On May 11, 2015, Prof. Ahlemann held a presentation on the required capabilities for future IT organizations titled “Vorbereitet sein für die Zukunft: Welche Capabilities IT-Organisationen heute entwickeln müssen,” at the GFFT annual meeting in Wesel, Germany. The annual meeting focused on the management of large-scale projects, industry/logistics 4.0 and digital transformation. In his presentation, Prof. Ahlemann emphasized the need for a proactive and collaborative IT role, taking new developments like big data, industry 4.0, social media and Internet of things into account. To meet the requirements of future business’s expectations and to actively shape tomorrow’s business models, the IT organization has to shift from the traditional plan-build-run principle to a new paradigm of “innovate, design, and transform.” The “Gesellschaft zur Förderung des Forschungstransfers” (GFFT) aims at facilitating the transfer of innovative research ideas to practice. Further information about the GFFT can be found at: https://www.gfft-portal.de/