Ann Rosenberg is Senior Vice President & Global Head of SAP Next-Gen, a Purpose Driven Innovation Community Empowered by SAP Leonardo Ann leads SAP Next-Gen, a purpose driven innovation community empowered by SAP Leonardo and an innovation platform for SAP’s 365,000+ customers across 25 industries in 180+ countries. The platform leverages 3,360+ educational institutions in 111 countries as well as startups, accelerators, purpose driven partners, futurists, and 70+ SAP Next-Gen labs/hubs at university campuses in the SAP NextGen innovation with purpose network. The platform also leverages SAP’s 100+ innovation and development centers and SAP’s network of 17,000+ partner companies.
SAP Next-Gen enables customers to connect with academic thought leaders and researchers, students, startups, tech community partners, venture firms, purpose driven partners, and SAP experts to reimagine the future of industries with SAP Leonardo, seed in disruptive innovation with startups, and build skills for digital futures. SAP Next-Gen drives innovation with purpose supporting SAP’s commitment to the 17 UN Global Goals for sustainable development.
SAP Next-Gen is an extension of two global programs which Ann also leads: SAP University Alliances, a global program enabling educational institutions to integrate the latest SAP technologies into academic teaching and research; and the SAP Young Thinkers program which opens the world of SAP to younger students in schools, inspiring the next generation to pursue education and careers in STEM fields, and enabling them with skills including design thinking and coding with Snap! in a collaboration with UC Berkeley’s Beauty and Joy of Computing curriculum. Learning resources available through these two programs on SAP Leonardo and other SAP solutions enhance how faculty prepare the next generation designers, developers, data scientists, makers, entrepreneurs and business leaders with knowledge and skills for the intelligent enterprise. Through a network of 3,360+ educational institutions across 111 countries worldwide, SAP University Alliances and SAP Young Thinkers aim to develop critical skills for digital futures among academics, university students and young thinkers.
SAP Next-Gen has been well received globally, and today is a global community of 3,360+ educational institutions in 111 countries. More than 70 SAP Next-Gen labs and hubs have opened on university campuses. Ann’s team has conducted 500+ SAP Next-Gen innovation tours and completed nearly 300 SAP Next-Gen projects with academia and industry. And under Ann’s leadership there are now 800+ SAP Young Thinkers schools. Ann expects 2018 will see continued strong growth as both academia and industry increasingly see the value in teaming up with SAP Next-Gen for purpose driven innovation.
Ann supports UN Women both as a member of the UN Women Global Innovation Coalition for Change, and hosting the UN Women Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship Industry Forum at the SAP Leonardo Center in New York, fostering new connections among academia, corporations, startups, tech community partners, and purpose driven organizations to help accelerate achieving the UN Global Goals including Goal 4 – Quality Education. Ann believes that advancing opportunities for STEM education including digital technologies such as Blockchain can help women and girls to design, shape and benefit from the technological transformations and innovations changing our world. Ann sees the partnership with UN Women as a key enabler of accelerating new opportunities for women and girls in innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship.
Ann also is SAP’s woman executive sponsor for the #sheinnovates program, a collaboration between SAP Next-Gen and UN Women aimed at accelerating innovation for women and girls together with the UN Women Global Innovation Coalition for Change. Ann and her team collaborate on global projects, events, and meet-ups for SAP customers and the SAP Next-Gen global community, and under Ann’s leadership the community benefits from a #sheinnovates app, podcasts, and ongoing social media. Ann Version January 8, 2018 Page 2 of 2 is excited to team with UN Women on this global initiative to drive industry-wide action to make innovation and technology work better for young women and girls.
Ann has always evangelized gender equality both as a founding member of the UN Women Global Innovation Coalition for Change: Making Innovation Work for Women, and in her role as global Stanford WiDS (Women in Data Science) SAP ambassador & committee member. As an alumnus of Singularity University, Ann is all about the exponential mindset making a positive impact in the world, and drives the 17 UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development across all of her engagements.
In New York, Ann is a frequent speaker in the “Silicon Alley” academic and startup/tech community where she has for example inspired students at Columbia University’s Data Science Institute about SAP’s approach to innovating with next generation data scientists on topics such as Machine Learning; facilitated industry connections to the startup accelerators at Columbia and New York University; and strengthened research and innovation ties among the Silicon Valleys of the world which are seeking to build partnerships in New York for example with the Hasso Plattner Institute and the German Center for Research and Innovation. Ann is very active on social media @rosenbergann and produces SAP Next-Gen podcasts highlighting how the SAP ecosystem is accelerating digital futures and the exponential enterprise through connecting with SAP Next-Gen offerings.
Ann holds an Honorary Doctorate from Delaware State University in recognition for her leadership with Project Propel, a strategic collaboration among SAP, the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group, and Delaware State University supporting Historically Black Colleges and Universities to empower students with knowledge of the latest SAP technologies to enhance their academic and career outcomes. Ann’s leadership in building a global academic innovation network extends from the Americas where she co-leads the SAP Leonardo Center in New York and has created innovation links between Silicon Valley and New York; to the Asia Pacific Region where she launched the SAP Education Network for Digital Transformation in Greater China; to the EMEA region where she has been a speaker at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) General Conference, and where she leads SAP Next-Gen’s activities aligned with the Digital Hub Initiative supporting the establishment of digital hubs in Germany.
Ann’s influence is highlighted in the following examples of SAP newsbytes: SAP University Alliances Expands Offerings to Executives and Professionals to Help Lead the Digital Transformation; New SAP Education Network for Digital Transformation Accelerates Customers’ Journeys to Becoming Digital Enterprises; SAP Addresses the Digital Skills Gap to Accelerate Digital Transformation; SAP Announces Collaboration with White House’s “Computer Science for All” Initiative; Technical University of Munich Partners with the SAP Education Network for Digital Transformation; ASUG and LeadershipGarage Join SAP Education Network for Digital Transformation; SAP Next-Gen Lab at NCU to accelerate the impact of the SAP academic innovation network in the APJ region; HPI, University of Potsdam and SAP Partner to Accelerate Next-Gen Innovation; University of Cape Town takes the lead in enterprise systems education in Africa with SAP Ann is originally from Denmark,