Prof. Dr. Sebastian Pfotenhauer

Associate Professor for Innovation Research

Program Coordinator, M.A. RESET

Sebastian Pfotenhauer is Carl von Linde Professor for Innovation Research at Technical University of Munich (TUM). As an STS and innovation scholar, he is one of the leading voices in Germany on the relationship between technology and societal change, the inequalities and political economies of innovation, regional innovation cultures, the governance of emerging technologies, and responsible innovation practices.

Sebastian is an expert on building large national and international research consortia with innovative public engagement components. He currently serves as the coordinator of the Munich Cluster for the Future of Mobility in Metropolitan Regions (MCube), a EUR 50 Million flagship initiative on sustainable mobility innovation funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research. Among other things, MCube has pioneered an integrative multi-stakeholder with more than 50 organizations, including with a major presence at the IAA 2023 Citizen Lab, to drive just mobility transitions. From 2018-2022, he also coordinated of the EU-Horizon2020 project SCALINGS (Scaling up co-creation: Avenues and Limits for Integrating Society in Science and Innovation) – a EUR 4 Million European project investigating use of new public engagement formats such as living labs and pre-commercial procurement in robotics, autonomous driving, and urban energy systems. He has been the PI on several DFG funded projects, e.g. on Regional Innovation Cultures, Europe-making through research and innovation, and Technoscientific Constitutionalism. At present, he serves the director of the TUM Master’s Program Responsibility in Science, Engineering and Technology (RESET) funded by the Elite Network Bavaria (ENB) and as Head of the Advisory Board for the Technology in Dialog section of the Association of German Engineers (VDI), and spearheads TUM’s efforts for a Cluster of Excellence on Transformative Technologies and Societal Change (TransforM).

Before joining TUM, Sebastian was a research scientist and lecturer at the MIT Technology & Policy Program as well as a fellow at the Harvard Program on Science, Technology and Society. He regularly serves as consultant on innovation and technology governance to regional and national governments as well as international organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). His work has appeared, among other outlets, in Social Studies of Science, Research Policy, Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Science Technology & Human Values, Science and Public Policy, and Issues in Science and Technology. He holds an S.M. in Technology Policy from MIT, a PhD in Physics from the University of Jena, Germany, and has received post-doctoral training in STS and public policy at Harvard and MIT. In his spare time, Sebastian co-runs the queer-feminist bookstore glitch in Munich and enjoys playing the violin, especially with the Stüba Philharmonie.

For a recent interview about Sebastians research, click here.

  • Innovation Cultures: Co-production of technoscientific and social/political order in the innovation society
  • Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy
  • National, regional, and institutional innovation strategies
  • Global circulation and adoption of innovation models
  • Innovation and social responsibility
  • Complex international science, technology and innovation partnerships
  • Capacity-building in science, technology, higher education, innovation
  • Governance of complex sociotechnical systems

Journal Articles

Book Chapters

  • Irwin, A., & S. M. Pfotenhauer. 2024. "Innovation." In Elgar Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Studies, edited by U. Felt and A. Irwin, 340–48. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Pfotenhauer, S. M. 2019. “Building Global Innovation Hubs: The MIT Model in Three Start-up Universities.” In Does America Need More Innovators?, edited by M. Wisnioski, E. Hintz, & M. Klein, 191–220. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Pfotenhauer, S. M., & S. Jasanoff. 2017. “Traveling Imaginaries: The ‘practice Turn’ in Innovation Policy and the Global Circulation of Innovation Models.” In The Routledge Handbook of the Political Economy of Science, edited by D. Tyfield, R. Lave, S. Randalls, & C. Thorpe, 416–28. London: Routledge.
  • Pfotenhauer, S. M. 2017. “Co-Producing Emirati Science and Society at Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.” In Science and Technology Development in the Gulf States, edited by A. Siddiqi & L. D. Anadon, 89–113. Gulf Studies. Gerlach Press.
  • Pfotenhauer, S. M., & J. Juhl. 2017. “Innovation and the Political State: Beyond the Myth of Technologies and Markets.” In Critical Studies of Innovation: Alternative Approaches to the pro-Innovation Bias, edited by B. Godin & D. Vinck, 68–94. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Vincent-Lancrin, S., & S.M. Pfotenhauer. 2013. Guidelines for quality provision in cross-border higher education: where do we stand? In Rationales for Internationalisation, edited by M. Larionova & O. Perfilieva. Moscow: Logos Publishing House.

Policy Reports, Briefs, Commentary and Newspaper Pieces

  • Science and Democracy Network (SDN)
  • Society for the Social Studies of Science [4S]
  • European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST)
  • IEEE
  • ESYS2 – Energy Systems of the Future, Joint Project of the German Academies
  • Scientific Advisory Board – TATuP – Journal for Technology Assessment in Theory and Practice

  • Project co-lead (MIT) for NSF Grant „Technology, Collaboration, Learning: Modeling Complex International Innovation Partnerships,“ 2013-2016
  • Project collaborator (Harvard) for NSF Grant „Traveling Imaginaries of Innovation: The practice turn and its transnational implementation,“ (2015-2017)
  • Leading Technology Policy Fellowship (MIT), MIT Technology & Policy Program (2010-2013)
  • Dissertation with distinction („Summa Cum Laude“)
  • MIT Education Excellence Award for graduation with 5.0 GPA
  • ERP Fellowship (European Recovery Program), German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy / German National Academic Foundation (2008-2010)
  • Undergraduate fellowship, Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst („Academic Foundation of the Protestant Churches“), (2000-2005).