Keynote speaker · Economist · Professor, Zeppelin University

Wolfgang H. Schulz

How are markets built, and who ends up controlling them? Talks for leaders who have to decide before the answer is obvious.

Wolfgang H. Schulz has studied for thirty years how firms, regulators, and technologies shape one another: in the automotive industry, on digital platforms, in transport corridors between China and Europe. He holds the Chair of Mobility, Trade and Logistics at Zeppelin University and has advised the German Bundestag, the European Commission, and federal ministries. Two books are in progress: The Cowboy Economy and Economic System Architecture.

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Languages English, German Based in Meerbusch near Düsseldorf and Friedrichshafen, Germany
Portrait of Wolfgang H. Schulz
Since 2005Full professor of economics
BundestagExpert witness, Budget and Transport Committees
Washington, D.C.Two TRB committees; two papers at the 2027 Annual Meeting
Two booksIn progress, 2027

Keynotes

Seven talks, one question: who shapes the market?

Each talk runs 30 to 45 minutes and ends with a discussion. The audiences so far: business associations, service clubs, company boards, universities. Most recent: evening keynote at the Lions Club Meerbusch, September 2026. Every talk is adapted to the audience; a version for a supervisory board differs from the one for a chamber of commerce.

From the forthcoming book

The Cowboy Economy

Ten ways America thinks about business, from a railroad entrepreneur who founded a university to an expensive battery that became a reason to start with a sports car. What European firms can learn about building markets, and why Europe's answer lies in decentralization and hypercooperation rather than imitation.

For executives, entrepreneurs, business associations, family businesses

From the forthcoming book

Economic System Architecture

Where the firm ends is a design decision. How firms, cooperations, and value networks emerge and transform, with cases from an AI platform for the automotive industry, the HydRON optical satellite network, and Gaia-X data spaces.

For strategy teams, industry consortia, public agencies, universities

Innovation lessons from Neanderthals and Homo sapiens

Two species of similar intelligence, one of them gone. Neanderthals made superb individual tools; sapiens built standards, shared norms, and networks that let knowledge travel. Why that difference is the oldest case of economies of scale and network effects, and what it says about firms that innovate alone.

For company events, innovation teams, family businesses, chambers of commerce; the most requested opener

When the core falters

Germany's automotive industry under pressure from above and below: what protected its profits, why three lines of defense failed, and what decentralized cooperation in data spaces could change.

For suppliers, OEM management, regional business associations, works councils

The NVIDIA dilemma

Why falling marginal costs turn platforms into rent collectors, and which options remain for European industry as a latecomer.

For technology companies, investors, industrial policy makers

Why societies resist effective regulation

Visible private costs and invisible public benefits: lessons from vehicle inspection reforms in Europe, and what they teach about every regulation that saves lives nobody can name.

For regulators, inspection organizations, insurers, political foundations

Two growth spaces, one corridor

What growth interdependence in Central Asia and the South Caucasus means for the Middle Corridor between China and Europe, and for anyone planning freight capacity there.

For logistics companies, ports, export industries, development banks

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Formats and conditions

From a 40-minute keynote to a day with your leadership team

Keynote
30 to 45 minutes plus discussion, in English or German. For conferences, annual meetings, member evenings, and company events. Slides are optional; the argument carries the talk.
Executive seminar
Half a day or a full day with a management team or board, built on one of the talks and your own situation: platform strategy, cooperation models, market entry, regulation.
Panel and moderation
Contributions to panels, moderation of expert discussions, and dinner speeches.
Guest lecture
For universities and business schools, including Erasmus+ staff mobility.
Studies and expert opinions
Where a talk raises a question that needs numbers: commissioned studies, economic expert opinions, and evaluations of transport and infrastructure projects.
For organizers
A press photo, a short biography in three lengths, and the talk title and abstract are sent with the confirmation.
Fees and invoicing
Fees depend on format, preparation, and travel; you receive a quote within two working days. Talks, seminars, and studies are contracted and invoiced by S-IERC GmbH, Meerbusch. Travel from Düsseldorf or Friedrichshafen.

Books in progress

Two books, 2027

The Cowboy Economy

Ten Ways America Thinks About Business and Why Europe Should Understand Them

Why do some proposals gather momentum in the United States while comparable European initiatives remain in discussion? Ten chapters, each a way of reading business decisions: turn a vision into a mission, treat rules as changeable, organize many attempts, capture attention, control access to the customer. The closing chapter gives Europe's own answer: decentralization, hypercooperation, and a competition framework that lets independent businesses build alternatives together. For entrepreneurs and business leaders. English edition first, German edition to follow.

Economic System Architecture

A General Theory of Economic Organization and Transformation

A theory of how economic organizations come into being, cooperate, and transform, developed from the Institutional Role Model and tested in three projects: an AI data platform for automated driving, the HydRON optical satellite network, and the Gaia-X moveID data space. For readers in strategy, industrial policy, and economics who need a method, not a metaphor, for designing cooperation among independent firms.

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About

An economist who works where firms, regulators, and technologies meet

Wolfgang H. Schulz studied economics in Bochum and took his doctorate (1994) and habilitation (2004) at the University of Cologne under Herbert Baum, one of Germany's leading transport economists. He has been a full professor since 2005, first at Hochschule Fresenius in Cologne, since 2013 at Zeppelin University on Lake Constance, where he holds the Chair of Mobility, Trade and Logistics and directs the Center for Mobility Studies.

He developed the Institutional Role Model, a method for allocating roles among firms, public authorities, and users in systems that no single owner controls. It has been applied to cooperative traffic systems, the Gaia-X data spaces, satellite communication, and transport corridors. He has testified before the Budget and Transport Committees of the German Bundestag, served as rapporteur for the European Commission at ICAO, and sits on two standing committees of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C. He teaches the economics of artificial intelligence and platform economics, and he runs S-IERC GmbH, the institute through which his studies and talks are contracted.

ORCID 0000-0001-7746-4303 Dr. rer. pol. University of Cologne, 1994 Habilitation University of Cologne, 2004

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Academic profile: research, publications, career, service, teaching

Research

Fields of work

Governance of cooperation

The Institutional Role Model: role allocation among manufacturers, operators, regulators, and standard setters in systems without a single owner, from cooperative ITS to Gaia-X data spaces.

Political economy of regulation

Why regulation with private, visible costs and diffuse, counterfactual benefits meets political resistance; evidence from periodic technical inspection of motor vehicles.

Platforms, AI, and industrial policy

Platform rent under falling marginal costs, the economics of artificial intelligence, technological dependency, and latecomer strategies for European industry.

Evaluation of transport systems

Cost-benefit analysis and econometric impact assessment for road safety, rail passenger services, and connected and automated driving; external costs and external benefits of transport.

Modes and corridors

Rail, maritime shipping and sea routes, and international transport corridors, including their role for supply security.

Security and dual use

Maritime security, defense industrial policy, and the governance of space and dual-use infrastructure.

Selected publications

Journal articles, books, papers

  1. 2026

    Förster, K., & Schulz, W. H. Unlocking the future of travel: Understanding the acceptance of railway passenger services in Germany. Promet: Traffic & Transportation, 38(1), 42–57.

  2. 2026

    Schulz, W. H. Falling marginal costs and platform rent: A two-layer profit model of NVIDIA's open-source strategy in autonomous driving. CfM Discussion Paper No. 2026-01, Center for Mobility Studies, Zeppelin University.

  3. 2025

    Schulz, W. H., Geilenberg, V., & Kleis, H. Institutional framework for hyper-cooperation: Dynamics in the digital economy. International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning, 20(1).

  4. 2025

    Schulz, W. H., Geilenberg, V., Franck, O., Rychlik, H., & Joisten, N. Das Satellitenkommunikationsprojekt HydRON für die baden-württembergische Industrie. Springer Fachmedien, Wiesbaden.

  5. 2024

    Geilenberg, V., Schulz, W. H., Mize, J., & Kleis, H. From self-descriptions (SD) to self-recommendations (SR): Evolving Gaia-X for the future European economy. International Journal of Information Management Data Insights, 4(2).

  6. 2022

    Schulz, W. H., & Franck, O. The Institutional Role Model: A system-dynamic approach to reduce complexity. International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning, 17(2).

  7. 2021

    Schulz, W. H., Joisten, N., & Edye, C. F. (Eds.). Mobilität nach COVID-19: Grenzen, Möglichkeiten, Chancen. Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.

  8. 2021

    Schulz, W. H., & Franck, O. An empirical study to estimate the economic effects of the introduction of a periodical technical inspection (PTI) for motor vehicles in Punjab (Pakistan). The Open Transportation Journal, 15.

  9. 2001

    Schulz, W. H. External costs and external benefits. In European Conference of Ministers of Transport (Ed.), Assessing the benefits of transport (pp. 159–163). OECD, Paris.

  10. 1996

    Schulz, W. H. Measuring and understanding external effects of transport: A theoretical and empirical approach. In Centre Jacques Cartier & Ministère des Transports du Québec (Eds.), Mesurer et maîtriser les effets externes du transport. Montréal.

Upcoming presentations

Transportation Research Board, 106th Annual Meeting

  1. 2027

    Schulz, W. H., & Joisten, N. Does more frequent inspection of older cars pay off? A scenario-weighted benefit-cost analysis of moving Germany's periodic technical inspection to an annual cycle for vehicles aged ten years and above. Session 3151, Topical Research in Transportation Finance and Economics · Washington, D.C., January 12, 2027

  2. 2027

    Schulz, W. H., & Joisten, N. Interoperability as a public good: A cost and viability model of networked rail ticket distribution and its regulatory implications. Session 3152, Emerging Research in Transportation Economics, Finance, and Investment Strategies · Washington, D.C., January 12, 2027

Career

Academic positions

  1. since 2013

    Zeppelin University, FriedrichshafenFull Professor, Chair of Mobility, Trade and Logistics; Director, Center for Mobility Studies. Dean, Faculty of Economics (2017–2018); Dean, Executive Education (2019–2022); Academic Director, Executive Master's programs Digital Pioneering and Mobility Innovations (2020–2025); Member of the University Senate (2017–2019, since 2022).

  2. 2005–2013

    Hochschule Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, CologneProfessor of Economics. Program Director, Media & Communication Management (until 2008) and Media Management (2006–2011); Founding Program Director, Logistics & Retail (Cologne from 2008; Hamburg and Munich 2009–2011).

  3. 2004–2013

    University of ColognePrivatdozent (habilitated lecturer), venia legendi in economics, transport economics.

  4. 1990–2003

    University of Cologne, Institute of Transport EconomicsResearch associate and assistant professor with Prof. Dr. Herbert Baum. Doctorate 1994, habilitation 2004.

  5. 1987–1990

    University of EssenResearch associate, Chair of Economic Policy (Prof. Dr. Herbert Baum).

  6. 1982–1987

    Ruhr University BochumStudies in economics, Diplom-Ökonom.

Continuing education

  • Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles, HarvardX (Harvard Kennedy School), online course (2025)
  • Google AI Essentials, Google via Coursera, online course (2025)

Service and expert roles

Committees and advisory work

Transportation Research Board
Member of the Standing Committees on Data Systems and Governance (AED11) and on Developments and Advancements in Transportation Technology Law (AQL14), since 2025; earlier committees on economics and finance, research innovation implementation, and social and economic factors of transportation (2016–2025). National Academies, Washington, D.C.
Association for European Transport
Member of the Council, since 2025
German Centre for Rail Traffic Research
Member of the Scientific Advisory Board (DZSF), since 2022
Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services (BGA)
Member of the Logistics and Transport Committee, since 2010
German Bundestag
Expert witness on infrastructure charging, Budget Committee (2015) and Transport Committee (2015, 2017)
International expert roles
Rapporteur for the European Commission, ICAO/CAEP Working Group 5 on market-based options (Geneva and Montréal, 2000); expert, ECMT Round Table 118 on tolls for intercity road infrastructure (Paris, 2000)
Research funding and accreditation
Reviewer for the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG); accreditation expert for FIBAA and evalag
Research projects
Scientific lead of projects for German federal ministries and agencies, including Gaia-X 4 ROMS, AMS and moveID, SeQueRe, the simTD field operational test, and rail ticketing governance for the DZSF
Memberships
American Economic Association; Association for European Transport (AET); German Road and Transportation Research Association (FGSV); Midwest Political Science Association, life member since 2012

Teaching

Courses and guest teaching

Digital economy and AI

Zeppelin University

  • Economics of Artificial Intelligence (seminar, since 2019)
  • Platform Economics
  • Structural Integrity of Artificial Intelligence Platforms
  • Reducing Complexity for Hypercooperations
  • Advanced Microeconomics
  • Digital Transformation and Entrepreneurship (since 2024)
  • Practice seminar: Digital Transformation of Business Models in Regulated and Competitive Markets (2026)
  • Microeconomics: Platform Architectures and AI (in development; first case study: NVIDIA's open-source strategy in autonomous driving)

Mobility and transport

Zeppelin University

  • Mobility Innovations and Digitalization (since 2017)
  • Mobility Industries (since 2021)
  • Mobility

Economics

  • Microeconomics (since 2016)
  • Doctoral supervision and examination in transport economics and institutional economics, including dissertations co-supervised with Prof. Laurent Guihéry (CY Cergy Paris Université): Isabella Geis (2017) and Oliver Franck (2024)

Earlier teaching

  • Hochschule Fresenius: Principles of Media Economics, Advanced Media Economics, Sustainable Transport Policy (2005–2013)
  • University of Cologne: industrial economics, competition theory and policy, quantitative methods in transport economics; CEMS seminar Global Competition in the Aviation Industry (2001–2005)

Guest teaching and invited lectures

  1. 2025

    University of Zagreb, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences. Erasmus+ staff teaching mobility: AI-driven mobility transformation and value creation in the mobility economy.

  2. 2019

    Université de Cergy-Pontoise (now CY Cergy Paris Université). Guest lecture on the operator model of an AI platform for the German automotive industry (KIP project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs), given during a research semester in fall 2019 at the invitation of Prof. Laurent Guihéry.

  3. 1996

    Centre Jacques Cartier, Montréal. Invited lecture on measuring and understanding the external effects of transport, published by the Centre Jacques Cartier and the Ministère des Transports du Québec.

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© 2026 Wolfgang H. Schulz · Professor of Economics, Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen