“My studies were very interdisciplinary”
The expertise that computer science alumnus Kai Beckmann acquired and the people he met at TU Darmstadt provided him with important stimulus and inspiration for his professional career at Merck
2025/01/20 by Astrid Ludwig
Kai Beckmann studied computer science at TU Darmstadt in the 1980s and completed his doctorate in economics at the university ten years later part-time while working. Beckmann began his career at the science and technology company Merck as an IT system consultant. Today, the alumnus is a Member of the Executive Board of Merck responsible for the Electronics business sector (semiconductors and specialty chemicals), the Darmstadt site, patents and inhouse consulting.

Friedrich Jacob Merck was granted permission to open a pharmacy in Darmstadt in 1668. That was 356 years ago, and Merck is now not only the oldest chemical and pharmaceutical company in the world but also one of the biggest. Kai Beckmann can also look back on a rather long career at Merck. He joined the family-owned company 35 years ago fresh out of university as an IT system consultant at the headquarters in Darmstadt. Computer science was still a relatively young discipline at the time. “I was one of only a few employees with a computer science degree in the IT department at Merck. It was a new thing back then”, remembers the alumnus.
To the young university graduate a lot of things were new and different : “Merck was a large company, and the work there differed considerably from what I had been used to in the academic world at TU Darmstadt with respect to its complexity, level of formality and also the hierarchies.” Nevertheless, he felt at home with the tasks expected of him in his first permanent job. “My degree and background enabled me to bring the language of computer science to the company. In fact, every one of the subject areas I covered during my studies has helped me on my career path. Systematic, algorithmic thinking can sometimes be useful when making business decisions”, says the 59-year-old.
Fascinated by computers from an early age
Kai Beckmann originally comes from Hanau. TH Darmstadt – as TU Darmstadt was known at the time – was where he wanted to study “but back then university places in computer science were awarded centrally and whether I would ultimately end up in Darmstadt was not completely in my own hands. However, TU Darmstadt was certainly my clear preference because it had already earned an outstanding reputation in the field of computer science even at that time”, he explains. Computers had fascinated him since his school days, and he built his first computer by himself. “It was a Sinclair ZX80 that came in a construction kit.” He took several jobs during the school holidays to earn the money he needed to purchase this new technology and spent many hours working with the computer as a teenager. He gained his first experience of programming within a school project set up in the form of a student company known as a “Computer AG”. At the beginning of the 1980s, the German state of Hesse launched a pilot project to introduce computer science into their high school curricula as a new subject. “My interest in the subject grew as a result and I realised straight away that I wanted to study computer science after leaving school.”
Immediately after completing his Abitur – the highest German school leaving certificate – Kai Beckmann enrolled in a degree programme that would ultimately take him to his chosen university. He still has very clear memories of his first few weeks there: “Some of my fellow students certainly fitted the common stereotypes about computer scientists”, he says with a smile. The lectures in the Audimax theatre were well attended “but were certainly not on the same scale as today”. Kai Beckmann found his studies “very interdisciplinary” from the very beginning. “I studied computer science with a minor in data technology, which was organised by the Department of Electrical Engineering. My diploma thesis focused on the field of semiconductor technology and chip design, which meant that my studies were strongly slanted towards technical and engineering aspects. In parallel, I worked as a student assistant in the Department of Law and Economics on the economics side.” This part-time job opened a new field of research to him in which he would later graduate with a doctorate. Overall, Kai Beckmann experienced four different fields of research at TU Darmstadt. “And I still find all of them interesting to this day. So much so that I still give lectures to chemists even today”, says the alumnus, who was also President of the Employers Association for the Chemical Industry up to 2024.
Inspirational personalities
Kai Beckmann has good memories of some of the personalities at the university who left a lasting impression on him. This includes names such as Professor Hans Tzschach and Professor Robert Pilotiy who are considered the founding fathers of computer science at TU Darmstadt. Professor Manfred Glesner was his thesis advisor and Kai Beckmann later became one of his research assistants. “It was an experience that helped me a lot.” His doctoral supervisor Professor Hans-Dieter Heike also played an important role. The Member of the Executive Board of Merck is also still in contact with Professor Emeritus José Encarnação, who founded the Center for Graphic Data Processing, which later became the Fraunhofer IGD. Kai Beckmann is today Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Fraunhofer IGD. “These people had a strong influence on me both professionally and personally and provided me with important stimulus and inspiration for my professional career.”
One of his colleagues during his studies was Achim Kaufmann, who was a research assistant at the Institute for Statistics and Econometrics at the time and later became a Professor at the University of Applied Sciences Mittelhessen. It was Kaufmann who sparked Kai Beckmann’s interest in his current employer. “I applied for my first job here and joined Merck in 1989 as a result”, he emphasises. He has since gradually worked his way up the management levels at this family-owned company. He was Head of the Information Management and Consulting Unit from 1999 to 2004 and later served as Managing Director of Merck in Singapore and Malaysia, before he was appointed as first Chief Information Officer for the Corporate Information Services Department in 2007. In 2011, he was appointed Member of the Executive Board responsible for human resources and seven years ago became CEO for the Electronics business sector.
Dr Kai Beckmann,
Member of the Executive Board Merck KGaA | CEO Electronics
“I not only received in-depth technical knowledge at TU Darmstadt but also acquired the ability to think in an interdisciplinary way and examine complex problems from different perspectives.”

Complex challenges
Today, Beckmann is confronted by numerous complex challenges closely related to the rapid development of the semiconductor industry and the digitalisation of the global economy. “The technologies we develop are crucial for pioneering fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, bioelectronics, bioconvergence and synthetic biology”, he explains. The challenge for Kai Beckmann is to ensure that the company “not only remains at the cutting edge of technology but also continues to find success on an increasingly complex and highly competitive global market.” When asked whether his studies helped prepare him to tackle these tasks, he doesn't have to think long before answering: “Although many technologies such as smartphones and AR glasses were not yet conceivable during my time at the university, these developments are based on the same physical and chemical principles that I was taught during my studies.” And these fundamental principles help him to make informed decision today. “I not only received in-depth technical knowledge at TU Darmstadt but also acquired the ability to think in an interdisciplinary way and examine complex problems from different perspectives.” In a sector that is characterised by rapid technological changes, Kai Beckmann believes that this ability is crucial for “developing innovative solutions, while implementing sustainable, long-term corporate strategies at the same time”.
He still has very close links to his alma mater as a member of the University Council of TU Darmstadt and through numerous projects and collaborations between TU Darmstadt and Merck. “Some of my fellow students from that time also now work at Merck and it is something I am particularly pleased about.” Kai Beckmann is convinced that it gives us all some common ground “for building a strong network”.
