Sebastian Pfotenhauer is Carl von Linde Professor of Innovation Research and Deputy Department Head of the Department for Science, Technology and Society (STS) at Technical University of Munich. As an STS and innovation policy scholar, he studies the relationship between innovation, justice, and the common good, the governance of emerging technologies, and responsible and co-creative innovation practices.

Sebastian currently serves as the coordinator of the new DFG Cluster of Excellence Transformative Technologies and Societal Change (TransforM) as well as the BMBF-funded Munich Cluster for the Future of Mobility in Metropolitan Regions (MCube), Germany’s leading initiative on sustainable mobility innovation. 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 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. At present, he serves the academic director of the TUM Master’s Program Responsibility in Science, Engineering and Technology (RESET) funded by the Elite Network Bavaria (ENB), and is the head of the Advisory Board for the Technology in Dialog section of the Association of German Engineers (VDI). Before joining TU Munich, he was a research scientist and lecturer with the MIT Technology & Policy Program as well as a Fellow at the Harvard STS Program. His work has appeared, among other outlets, in Social Studies of Science, Research Policy, Nature, Science Technology & Human Values, and the OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook. 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 (which he co-founded in 2023) and enjoys museum exhibitions and playing the violin, especially with the Stüba Philharmonie.