Michael Schäfer
Michael Schäfer has been Managing Director and CTO of Mobility Data Space (MDS) since January 2022. His colleague Dr. Tobias Miethaner is Speaker of the Management Board and Manfred Rauhmeier serves as Founding Managing Director. Mr. Rauhmeier is also Managing Director of acatech, the German Academy of Science and Engineering.
After the Mobility Data Space was successfully completed as a research project in 2021, it has been transferred to the DRM Datenraum Mobilität Ltd. in 2022 and has been given a new, scalable platform. Under the leadership of Michael Schäfer, this laid the foundation for the expansion of the innovative data marketplace. Since November 2022, he oversees the continuous development of the MDS together with Dr. Tobias Miethaner.
The qualified electrical engineer looks back on more than 30 years in the IT industry and brings experience in the areas of industrial automation, image processing, Internet of Things and Industry 4.0. During his career, he has managed numerous major international projects and most recently headed the "IIoT Application Factory" and "Business & IT Transformation" areas of the Global Competency Center at Software AG in Darmstadt.
Michael Schäfer wants to generate social benefits through his work at MDS, because "the Mobility Data Space creates the conditions for society and companies to develop the mobility of the future."
Mr. Schäfer is married and has three adult children. In his free time, he rides the mountain bike and skis. His dream is environmentally compatible and affordable lifetime mobility for everybody.
Session
The Mobility Data Space (MDS) brings together companies, organisations and institutions: those who need data for innovative mobility solutions and those who want to monetise their data assets. Benefit from a large network of experts from different mobility sectors such as OEMs, mobility service providers, municipalities, insurance companies and start-ups. As a member, you will have direct access to relevant contacts, be able to develop innovative mobility solutions and help shape tomorrow's mobility. Data spaces are flexible and open IT infrastructures that enable trustful and transparent use of decentrally organised data according to previously defined scopes of use while guaranteeing the full sovereignty of the actors involved. They are based on a federal organisational principle.
Data spaces create equal framework conditions for the sovereign exchange of data. This also means that every actor can benefit from the use of the data in the same way.
The MDS is a pioneering data space in Europe for the mobility sector. Thanks to its technical architecture, the MDS guarantees not only transparent and secure data exchange, but also international interoperability with other data spaces. As a non-profit organisation, MDS provides a trusted data space for the secure and transparent exchange of mobility data. Thanks to the decentralised structure, members have full data and contractual sovereignty at all times, and decide with whom they share their data.