After studying for a degree in Engineering (specialising in Production technology), Professor Dr Hans-Jörg Bullinger was a Professor at the University of Hagen from 1980-1982 and a Professor at the University of Stuttgart since 1982. He has been Head of the Fraunhofer-Instituts für Arbeitswirtschaft und Organisation in Stuttgart since 1982 and Head of the Institut für Arbeitswissenschaften und Technologiemanagement at the University of Stuttgart. He runs a wide range of international cooperative projects with German companies, for example Bosch, Siemens, Daimler Benz, VW. As a result of his international reputation, he is frequently invited to speak at high-level conferences in the United States, Japan, Korea, China, India, Australia. From 2002-2012 he was President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Munich. The Institute is considered to be one of the leading organizations for technical and process innovation in Europe, specialising in areas such as: Production Technology, Packaging and Materials Technology, Construction, Surveying Technology, Microelectronics, Information- and Communications Technology. His awards include the Otto Kienzle Commemorative Medal for Productiuon technology, and the VDI-Ehrenring Gold award, the Human Factors Society’s Distinguished Foreign Colleague Award. He has Honorary Doctorates from the University of Novi Sad in 1991 and the Polytecnnic University of Timisoara in 2004, and Honorary Professorships from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1991 and South China University of Technology in 2005. He is a member of the World Academy of Productivity Science and an Honorary Member of the Rumanian Association for Engineering Technology. In his talks he urges both politicians and businessmen to boost their investment in the future and not to subsidise the past. This requires a culture which values not just sportspeople and musicians, but also inventors, researchers and entrepreneurs as role models.