Martin Konold
Authorised Officer, CTO

+49 711 217274-90
martin.konold@konsec.com

A theoretical astrophysicist by training, he has been working with hardware and software since the 1980s. Among other things, he became known for the Kepler Cluster project, which he initiated and led (196 CPUs, rank 215 in the TOP500 list), at the Collaborative Research Centre 382 (methods and algorithms for simulating physical processes on high-performance computers), achieving a computing efficiency for Intel processors that was never surpassed.

After founding his first hardware company in 1992 and an intermezzo at SuSE Linux GmbH, he founded the consultancy Erfrakon Partnerschaftsgesellschaft in 2001 and, two years later, Konsec GmbH.

Beyond science, Martin Konold has earned his merits by founding and leading major open source projects for many years, such as LyX, the K Desktop Environment and Kolab Groupware, as well as supporting non-profit organisations (the world’s first Linux User Group, KDE e.V. and the KDE Free Qt Foundation).

He has successfully handed over all of his long-standing open source projects to younger hands and served as dedicated chairman of the KDE Free Qt Foundation until 2021.

His motto: “From the smallest to the largest – always keeping the maximum possible in view.”

Just as in astrophysics he makes connections understandable from the largest cosmic dimensions down to the smallest quantum-mechanical particles, he is a recognised expert in extremely scalable hardware and software solutions who never tires of passing on his knowledge and experience.

For his commitment he has received several awards, including the Linux Community Award, the Linux New Media Award and the KDE Akademy Jury Award.

Besides skiing, he loves conquering the steep roads up the Swabian Jura in his all-wheel-drive Tesla.