Heiko Joerg Schick is an executive and leader whose accomplishments in the technology field are formidable. The Chief Architect of Advanced Computing at Huawei Technologies, he has overseen the HiSilicon team since January 2015. Some of his core responsibilities are researching requirements and new technologies for cutting-edge server systems, managing engagement with academics and other partners—as well as the hiring technical experts. His experience in technology and business date back more than fifteen years, encompassing multiple high-level leadership roles.
Previously, Heiko was the Teamlead at IBM Deutschland's Exascale Innovation Center and their Blue Gene Active Storage group. There, he did pioneering work in exascale computing and storage-embedded parallel processing from January 2010 to January 2014. Also at IBM Research & Development, he was the Blue Gene/Q PCI Express Verification and Bring-up Lead from March 2009 to June 2011, and the Firmware Project and Bring-up lead from January 2008 to March 2009. Additional experience at IBM included sixteen months in Firmware and Hardware Development, two years in I/O Firmware Development, twenty months in Processor Firmware Development and ten months in Linux on System z Evaluation.
A graduate of Albstadt-Sigmaringen University, Mr Schick earned his Diploma in Communications and Software Engineering, graduating in 2003. He wrote his thesis "Concept, Design and Implementation of a Slimline Boot Firmware for Linux on Power Architecture" about methods for packaging binary inside firmware for later execution via a small virtual machine. There, he received recognition for earning the highest grades in the graduating class of 2004 and was awarded by the Philipp-Matthaeus-Hahn Donation.
For two months during his time at IBM, he was also a Technical Consultant for Disaster and Humanitarian Relief with IBM Corporation Service Corps, where he helped to develop real-time flood maps in Manila, Philippines. In this role, he worked hand-in-hand with humanitarian groups, research organisations, and local leaders to improve disaster warning and response systems. This effort was in response to Tropical Storm Ondoy (Ketsana) and Typhoon Pepeng (Parma), which had devastated the Manila metropolitan area in late 2009.
Mr Schick has experiences with multiple operating systems, including Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows, and numerous programming languages, including C, C++, Java, Forth, Perl, Bash, and Assembler. He has done extensive work developing both software and firmware. IBM recognised his contributions on multiple occasions, awarding him the Equity Award in 2009, the Bravo Award in 2006, and the Author Recognition Award in 2005. He also received the Excellence Award under the Environmental Excellence Category of the Asian CSR Awards and the First Patent Application Invention Achievement Award, both in 2010.
Since 2015, Mr Schick has been working as Chief Architect in advanced computing at Huawei's German Research Center and is an integral part of the company which now has over 188,000 employees and operates in 170 countries.
Fluent in German and English, Mr Schick is a world traveller. He immerses himself in different cultures, eager to understand the people around him more fully and has helped to promote an environment of trust, diversity, and open-mindedness. Mr Schick fosters initiatives for economic growth in emerging countries and mentors students; he is always looking for ambitious new collaborators, looks forward to finding new ways of improving the world through technology and is doing his part to encourage the next generation of leaders also to play a crucial role in the progress of technology.
