Jan Knippers (University of Stuttgart – ITKE, Knippers Helbig)

Jan Knippers studied civil engineering at the Technical University in Berlin. After several years in an international operating consultancy he founded Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering in Stuttgart (2001) and New York (2009) with Thorsten Helbig. In parallel he is professor and head of the Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) at the faculty for architecture and urban design at the University of Stuttgart. In practice, research and teaching he focuses on highly efficient building structures and use of innovative building materials. Since recently, Jan Knippers also became spokesperson of the new SFB-TRR 141: Biological Design and Integrative Structures and is part of the European innochain network.