Dr. Ijad Madisch

Ijad Madisch is co-founder and CEO of ResearchGate, the professional network for researchers. He earned his doctorate in the field of virology, while also studying computer science on the side. Ijad spent several years working as a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, focusing on tissue engineering and radiology. He founded ResearchGate in 2008, together with fellow physician Sören Hofmayer and computer scientist Horst Fickenscher.

Ijad has been awarded many national and international entrepreneurship prizes, including the Deutscher Gründerpreis, Focus Digital Star and Time Magazine’s Next Generation Leaders. He is on the selection committee for the Breakthrough Prize Junior Challenge, and advised Chancellor Angela Merkel on Germany’s digitalization as a member of the Deutscher Digitalrat from 2018 - 2021.