Prof. Pretschner studied computer science at RWTH Aachen University and the University of Kansas, where he was a Fulbright grant recipient.

After obtaining his doctorate at the Technical University Munich, he worked as a senior researcher at ETH Zurich. He then joined the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE in Kaiserlauten within the framework of the Fraunhofer Attract Program, serving simultaneously as an adjunct associate professor at TU Kaiserslautern. Before joining TUM as a full professor in 2012, he was a full professor at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Prof. Pretschner’s research activities focus on software and systems engineering, with a special emphasis on testing and information security.

Prof. Pretschner has been the founding director of the Bavarian Research Institute for Digital Transformation (bidt) since 2018.

Since 2016 he is Scientific Director and since 2019 speaker of the Scientific Board of fortiss.