Frank began his career in the predevelopment department at ZF Friedrichshafen, followed by development and project management positions in diesel engine development at MTU and full vehicle development at Mercedes AMG (Daimler). Later he managed the predevelopment department at Hilti power tools for 6 years. In the past 8 years, he played a significant role as vice president mechanical development in transforming Torqeedo from a startup to one of the world market leaders in electric boat propulsion.

Some of the most remarkable innovation milestones out of Franks track record are the development of the diesel engine with highest power density* in the world (*by military definition), the first fully industrialized 10 kW electric outboard operating at 48 V, the most lightweight electric outboard in its power class or the most silent electric outboard in the market. These achievements underline Frank’s ability not just to innovate, but to bring innovations into the market as mature serial products. Especially the e-mobility products are in leisure and professional use all over the world with more than 100.000 units in total.

Frank holds an Engineering Masters from RWTH Aachen and a Triple-Crown Executive MBA from TU München. His academic journey also took him to Tsinghua University, Beijing, and HSG St. Gallen, broadening his international perspective. He is regularly giving lectures on Project Management and Innovation at St. Gallen University.

„Innovation is the lifeblood of industry. It’s about investing in the future,“ he says. “But Innovation is not just about that one brilliant idea or that one fancy prototype. For SME, the challenge in innovation is the strategic selection of the right playing field to make their innovations perfectly fit into their very specific ecosystem and utilizing tools and methods tailored for SME innovation, while for startups the challenge is in the hard and bumpy road to get their brilliant idea into serial production and to the market. In e-mobility, the challenges are beyond electric cars, because the use-cases and loads on the components can be much different in other segments. This is where the expertise of Target Innovation Consulting kicks in. We have done it before, we can lead you the way.”