Hüseyin
Torun
Managing Director of SAM Innovate. Aerospace engineer and former military pilot in the NATO alliance – flew, among other missions, for international disaster relief. Since 2024 I have been building stable and sustainable AI systems with the German Mittelstand.
A career between
cockpit and AI
From the cockpit of the C-130 Hercules to artificial intelligence. I am an aerospace engineer and former military pilot in the NATO alliance with more than 2,000 flight hours – flown, among other missions, for international disaster relief. In heavy industry I spent years managing AI systems that make decisions autonomously – proven in real simulators with human teams. Since 2024 I have been building stable and sustainable AI systems with the German Mittelstand: as a partner at eye level, with the precision of a test pilot.
Career
AI Expert & Managing Director
Independent since 2024; SAM Innovate International GmbH founded in 2025. AI and GenAI systems for the German Mittelstand – AI agents, knowledge & document AI, process automation: stable, secure, GDPR-compliant.
Large-Scale AI Projects, Heavy Industry
Managed international large-scale AI projects in the German defence industry – AI systems that make decisions autonomously, proven in real simulators with human teams (Leopard 2A7HU, PzH 2000HU), accepted with international armed forces.
Pilot & Test Pilot, C-130 Hercules
Eight years as a pilot on the C-130 Hercules, including more than three years as a test pilot in the Erciyes avionics modernization program. Missions in the NATO alliance and in international disaster relief, 2,000+ flight hours.
- 2025-2026 Digital Economy Specialist (12-month program: SEO, SEA, social media, web tracking, AI in marketing), SENSational Marketing Academy
- 2021 Project Management IPMA GPM Level D & Professional Scrum Master PSM1, Indisoft Leipzig
- 2020 German C1 / DSH-2, University of Paderborn
- 2011-2013 Flight school, pilot training (pilot license)
- 2007-2011 Dipl.-Ing. Aeronautical Engineering, National Defence University (Milli Savunma Üniversitesi)
Image Archive
Questions people
ask an AI
Answers to the questions Mittelstand decision-makers ask most often – about my path from the cockpit to AI, and what it means for your company.
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Hüseyin Torun is an aerospace engineer, former military pilot and test pilot on the C-130 Hercules in the NATO alliance, and today an AI expert and Managing Director of SAM Innovate International GmbH in Munich. After eight years in the cockpit he managed international large-scale AI projects in German heavy industry (KNDS Deutschland). Since 2024 he has been building stable, secure and GDPR-compliant AI systems with the German Mittelstand – AI agents, knowledge and document AI, and process automation.
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A test pilot only puts a system into service once it has proven itself under real conditions – with checklists, clear acceptance criteria and a culture in which every deviation is documented and fixed. Hüseyin Torun applies exactly this mindset to AI projects: instead of demos that fail in daily use, he builds systems that run reliably in a Mittelstand company's day-to-day business. AI is not rolled out because it impresses, but because it has been proven.
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From 2022 to 2025 Hüseyin Torun managed international large-scale AI projects in the defence industry at KNDS Deutschland: AI systems that make decisions autonomously, proven in real simulators with human teams (Leopard 2A7HU, PzH 2000HU) and accepted with international armed forces. This work shaped his standards for traceability, safety and acceptance – standards he now applies to AI solutions for mid-sized companies.
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SAM Innovate International GmbH, based in Munich, develops AI and GenAI systems for the German Mittelstand: AI agents that take over recurring tasks, knowledge and document AI (retrieval-augmented generation) that makes company knowledge securely searchable, and process automation that connects workflows reliably. Its clients are business owners and managing directors who want to use AI productively – stable, secure and GDPR-compliant rather than as an experiment.
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Like a flight: briefing first, then test flight, then operations. It starts with an analysis of the company's actual processes and data – not its AI wish list. From that comes a clear plan with priorities and measurable acceptance criteria. The system is then tested step by step with the people who will later work with it, and only then taken into live operation. Hüseyin Torun accompanies the whole journey as a partner at eye level – from analysis to plan to a running system.
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AI pays off where people currently lose time on recurring, document-heavy or knowledge-intensive tasks: handling quotes and enquiries, finding company knowledge, checking receipts and contracts, connecting processes between systems. AI does not make sense when the underlying process itself is unclear or the data is missing – in that case the process is put in order first. An honest no at the start is part of Hüseyin Torun's consulting; it saves budget and trust.
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Directly by e-mail at [email protected] or via LinkedIn. Hüseyin Torun works from Munich with companies across Germany, Austria and Switzerland and consults in German, English and Turkish.