Jens Hoppe is the founder and technical lead of PanelWave, an open ecosystem for interactive
graphic novels developed in Munich: an open JSON format, an MIT-licensed web player and a
no-code studio for authoring, localizing and publishing branching, multilingual, audiovisual
stories.

He has built content and community software for almost thirty years. In 1996 he developed
an early WYSIWYG content management system as a young developer; in 1998 he co-founded the
web agency impakt9, whose clients included KirchGruppe and Discovery Channel. From 1999 to
2010 he was co-founder and managing director of CONTENS Software GmbH, leading product
development of its web CMS for customers such as RTL, Siemens Mobility and McDonald's, and
from 2006 the company's social network and community software, including the Goethe-Institut's
online learner community with more than 600,000 members. Since 2012 he has run
referenzen.com, a SaaS platform for project references, and has explored generative AI in
his studio peoplegraphics since 2024.

Jens Hoppe holds a master's degree in communication and media studies from LMU Munich. He
lives in Munich, is a father of three, and works from the Ruffini Creative Hub in the old
town.
