Vanessa Katharina Findling
Tech Strategy at the intersection
of industry and public life
Welcome to my website! I work at the intersection of technology, industry, and society and am particularly interested in how frontier technologies shape long-term structures that redefine how we live and work. With a background in mechanical engineering, I’ve spent my career as project manager, consultant, and entrepreneur driving technological and societal transformation. In my work with and for startups, global corporations and public institutions, I have led numerous initiatives that helped translate new technologies into tangible industrial and societal impact.
My work focuses on AR/VR, digital twins, data connectivity, agentic AI and frontier models in industrial operations.
I understand innovation primarily as an interface discipline deliberately connecting frontier capabilities with established industrial approaches, tracking the adjacent horizon (post-quantum security, content provenance for generated media, spatial human-AI interaction, sovereign tech stacks) through the same lens: what organizations can actually adopt, and when it creates true value.
On these pages, you’ll find information about my work and personal background, along with a comprehensive overview of my portfolio and the organisations I’ve collaborated with. I’m available for impulse talks, consulting projects, mentoring or guest articles for your publication.
Activities
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Transformation and Innovation Projects
Over the past decade I've led many programs across the automotive, aerospace and defense, energy, apparel, and healthcare industries, as well as the public sector. My work centers on the point where strategy, technology, and organization meet: building the platforms, partnerships, and commercial models through which new technical capability becomes operational reality. That ranges from structured large-scale programs with full budget and milestone responsibility, to open innovation contexts where concepts are ideated and developed in close collaboration with partners. Details of key initiatives are available in my portfolio.
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Europe and Political Engagement
I am a European at heart. Thanks to a scholarship from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, I’ve engaged in numerous political activities: this included working within pro-European organisations such as the DGAP (German Council on Foreign Relations), participating in international delegations to Hong Kong and Israel, and working for and with local liberals in Berlin. Additionally, I served as elected councillor for the quarter Berlin Moabit-West. As member of the council, I allocated funding for social and cultural projects that promote youth participation and educational opportunities for teenagers. Details of my political activities are available in the portfolio.
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Environmental Protection and Biodiversity
The protection of natural habitats and ecosystems is the central challenge of our time. The future of generations to come depends on the success we’ll be able to achieve in nature conservation within the coming decades. Specifically biodiversity is a cause I am deeply invested in: natural habitats must be preserved, the ongoing extinction of species must be effectively curbed, and existing international mechanisms, such as the UNESCO World Natural Heritage, must be strengthened decisively. I am building up a family owned business whose revenue is directly linked to donations to organisations dedicated to preserving the global ecosystems and wildlife.
My background
My family has its origins in Merano, Northern Italy, and Salzburg, Austria. I come from a background where science, art, and creativity were equally valued: my grandfathers were scientists and artists, and my grandmothers were among the first women to study medicine and the first to receive technical vocational training.
Whatever field my family members chose to engage in: they all shared an unwavering work ethic, a strong sense of obligation to what they had begun, and a deep-seated drive to contribute their time and labor to the public good.
I was born in Stuttgart and, due to my parents' professions, grew up in several states throughout Germany and partially in Northern Italy.