Dr. Manuel Schneider
Head of Open Innovation, BMW Group
Dr. Manuel Schneider holds a PhD in Economics and Social Sciences from Johannes Kepler University Linz, and he has enriched his academic journey as a lecturer in Corporate Entrepreneurship at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
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As a young expat in Brazil, Dr. Schneider experienced firsthand the challenges of mobility while navigating frustrating traffic jams. These moments inspired him to dedicate his professional life to making mobility more enjoyable, efficient, and sustainable. Over the years, he has pursued this passion through leadership roles in Business Development, Product Management, Corporate Strategy, and Venture Building at leading mobility companies worldwide.
Currently, Dr. Schneider serves as the Head of Open Innovation at the BMW Group, where he leads a team focused on identifying emerging technologies and societal trends in mobility and transforming them into tangible value for customers and the business. His team champions innovative methodologies such as ‘Crowd Innovation,’ which identifies groundbreaking ideas from internal and external sources, and the ‘Incubator,’ which helps scale these ideas into impactful solutions.
With a unique ability to merge academic rigor with entrepreneurial and lean startup practices, Dr. Schneider and his team have identified over 3,000 relevant business ideas in transportation and successfully established more than 140 internal startups within BMW over the past five years. His work exemplifies a commitment to driving meaningful innovation in the mobility industry.