Co-Founder & Managing Director
Dr. Anna Christmann
- Federal Commissioner for Digital Economy & Startups, Germany (2022–2025)
- Federal Coordinator for Aerospace (2022–2025)
- Member, UN Secretary-General's AI Advisory Body (since 2023)
- Tagesspiegel Background Person of the Year — Digitalisation & AI 2023
Profile
Dr. Anna Christmann is an entrepreneur, political scientist, and former member of the German Bundestag (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Stuttgart II, 2017–2025). From January 2022 to May 2025, she served simultaneously as Germany's Federal Commissioner for Digital Economy and Startups and Federal Coordinator for Aerospace at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) under Robert Habeck.
In this dual role, she designed and implemented Germany's first comprehensive startup ecosystem programme — 130 measures across ten action fields, over 80 percent realised by the end of 2024. She architected flagship instruments including the Future Fund (up to €30 billion in growth capital by 2030), the DeepTech & Climate Fund (€1 billion), and the European Tech Champions Initiative. Institutionally, she pushed through the SPRIND-Freiheitsgesetz, granting Germany's radical innovation agency DARPA-like autonomy, and founded DATI, a new federal agency for science-to-market transfer.
In October 2023, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed her to the UN Secretary-General's Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, where she co-authored the final report "Governing AI for Humanity" (September 2024). She also co-authored the European Tech Deal paper (April 2024) with MEP Sergey Lagodinsky, calling for a continent-wide innovation strategy on par with the Green Deal.
Following the end of the Ampel coalition and the loss of her Bundestag mandate in February 2025, she co-founded SAI Europe GmbH with Sarkis Bisanz — a strategic advisory agency for tech companies, startups, and associations navigating European innovation and policy.
Key Achievements (2022–2025)
- Germany's first comprehensive Startup Strategy (June 2022) 130 measures across 10 action fields — over 80% implemented by end of 2024
- Future Fund Up to €30 billion in venture capital for startups and scale-ups by 2030, via KfW Capital
- DeepTech & Climate Fund €1 billion fund for hardware-intensive deep-tech and climate startups with longer development cycles — 13+ investments
- European Tech Champions Initiative €1 billion co-investment vehicle to build European scale-ups alongside private investors
- EXIST Startup Factories 15 new entrepreneurship hubs at German universities (selected from 26 applications, representing ~100 universities)
- SPRIND-Freiheitsgesetz (November 2023) New law granting Germany's radical innovation agency (SPRIND) DARPA-like operational autonomy
- DATI (November 2024) New federal agency for knowledge and technology transfer from science to market
- Employee Participation Reform Fixed the "dry-income problem" — startup employees can hold equity without immediate tax liability
- SheTransformsIT National initiative promoting women in tech entrepreneurship and startup leadership
- UN AI Advisory Body (October 2023) Appointed by UN Secretary-General Guterres; co-authored "Governing AI for Humanity" (September 2024)
- European Tech Deal (April 2024) Co-authored policy paper with MEP Lagodinsky calling for a continent-wide innovation strategy
In Her Own Words
Only an innovative Europe is a sovereign Europe.
Technological innovation and democracy belong together.
We need to free ourselves from a purely defensive posture — Europe must actively shape its technological future.
Startups have the drive to really make change happen in the German economy.
A shortcoming I observed was drafting many strategies that stalled significantly in implementation. That is what I wanted to change.
Academic & Professional Background
- PhD in Political Science — University of Bern (2011) · Focus: direct democracy
- Postdoctoral Researcher — University of Zurich
- Research Fellow — UC Irvine
- Studies in Political Science, Economics & Mathematics — Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
- Head of Digital Strategy, Ministry of Science Baden-Württemberg (2013–2017)
- Member of the German Bundestag, Stuttgart II (2017–2025)
- Federal Commissioner for Digital Economy & Startups / Federal Coordinator for Aerospace (2022–2025)
- Co-Founder & Managing Director, SAI Europe GmbH (since 2025)