The European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet) promises to significantly enhance the convenience and security of end-users' identity-related online activities, such as registration, log-in to a service or application, or the bank account opening process, by using cryptographic key pairs and digitally signed documents (attestations of attributes). However, while the EUDI Wallet is marketed as a privacy-centric solution and indeed designed to enhance privacy substantially compared to today's prevailing approaches to digital identity management, such as "log-in with Google", there is still room for improvement.

The paper “The impact of zero-knowledge proofs on data minimization compliance of digital identity wallets” is a collaboration between the researchers Emanuela Podda (Università degli Studi di Milano), Pol Hölzmer, Alexandre Amard and Gilbert Fridgen (University of Luxembourg), and Johannes Sedlmeir (University of Münster). It describes some remaining shortcomings regarding privacy in the current cryptographic formats used for attestations of attributes in the EUDI Wallet and argues that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)'s mandate for data minimization should be continuously re-evaluated given the fast progress in privacy-enhancing technologies, particularly zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) (see, e.g., the work by Google researchers Abhi Shelat and Matto Frigo on anonymous credentials from ECDSA). ZKPs allow for maintaining the verifiability of the integrity, authenticity, and validity of digital identity-related documents while reducing the amount of information revealed to the relying party to what can formally be considered the bare minimum.

The researchers hope their findings encourage decision-makers working on the EUDI wallet to maintain the high initial ambitions regarding privacy, as specified by the regulation which literally mandates unlinkability, after the first rollout of the EUDI wallet in late 2026. However, it is highly unlikely that ZKPs will be incorporated at this stage, as their practical implementation is still very complex and lacks standardization and audits by national and international certification bodies.

The full paper can be found here.

The Interdisciplinary Center for Mathematical Modeling of Infectious Disease Dynamics (IMMIDD) at the University of Münster recently held its first symposium on July 10, 2025, entitled, “From Chaos to Cohesion – The Future of Infectious Disease Modeling.”

Drawing over 100 participants from across the globe, the event brought together leading experts in epidemiology, mathematics, economics, and public health to examine how advanced modeling – enhanced by powerful information systems – can support effective decision-making in the face of global health challenges.

Topics ranged from breakthroughs in data-driven forecasting and novel interdisciplinary collaborations to the integration of economic and technological perspectives in public health strategies. One clear conclusion emerged: the combination of mathematical modeling and information systems is vital for developing robust, actionable tools for epidemic forecasting and preparedness.

IMMIDD brings together expertise from various institutes at the University of Münster: the Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, the Institute of Virology, the Institute for Analysis and Numerics, the Institute for Geoinformatics, the Department of Information Systems, and the Institute of Theoretical Physics. The Department of Information Systems, represented by Prof. Bernd Hellingrath and his group, enriched the symposium with their expertise in epidemic modeling and decision-support systems, contributing to shaping the future of pandemic response.

Further information on the IMMIDD can be found here.

It is the largest AI acquisition in Europe to date and a strong sign of AI expertise in Germany: The start-up Cognigy, a leading CX AI platform, has announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by Nasdaq-listed NiCE for almost $1 billion. A graduate of the University of Münster is behind this success.

Philipp Heltewig, CEO and co-founder of Cognigy, studied Information Systems (MSc) at the University of Münster from 2002 to 2007 and spent a year abroad at our ERCIS Partner, the QUT in Brisbane Australia.

In 2016, together with Sascha Poggemann and Benjamin Mayr, he founded Cognigy, one of Europe’s leading providers of voice and chatbot solutions for customer service. The company has developed a platform that enables enterprises to deploy AI agents that think, adapt, and perform simple tasks. These agents operate across multiple channels, support over 100 languages, and can be seamlessly integrated into existing systems – setting Cognigy apart from traditional chatbots.

“This outstanding entrepreneurial success highlights the great potential of Information Systems in Münster.”, says Prof. Jan vom Brocke, Director of the Department of Information Systems: “Our students receive a first-class education in Münster that prepares them for global careers and groundbreaking innovations. We will further expand this potential in the future, for example through the ERCIS Flow Factory, and actively promote entrepreneurial ventures even more strongly.”

The official press release from NiCE is available here.

At the beginning of June, several members of our department took part in this year's DESRIST – International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology. For three days, the focus was on exciting workshops, inspiring paper sessions and intensive exchange within the international research community.

Under the theme “Contextual Design Science Research: Local Solutions for Global Challenges“ participants discussed how digital technologies can be used to address global challenges, always taking local contexts and requirements into account. Our department was also represented with several contributions in the sessions.

A special highlight was the ceremonial announcement of the venue for DESRIST 2026 – here in Münster, under the direction of Prof. Jan vom Brocke. Under the theme “Design for Better Futures: Beyond the Science of the Artificial” we will collectively explore how design can contribute to living and sustainable futures beyond the purely artificial. This theme is closely aligned with our department's research focus, which is exemplified by projects such as our Flow Factory, where we design responsible AI innovations in practice.

We are very much looking forward to hosting the international design science community and actively shaping the discourse on locally anchored digital innovations!

Further information on DESRIST 2026 can be found here.

New team members regularly start at our department – whether as resarch assistants, postdocs, or professors. Over the past few months, we’ve welcomed several new faces:

Daria Stumkat has been a Research Assistant at the Chair for Digital Innovation and the Public Sector and part of the Flow Factory since May. She completed both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Information Systems at the University of Münster. Her research interests lie at the intersection of sustainability, AI, and strategy.

Celine Poppe also began her doctoral studies in May at the Chair for Digital Innovation and the Public Sector. She holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Public Administration and is now part of the research project “Public Sector Innovation and eGovernance”.

Timo Strohmann joined the Chair for Information Systems and Business Process Management and the Flow Factory as a Postdoc in May. His work focuses on design-oriented research and the collaboration between humans and AI.

Fumi Kurihara has been a Postdoc at the Chair for Information Systems and Business Process Management and the Flow Factory since June. She studied International Liberal Studies (BA) and International Affairs (MA), and completed her PhD in Management at the University of St. Gallen.

Tobias Zimmermann and Helene Müller began their doctoral studies in July at the Chair for Information Systems and Business Process Management and the Flow Factory. Both earned their Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Information Systems at the University of Münster.

We warmly welcome all new colleagues and look forward to working together!

On Wednesday, July 2, 2025, it was that time of year again: The annual summer party of the Information Systems department invited students, faculty, and staff to the Leonardo Campus. Starting at 4 p.m., the square was transformed into a lively festival area—characterized by a boisterous atmosphere, summer flair, and a varied program.

Whether it was a bouncy castle, ice cream, Aperol, beer pong, or exciting raffles—entertainment was provided in every respect. The numerous guests took advantage of the offerings with great enthusiasm: there was jumping, laughing, and celebrating into the evening.

Despite the changeable weather, the 2025 WI Summer Party was a complete success and once again provided an excellent opportunity to bring the summer semester to a close together in a relaxed atmosphere. We would like to thank everyone involved and are already looking forward to next year!

The team at the ERCIS Competence Centre for Crisis Management is delighted that the EU project DRIVER+ has won the Security Innovation Award 2025 in the category ‘Best Open Source Innovation’.

The award recognises visionaries who make a significant contribution to protecting our society and its citizens with innovative solutions. At the same time, the innovation award offers the opportunity to highlight and promote outstanding developments from EU-funded security research projects.

The DRIVER+ (Driving Innovation in Crisis Management for European Resilience) project, which was completed in 2020, aimed to address current and future challenges in crisis management, particularly in light of increasing natural disasters and terrorist threats. The focus was on developing and introducing innovative solutions tailored to the operational needs of practitioners in the field of crisis management.

One of the most important results of the project is the Trial Guidance Methodology (TGM) – a structured, practice-oriented approach for systematically testing and evaluating crisis management solutions under realistic conditions. The methodology was developed jointly by the DRIVER+ consortium and is now actively maintained and further developed by the ERCIS Competence Centre for Crisis Management. It continues to support innovation efforts across Europe and beyond.

Over several years, the DRIVER+ consortium has built up an international network of experts from research institutions, public authorities and industry to improve Europe's resilience to increasingly complex crises. The project placed crisis management practitioners at the centre of the innovation cycle and enabled them to take a leading role in evaluating technologies and procedures in realistic test environments.

The award at SRE2025 is a valuable endorsement of this practice-oriented philosophy and the lasting impact of DRIVER+ far beyond the official conclusion of the project. The TGM has since been used in numerous research projects (e.g. STAMINA, CARE-FLOW) and by practice organisations such as the Fire Service Institute of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Links to this announcement:

Access the methodology: tgm.ercis.org

Learn more about the DRIVER+ project: DRIVER+ website

From July 5 to 11, the science festival “SchlauRaum” is taking place, transforming the city of Münster into a vibrant campus. Under the theme “Why? How? Healthy?”, the festival focuses on the theme of health – organized by the University of Münster, FH Münster, Münster University Hospital (UKM) and Münster Marketing.

During the opening weekend, one of the highlights was a pavilion dedicated to “One Health – the health of humans, animals, and the environment.” At the booth, researchers Prof. Stephan Ludwig, Dr. Friederike Jansen, Johannes Ponge, Prof. Benedikt Heuckmann, and Dr. Ulrich Hobusch presented interactive, real-life examples illustrating the interconnection between human, animal, and environmental health. They demonstrated how scientific insights can help identify and combat risks at an early stage.

Johannes Ponge, a research associate at the Chair of Information Systems and Logistics, showed how simulations can support understanding, predicting, and containing disease outbreaks. The simulation models a virtual representation of the German population to test which interventions (e.g. social distancing or vaccinations) may help slow the spread of infectious diseases.

The One Health Platform brings together more than 1,300 researchers from various disciplines.

As part of the graduation ceremony on June 27, 2025, not only were numerous graduates of the 2024/25 winter semester bid farewell, but outstanding achievements from students of the School of Business and Economics were also honored.

In the field of Information Systems, Lars Heimann received the CHECK24-AlumniUM-Bachelor-Award for his outstanding achievements in his Bachelor's degree. Vanessa Twickler was honored with the REMONDIS-AlumniUM-Master-Award for her excellent results in her Master's degree. Both awards were presented in cooperation with the alumni association AlumniUM e.V. and CHECK24 or REMONDIS. They underline the high standard and practical relevance of the Information Systems program and recognize the dedication and commitment of the students.

A highlight of the event was the presentation of the “Preis der jungen Wirtschaft – Master Edition“ (Young Economy Award) to Enno Knollmeyer, awarded by AlumniUM e.V. in cooperation with the Wirtschaftsjunioren Nord Westfalen. His master's thesis, entitled ‘Addressing Institutional Voids in Childcare Emergency Staffing Processes: A Digital Social Innovation Approach,’ deals with the structural challenges faced by childcare facilities in the event of short-term staff shortages. As part of his thesis, Enno developed a digital tool that automates emergency planning, ensures legal compliance and improves communication with parents – with impressive results: planning time has been reduced by over 90%. His work is based on a research-based approach that combines design science research with the principle of digital social innovation.

We congratulate all award winners on their well-deserved recognition – and of course all graduates on their successful completion their studies. We wish them all the best and much success for the future!

This year, the Teaching Award of the Student Council of Business and Economics was presented to Dr. Thomas Haskamp and Prof. Felipe Scavarda. The award recognizes outstanding commitment to teaching and is based on the results of student course evaluations. 

As part of the graduation ceremony, two faculty members from the Department of Information Systems were honored: 

Dr. Thomas Haskamp received the award for his master’s seminar “Digital Product Innovation with Design Thinking” offered in the winter semester 2024/25.

For the first time, a visiting professor was also honored with the award this year. Felipe Scavarda (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro) received the award – together with Prof. Bernd Hellingrath – for the Bachelor’s seminar “Supply Chain Logistics Management”, which was also offered in the winter semester 2024/25. The Brazilian visiting professor has been regularly teaching at the University of Münster for many years and also collaborates closely with the Department of Information Systems on research projects.

Prof. Jörg Becker was invited as opponent for the doctoral defense of Tapio Versäläinen at the University of Turku, Finland. Versäläinen's dissertation is titled “Forecasting Future Events with Publicly Accessible Online Data – A Study on Finnish Parliamentary Elections from 2015 to 2023” and was supervised by Prof. Reima Suomi.

The University of Turku has been an active partner institution in the European Research Center for Information Systems (ERCIS) network since its founding.

Last week, students from the J. Whitney Bunting College of Business & Technology (Georgia College & State University) visited the Department of Information Systems at the University of Münster to take part in the second part of the international Design Thinking seminar.

This time, the focus was on a real-world challenge: supporting the further development of the sustainability initiatives at viadee Unternehmensberatung AG. Special thanks go to viadee – in particular to Dr. Nicolas Pflanzl, Christian Schulze Dieckhoff, and Dr. Hendrik Winkelmann – for designing the case study and for their dedicated support throughout the seminar.

The participating students presented their innovative solution ideas directly on site at viadee. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and highlighted the value of students’ perspectives and creative approaches in addressing real business challenges.

Beyond the academic work, the seminar also offered numerous opportunities for intercultural exchange – including joint activities, shared meals, and watching the German Cup final together. The event once again demonstrated the importance of international collaboration in higher education – both in terms of academic content and personal exchange between students and faculty from different cultural backgrounds.

Thanks also go to the faculty members who continuously make this international seminar program possible: Joy Godin and Jeannie Pridmore from Georgia College, as well as Armin Stein and Katrin Bergener from the Department of Information Systems.

From May 16 to 18, 2025, the first Transdev Mobility Hackathon took place at the Leonardo campus of the University of Münster. The event was organized by the Innovation and New Markets team in collaboration with Operations Planning and HR at Transdev – part of the Rethmann Group and the second-largest rail and bus company in Germany. 19 students from over 13 countries worked together to develop practical solutions for optimizing school bus routes.  

The goal was to develop route planning that is cost-efficient, regulation-compliant, and reflective of real-world conditions. Using real data, creative ideas, and operational requirements, participants developed impressive prototypes, interactive tools, and smart timetables aimed at making school transportation more efficient and sustainable. 

The software solutions included interactive maps, optimization algorithms, KPI dashboards, budget and resource calculations, as well as live cloud-based demonstrations. Beyond the innovative outcomes, the hackathon offered ample opportunities for networking and exchanging ideas with industry professionals. Some students have already expressed interest in internships or thesis collaborations with Transdev. The winning team received a prize of €1,500. 

The hackathon vividly demonstrated how young talents, real-world data, and operational challenges can come together to create innovative mobility solutions.  

Transdev is a project partner of the European Research Center for Information Systems (ERCIS). Together, they have launched the Future Mobility Lab – a project that enables students, faculty, and practitioners to contribute to shaping the future of mobility. 

Further information on the Future Mobility Lab can be found here.  

In the summer term, we are once again welcoming international guest professors at our department. One of them is Prof. Isabel Ramos from the University of Minho, Portugal. She arrived in April and will stay until May 31. During her stay, Isabel Ramos will teach the bachelor seminar “AI and Attention in the Organization”.

Isabel Ramos is an Associate Professor with Habilitation at the Department of Information Systems (DSI), School of Engineering of the University of Minho in Portugal. She has a PhD in Information Technologies and Systems, specializing in Information Systems Engineering and Management. From 2014 to 2019, she served as a Director of the Doctoral Program in Information Systems and Technologies and is currently President of the Portuguese Association for Information Systems.

Her research focuses on knowledge management, especially how emerging technologies influence the way organizations manage knowledge, foster innovation, and collaborate. A key area of her recent work explores how generative AI can support “AI attention” – the integration of human and machine abilities to detect relevant data, anticipate events, and act on opportunities in real time. Isabel Ramos places strong emphasis on sociotechnical systems, large-scale collaborative platforms, and the mechanisms that make them effective. Her research not only advances academic understanding but also provides practical insights into how organizations can better navigate digital transformation.

What makes her visit especially meaningful is the longstanding collaboration between her home institution, the University of Minho, and the Department of Information Systems of the University of Münster. Both departments share a strong commitment to design science research and focus on the unique challenges faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in adopting advanced technologies. This shared research ethos fosters smooth communication, impactful joint projects, and student-centered initiatives such as summer schools that benefit learners in both countries. Over the past ten years, this partnership has developed into a close academic connection, reinforced through international networks such as @ERCIS (European Research Center for Information Systems), which is headquartered here in Münster. Through ERCIS, both universities engage in European research consortia and global collaborations, further enhancing the international dimension of their work.

We are proud to host Isabel Ramos and look forward to the valuable insights, exchanges, and initiatives her visit will bring to our research and teaching community!

Exciting project seminars for bachelor's and master’s students are once again taking place at the Institute of Information Systems this summer semester.

The following project seminars have already started in the bachelor's program:

Eyes Wide Scroll - attention analysis in social media for AI training (Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Grimme, Marie Griesbach): To analyze content in modern online media such as social media, pure text analysis is no longer sufficient - images, videos and audio data must also be taken into account. This so-called multimodal analysis is complex and requires a focus on essential content, especially in real-time analyses. The project seminar investigates how image analysis methods can be equipped with a ‘human focus’ - for example, by using eye-tracking data to recognize which image areas are relevant for people. The aim is to further develop analysis algorithms so that they concentrate on these relevant areas. To this end, the Institute's eye-tracking lab is being utilized and expanded in order to conduct experiments and develop initial focus-based analysis methods.

AI for sustainable cities (Comuneo) (Prof. Dr. Tobias Brandt, Ann-Kathrin Meyer, Johannes von Ivernois): Cities play a key role in sustainable development, but are faced with limited resources. Artificial intelligence can help, for example in planning and monitoring, but has so far been little used in the public sector - partly due to high data protection and reliability requirements. Students are working with the start-up Comuneo to develop AI-supported solutions that automatically evaluate digital data sources and transfer them to a platform. In addition to technical implementation, the focus is also on organizational, ethical and regulatory issues.

These project seminars in the master's program had their kick-off:

Future Mobility Lab (Prof. Dr. Jan vom Brocke, Mara Burger): The Future Mobility Lab is a cooperation between ERCIS and Transdev, the largest private mobility company in Germany. This semester, the seminar focuses on  crises prevention through process optimization. To this end, machine learning techniques and GenAI are being applied to real data from Transdev. In order to better understand crises in local public transport, they will also visit a control center of the S-Bahn Hannover to exchange ideas with the dispatchers there.

Digital entrepreneurship: Building a technology-driven startup (Prof. Dr. Tobias Brandt, Shariga Sivanathan): This semester, the entrepreneurial team from MOTO will be working on their own startup idea for open all-day schools. What makes this seminar special: the participating students already bring a specific, digitally focused business idea to the table, which they will further develop during the course of the project seminar, and it fully counts towards their academic credit.

The Sims, Startup Edition: Simulating entrepreneurial decision-making with Generative AI (Prof. Dr. Tobias Brandt, Shariga Sivanathan): Six students will work together throughout the semester. The aim is to explore how entrepreneurial decision-making can be simulated using Generative AI agents, offering participants an immersive learning experience. 

Hilti Seminar (Prof. Jan vom Brocke, Sandro Franzoi): In this project seminar, students collaborate with the global manufacturing company Hilti to tackle a real-world challenge at the intersection of artificial intelligence and business process management. Their task: to design and develop an LLM-based learning assistant that helps process managers acquire relevant knowledge more efficiently and engagingly – using cutting-edge AI capabilities and Hilti’s real training resources.

We are already looking forward to the results of the project seminars!

On May 2, 2025, the farewell lecture of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Jörg Becker took place in lecture hall Leo 1 at the Leonardo Campus. Numerous colleagues from across the School of Business and Economics, long-time companions, former and current doctoral students from three decades, as well as his family, attended the event.

The Rector of the University of Münster, Prof. Johannes Wessels, the Vice Dean of the School of Business and Economics, Prof. Christoph Watrin, and the Director of the Department of Information Systems, Prof. Jan vom Brocke, honored Prof. Becker in their welcoming speeches. They expressed their gratitude for his outstanding commitment –particularly in establishing and advancing the field of Information Systems in Münster –as well as for the many forward-thinking projects he initiated and shaped.

Jörg Becker then gave his farewell and inaugural lecture titled “The best of both worlds”, in which he reflected on his beginnings at the department and provided insight into his future plans as a senior professor.

The Senior Professorship of Information Management continues the long-standing work of the Chair of Information Systems and Information Management. Jörg Becker and his team conduct research in the fields of process and data modeling. In addition to the development and evaluation of new methods, the focus is on the transfer of results into practice – particularly in the areas of services, e-government, and trade – remains a key focus. Through integration into the European Research Center for Information Systems (ERCIS), an interdisciplinary approach is pursued that brings together core competencies from information systems, computer science, business administration, and law.

Since 1990, Jörg Becker has profoundly shaped the Department and the field of Information Systems. His research in process management, data management, e-government, information modeling, retail information systems, and hybrid value creation has left a lasting impact. As the founder of ERCIS, he has decisively advanced the network in Information Systems not only throughout Europe, but also internationally.

The Department of Information Systems would like to thank Jörg Becker for everything he has done for the Department and the SBE – for his extraordinary commitment, many years of loyalty, and for preserving the founding spirit that has inspired so many of his colleagues along the way.