Welcoming Visiting Scholar Paul Wiegmann from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

Posted on 7. July 2014 by Knut Blind

We warmly welcome Paul Moritz Wiegmann as a visiting researcher at the Chair of Innovation Economics from the 30th of June until the 11th of July 2014. Paul is a PhD candidate at the Department of Technology and Operations Management at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (http://www.erim.eur.nl/people/paul-wiegmann/) where Knut Blind is the promotor of his PhD project. Before starting his PhD project in October 2013, Paul obtained a MSc in Management of Innovation from Erasmus University Rotterdam and a BSc in Management from the University of Warwick.

Paul conducts his research on the interaction between different standardisation mechanisms and their impact on innovation. He has written working papers on the how different standard setting mechanisms contributed to a common outcome in the case of standardising plugs and connectors for electric vehicles in Europe (Wiegmann, 2013) and on factors that play a role in determining firms’ standardisation strategies (Wiegmann, 2014 forthcoming). During his stay with us he is planning the further trajectory of his PhD which will include some research on how standards from these different mechanisms impact innovation.

Wiegmann, P. M. (2013). Combining Different Modes of Standard Setting – Analysing Strategies and the Case of Connectors for Charging Electric Vehicles in Europe. In K. Jakobs, H. J. de Vries, A. Ganesh, A. Gulacsi, & I. Soetert (Eds.), EURAS Proceedings 2013 – Standards: Boosting European Competitiveness (pp. 397–411). Aachen: Wisenschaftsverlag Mainz.
Wiegmann, P. M. (2014 forthcoming). Choosing the Right Strategy – Considerations in Allocating Resources in Standard Setting. In EURAS Proceedings 2014.

Paul will present his work in our Research Colloquium on the 9th of July at 16:00.

Welcome visiting scholar Aleksandra Skorupinska from the Open University of Catalonia

Posted on 13. May 2014 by Knut Blind

We are very pleased to welcome Aleksandra Skorupinska as a visiting researcher at the Chair of Innovation Economics from April-June 2014. Aleksandra is a PhD Candidate in Information and Knowledge Society Doctoral Programme at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) of the Open University of Catalonia in Spain under the supervision of Prof. Joan Torrent-Sellens. She holds a Master in Computer Science and Econometric from Faculty of Economic Sciences of the University of Warsaw. She is a member of the Interdisciplinary Research Group on ICTs (i2TIC) at IN3 (UOC).

Aleksandra’s research focus is to investigate the role of ICT and its complementarities (human capital, innovation, workplace organization, institutions) in explaining productivity of Central and Eastern European countries. She is combining analysis at two levels: micro and macro. Since her background is econometric the research is based on the quantitative methodology, mainly structural equation modelling and ordinary least squares regression. Aleksandra is in her final year of the PhD program. Publications to be included in her dissertation are:

Skorupinska, A. & Torrent Sellens, J.:
The role of ICT in the productivity of Central and Eastern European countries: cross-country comparison.
Revista de Economía Mundial (Forthcoming)

Skorupinska, A. & Torrent Sellens, J.:
Drivers of Manufacturing Firms Productivity in Germany and Poland: Evidence from Survey Data.
Review of Applied Socio-Economic Research (Forthcoming)

Skorupinska, A. & Torrent Sellens, J.:
ICT, Innovation and Productivity: Modelling Direct and Indirect Effects in Eastern European Manufacturing Firms.
Industry and Innovation (Submitted)

Aleksandra will present her work within the Research Colloquium on May 28th at 4pm.

We warmly welcome Aleksandra to the Chair of Innovation Economics and look forward to a productive and fruitful collaboration!

Fraunhofer FOKUS publishes study on Public Innovation

Posted on 5. November 2012 by Knut Blind

How innovative is the German public administration? Fraunhofer FOKUS has analyzed innovation activities of public administrations in a Germany-Europe comparison. The study shows that public sector innovations in Germany are bringing added value for citizens, businesses and administrations. However, innovation activities in Germany lag significantly behind the European average. The study cites facts, searches for causes and points to possible courses of action.

Download the study (German) at: www.fokus.fraunhofer.de/de/fokus/_pdfs/Public_Innovation.pdf

Knut Blind is the best ranked professor from Berlin’s universities in the Handelsblatt ranking 2012 of German speaking researchers in management science

Posted on 12. September 2012 by Knut Blind

The Handelsblatt, the leading German business journal, has published its 2012 edition of the ranking of management professors being most productive in research based on a sophisticated, but also heavily debated methodology to determine the overall scientific publications.
Knut Blind, chair of innovation economics at the Technical University of Berlin and chair of standardization at the Rotterdam School of Management, is positioned as number 40 of most research active German speaking management professors based on his publications in scientific journals during his whole scientific career. Taking just the publications of the last 5 years, he is even listed as number 28. This is a surprising result, because his main research topic standardization is not a mainstream management issue and therefore difficult to publish in highly ranked management journals.

See the whole ranking:
http://blog.handelsblatt.com/handelsblog/2012/09/10/bwl-ranking-2012-die-ergebnisse/

The German Ministry presents results of a study on the economic impact of standards conducted by the Chair of Innovation Economics in a recent publication

Posted on 5. September 2012 by Knut Blind

In a special issue of the monthly series “Schlaglichter der Wirtschaftspolitik” (Hotspots of Economic Policy), the ministry presents the main results of a study by Knut Blind, Andre Jungmittag and Axel Mangelsdorf on the economic impact of standards. This study is updating the original study published in 2000 and confirms the contribution of standards of around 15 billion € per year to Germany’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

Best Practice on Education about Standardization: The Success Story at the Technical University of Berlin

Posted on 27. August 2012 by Knut Blind

The establishment of standardization as a new content in university curricula is quite challenging and is therefore depending on several success factor. In my article “Best Practice on Education about Standardization: The Success Story at the Technical University of Berlin” published in the IEEE Standards Education e-Magazine, Third Quarter 2012, Vol. 2, No. 3, I identify the main factors at the supply side, i.e. offering contents on standards, and on the demand side, i.e. the new requirements of employers to acquire knowhow in standardization, and elaborate then the fruitful interaction of these parameters leading to the successful positioning of this topic at the Technical University of Berlin.

About Innovation Economics

Featured

Posted on 16. July 2012 by Knut Blind

InnovationEconomics is going to inform about the recent activities of the Chair of Innovation Economics at the Technical University of Berlin, the Research Group Public Innovation at the Fraunhofer Institute of Open Communication Systems and the Chair of Standardisation at the Rotterdam School of Management at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. We are posting about presentations at and attendance of conferences, new publications and events and many other things.

The topics covered by these institutions encompass all innovation and standardisation related issues especially from the perspective of economics and management. We work both on specific technologies like nanotechnology, address also soft issues like services and the various dimensions of sustainability. Finally, the contents are interesting for the scientific communities, companies, institutions and policy makers.

InnovationEconomics is looking for feedback to its activities and for new ideas related to topics covered by the involved research organizations.