Dieter Otten

Prof. Dr. Dieter Otten, M.A. (* 1943 in Eltville) is a German sociologist and entrepreneur. He studied sociology and logic in Göttingen and Münster. From 1974 to 2008, he was Professor of Sociology at the Univer­sity of Osnabrück. In 1989, he chaired the UN World Congress “Climate and Develop­ment” in Hamburg and, from 1990 to 1995, he was Managing Director of the Gelsenkirchen Science Park (“Helicon Valley”). Being Emeritus since 2008, he has worked as a developer and in­ves­tor. He is Managing Director of the Greek Solar Power Plant Lassithi EPE, building the world’s first Frenell power plant on Crete. In 2018, he developed the concept of the »Sun­glider«, an autonomous, solar-powered smart metro at the +1 level for medium-sized cities (“Mezzo­po­lis”). Since 2022, the system is going to be implemented with the Sunglider AG based in Os­nabrück in collaboration with the architect Dr. Peter Kusczia, the Warsaw Uni­versity of Tech­nology, and industrial partners emerging from the Transrapid project, the automo­tive and the construction industry. Prof. Otten is heading the Supervi­sory Board of the Sun­gli­der AG in Osnabrück.