Professor (emer.) at the University of Ulm, Chairman of the Research Institute for Applied Knowledge Processing/n (FAW/n) Ulm, President of the Senate of Economics e. V., Bonn, Vice President of the Ecosocial Forum Europe, Vienna, and member of the Club of Rome. Since August 2018 he is also a member of the Austrian Council for Sustainable Development and a jury member of the BWS NachfolgerForum. He studied mathematics and economics (RWTH Aachen, University of Karlsruhe), postdoctoral lecture qualification in mathematics at RWTH Aachen in 1982.

His research interests include global problems, learning organizations, intelligent systems, digitalization and networking, risk management, responsibility of people and systems, environmentally friendly mobility, sustainable development, overpopulation, world food, climate and energy, and regulation of the world financial system.