René Schulte is a technology executive, engineer and international speaker working at the intersection of hands-on engineering, technical leadership and emerging technology. As a Senior Manager and Head of AI & Spatial Computing Communities at Reply, he leads international initiatives, working across specialist teams and autonomous Reply companies to turn emerging technologies into practical capabilities and new offerings.

With more than 20 years of hands-on engineering and technical leadership experience, René has worked across Generative and Agentic AI, Physical / Embodied AI, Spatial Computing (XR/AR/VR/MR), Digital Humans, Real-Time 3D, Industrial Metaverse, Robotics and Quantum Computing. He deliberately stays close to the technology itself, prototyping systems, evaluating new approaches and working with engineering teams as ideas move from research toward production. A long-standing focus on UX also shapes how he approaches emerging technologies and the experiences built.

René has been featured by Forbes and invited as an expert by international TV stations. He regularly speaks, keynotes and participates in panels at events including SIGGRAPH, Microsoft Build, NDC, Global XR, University of Heidelberg, Unity Unite, Vision VR/AR Summit, VRDC / GDC, AWE, ESA, VRARA, and many more, including non-public executive events.

He creates technology content through his podcasts Digital Dialogs, QuBites and Meta Minutes, while continuing to maintain open-source projects such as WriteableBitmapEx, which has grown to more than 2.1 million downloads.

René has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for 18 consecutive years, currently in Foundry AI, and as a Microsoft Regional Director.

What has remained consistent throughout that journey is the part he enjoys most: understanding what is becoming technically possible, building it early, and helping teams and organizations turn it into something useful and scalable.

An avid cyclist, René lives in Dresden, Germany with his wife and their five children.