Stefan Plantikow is a Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft Fabric Graph. As an expert for Language Design and Standardization, he is the Project Lead and Editor for GQL (ISO/IEC 39075), the new declarative Graph Query Language standard. He plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of property graph querying.

Driven by a lifelong passion for computer language design, Stefan explores how the intersection of computers and languages enables the efficient and effective use of technology. He has been instrumental in the design and evolution of the Cypher graph query language and the openCypher initiative. Stefan contributed significantly to the development of the first cost-based planner for property graph databases, the Cypher driver suite, the openCypher TCK, and the design of Cypher for Apache Spark, a pioneering graph-composable property graph system. More recently, Stefan spearheaded the development of the GQL standard as the main author of the initial working draft and made significant contributions to the standard's development, particularly in the areas of language structure, type system, execution model, and pattern matching.

Stefan holds a degree in Computer Science, originally specializing in distributed systems and transaction processing. This background provides a strong foundation for his work in graph technology. He has also applied his expertise in various domains like enterprise application integration, large-scale climate data management, and scalable overlay networks.

Stefan is a continuous innovator, constantly seeking to expand the reach and accessibility of property graph technology. He is currently based in Berlin, Germany.