Vikram Bapat is a PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Florian Urmetzer in the Ecosystems, Platform, and Strategy Research Group. His research examines the real-world use of AI models and tools and their implications for strategic planning and innovation.

Vikram brings over 25 years of industry experience in product design and research from Microsoft and Google. At Microsoft, he led teams building software developer tools across expertise levels and modalities. His notable contributions include launching the first version of Visual Studio Team System, steering several releases of Visual Studio's advanced developer tools over a decade, and developing low-code tools and platforms for IoT and HoloLens Mixed Reality developers.

At Google, he oversaw design and research functions for Android and Play Developer Tools, launching the first formal release of Android Studio and multiple iterations of the Play Developer Console. Over the last seven years, Vikram served as Product Design Director for Google Ads Platform, leading design teams that built advertiser and consumer experiences across verticals and, most recently, Shopping on Google Search.

Vikram holds degrees in Architecture from the University of Pune, India; Industrial Design from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India; and Information Design from Carnegie Mellon University, USA.