Senior Vice President for IT-Systems and Services - Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Technical University of München (Germany), Hans Pongratz is one of the five key speakers of the plenary sessions of TICAL2015. We invite you to know a little more about him through this interview.
What are your expectations regarding the TICAL Conference and of your participation in it?
Meeting interesting people, discussing exciting hot topics and learning about the challenges and good-practices of other institutions.
What motivated you to participate in this Conference?
I’m an aficionado of the German DFN, peer of RedCLARA, so I’m very keen to learn more about RedCLARA. The Technische Universität München (TUM) is looking for talented students and researchers from all over the world and operates a liaison office for Latin America in São Paulo since 2012, so I’m very interested in Latin America’s recent key trends and IT focus areas, too. And thirdly, it’s my first trip to Chile.
What importance do you think TICAL has for the development of the networks and the professionals in the field of ICT?
I am convinced meeting in person is becoming more and more important in an increasingly digitalized world. Not to just share information – you can find nearly everything online – but to foster creativity, make new contacts, exchange ideas and learn insights you wouldn’t share online. I heard about the great success story of TICAL, starting just in 2011 and attracting more than 500 professionals in the context of HEI ICT last year. That’s really amazing, congratulations!
What is that unique thing you’d like to share with the people attending TICAL and what would you like to learn about the Latin American experience within the Conference scope of action?
I would advise to be an active player within the digitalization transition process of your organization. It’s up to you if you’re an IT janitor or a visionary strategic counselor or even ambassador for ICT and digitalization aspects. There’re good sets of tools and mature ICT solutions for the digital university. I would like to get in touch with other participants, learn insights and discuss recent trends and emerging technologies in Latin America.
