) · [Essay](https://uebernickel.com/writing/synthetic-personas) (switzerland) - 2026: Building the next-generation hospital: AI, data integration and platform thinking. Academic medical centre. (united states) - 2025: Foresight-driven enterprise architecture. Architecture community of a global software company. (germany) - 2025: AI first: what machines can do, and what they cannot. Keynote and workshop for a global bank. (germany) - 2025: Dialog or dictate? Working together in times of AI. Workshop for a central bank. (germany) - 2025: Augmented, not automated: the future of work with AI. International engineering conference. (switzerland) - 2024: AI-enhanced design thinking: innovation beyond the algorithm. Pharmaceutical company. (switzerland) ## Themes My talks cluster around six themes. - 2023 – present: **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 – present: **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 – present: **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 – 17: **Industry 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 – present: **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 – present: **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 - 2023: [Nudging: Kennst du diese Psychotricks?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdkCE4wUCVI) Terra Xplore, ZDF. Video, 17 min. Who nudges us, and is it manipulation? With our HPI experiment on vegetarian choices in the canteen. - 2020: [Agil arbeiten mit Design Thinking](https://podcast.hpi.de/38-agil-arbeiten-mit-design-thinking-gesprach-mit-prof-dr-falk-uebernickel) Neuland, the HPI science podcast. 20 min. How companies introduce agile work, and which expectations are unrealistic. - 2019: [Unternehmen auf Innovationskurs bringen mit Design Thinking](https://podcast.hpi.de/25-unternehmen-auf-innovationskurs-bringen-mit-design-thinking-gesprach-mit-prof-dr-falk-uebernickel) 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](https://www.linkedin.com/in/falkue/) or by email: uebernickel@gmail.com