short vita

Prof. Dr. Maximilian von Grafenstein LL.M. is professor for Digital Self-Determination at the UdK Berlin Career College being part of the Einstein Center Digital Future (ECDF). He is also head of the research program "Governance of Data-Driven Innovation and Cybersecurity" at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG). His research focuses on the interface between the regulation of innovation, behavioral economics and media design.

Max von Grafenstein studied history and law in Regensburg and Munich, and completed his training as a European film producer in Paris, London, and Ludwigsburg. In Berlin, he founded his first startup Mauerschau and developed a mobile augmented-reality app with location-based stories of eye-witnesses about the construction and fall of the Berlin Wall (for the term "Mauerschau", alias "Teichoskopie", see here). Max von Grafenstein wrote his doctoral thesis on the "Regulation of innovation using the example of the principle of purpose limitation in data protection law." Being part of the interdisciplinary research group "Internet-enabled Innovation", he led the HIIG Startup Law Clinic, where he supported over 100 startups in solving legal issues with regard to their product and business model innovations.

Max von Grafenstein is co-chair of the Berlin Chapter of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). He recently founded a new startup, Innovation & Law, to test the efficiency of data protection and security by design solutions, as well as data protection certificates and codes of conduct.