Martin Grötschel is professor of mathematics and holds the Chair for Information Technology at the Institute of Mathematics of Technische Universität Berlin. From 1991 to September 2012 he served as the Vice President of Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik Berlin (ZIB). In October 2012 he was appointed to the President of Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik Berlin. From 2002 to 2008 he chaired the DFG Research Center Matheon "Mathematics for key technologies".

His mathematical research interests include optimization, discrete mathematics, and operations research. He has authored and edited 13 books and written more than 150 papers. He has deep interest in applications of mathematics and has been engaged in many projects with industry in areas such as telecommunication, electronics, software, logistics, traffic, transportation, energy, and production technology. Martin Grötschel has also been involved in various projects on scientific information and communication.

His awards include Honorary Doctoral Degrees of the University of Karlsruhe, the University of Magdeburg and the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology. He received the Dantzig Prize and the John von Neumann Prize for his contributions to mathematical programming, the Leibniz Prize for fundamental research and the Beckurts Prize for transfer of research to industry.

Martin Grötschel was the President of the German Mathematical Society (DMV) from 1993-1994, he was the President of the Organizing Committee of the International Congress of Mathematicians 1998 in Berlin, and he has been the Secretary of the International Mathematical Union (IMU) since 2007. Since June 2011 Martin Grötschel has been the Chairman of the Einstein Foundation Berlin.