Autodesk's R&D Director in the Office of the CTO, Hilmar Koch has a deep curiosity for the future of work and how people can thrive in the data economy of the future. In his previous roles at Lucasfilm and Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) as Head of CG, Director of Virtual Production, and Director of the Advanced Development Group, he was always in search of applying cutting-edge technology in the day-to-day craft and going beyond the status quo. He was the Digital Effects Supervisor for the Academy Award–winning short “Bunny.” In 2010, he was co-recipient of an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement for developing Ambient Occlusion first used on “Pearl Harbor” in 2000. A native of Germany, Koch was born in Esslingen am Neckar and grew up in Munich. He holds an undergraduate degree in Arts from Columbia College Chicago and in Mathematics from the Technical University in Munich.