He succeeds Dietmar Harhoff, who has been Managing Director since 2022. Josef Drexl has been Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition since 2002 and already served as Managing Director in 2009/2010, 2013/2014, and 2020/2021.

Rotational Change of Management of the Institute as of 1 January 2024
As of 1 January 2024, Josef Drexl assumes the role of Managing Director of the Institute through biennial rotation.

Joseph Straus Celebrates his 85th Birthday
The Institute and all its members extend their heartfelt congratulations to former Director Joseph Straus on his 85th birthday. Joseph Straus is one of the outstanding researchers in the field of intellectual property law and is particularly active in the field of patent law with a focus on biotechnology.
His scientific achievements have been honored in many ways, including the Science Prize of the Stifterverband der Deutschen Wissenschaft in 2000 and honorary doctorates from the Universities of Ljubljana and Kragujevac. He is also a member of the Academia Europea and a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Slovenia, as well as a foreign member (socio straniero) of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (the oldest scientific academy in the world) and a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In addition to his birthday, the emeritus professor has another reason to celebrate this year: the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC) Cooperation Project, which he led from 2003 to 2008, has been in existence for 20 years and has gained an excellent international reputation with its Master's program. In recognition of his vision and leadership role in founding the MIPLC, the “MIPLC Joseph Straus Distinguished Service Award” was created and first awarded five years ago.
Joseph Straus has not only taught as an honorary professor at the LMU Munich, but also as a visiting professor at numerous foreign universities. His contacts in the USA and China are particularly close. Joseph Straus is an honorary professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan and Tongji University in Shanghai. The cooperation with Tongji University, which has existed for 20 years and is also being celebrated these days, was largely co-initiated and supported by him.
Even in the year in which he turned 85, Joseph Straus is still giving lectures and courses. The list of his publications continues to grow.
For further appreciation of Joseph Straus' research and achievements, please refer to this article on our website and the editorial in GRUR Int 67, (12/2018).
![[Bitte nach "english" übersetzen:] RISE Logo](/fileadmin/_processed_/1/0/csm_RISE.fw_3c7fd23966.png)
The Program Is Available Now! − RISE6 Workshop
On 18 and 19 December 2023, the sixth “Research in Innovation, Science and Entrepreneurship Workshop” (RISE6) from young researchers for young researchers will take place. The program of the RISE6 Workshop 2023 is now available. The participants can look forward to exciting topics, an interesting keynote, and inspiring scientific exchange.
The workshop was first organized by Junior Researchers in 2018, and is aimed at Ph.D. students and Junior Postdocs worldwide. RISE offers them an opportunity to present their work, receive feedback from experienced researchers and connect with peers from other research institutions. Keynote Speaker of the RISE6 Workshop is Ina Ganguli, Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
See the Program RISE6 (PDF).
More on the workshop website RISE6 Workshop.
![[Bitte nach "english" übersetzen:] AI-generated image to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the economics department of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition](/fileadmin/_processed_/0/7/csm_DH_65_a9841dab23.png)
Anniversary Celebration “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research” – 10 Years Economics Department at the Institute
On 10 November 2023, more than 80 participants, including 26 Alumni, Alumnae and Affiliated Research Fellows, gathered to celebrate and honor the tenth anniversary of the Economics Department at the Institute. Dietmar Harhoff had been appointed Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law in 2013.
The program of the anniversary event traced the development of the department for “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research” and the interdisciplinarity at the Institute. The archive reports on the appointment of Dietmar Harhoff and subsequent renaming of the Institute as the “Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition” tell the story of the department, to which reference was made.
After introductory words by Prof. Dietmar Harhoff, Ph.D., a panel discussion was held in which a decade of progress in the research field and the department was reflected upon. The panel discussion was moderated by Dr. Zhaoxin Pu (DataGuard), who herself completed her doctorate at the Institute in 2020, and at present works for a company specializing in data protection, information security, and compliance.
Prof. Dr. Fabian Gaessler, now Assistant Professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, showed in his contribution how research at the interface of management, economics, law, and computer science, leads to a “cross-pollination”, so to speak, with an input of doctoral students from various institutions and a throughput of postdocs from renowned research institutions (EPFL, Cornell University, ZEW, KAIST, Northwestern University, Mines Paris Tech, University of Cape Town, Goethe University and many more). This qualifies for positions in various sectors and has led the former Research Fellows into industry, start-ups and spin-offs (octimine technologies), or to EPO, bidt, and other research institutions (e.g., KU Leuven, Erasmus University, Politecnico di Milano, Bocconi University, University of Groningen, Ingolstadt University of Technology, Bundeswehr University).
Prof. Laura Rosendahl Huber, Ph.D., who is now Assistant Professor at the Rotterdam School of Management and is, inter alia, conducting research on gender differences, portrayed the development of the department into an increasingly diverse and international team in her presentation of photos and memories.
Prof. Bronwyn Hall, Ph.D., Emerita Professor at the University of California Berkeley, and Affiliate of the department, examined the department’s publication figures and noted a constantly growing publication output.
Dr. Matthias Lamping, Senior Research Fellow, gave an entertaining account of the expectations of the legal colleagues that were associated with the establishment of an economics department. It quickly became apparent that interdisciplinarity cannot be established at the push of a button, but that ideas on common research questions grow together through continuous dialogue.
Dr. Alexander Suyer, also a former doctoral student of Dietmar Harhoff and now Research Coordinator at the Institute, started with the Institute’s Mission Statement to reflect on Dietmar Harhoff's many years of engagement in evidence-based policy advice at the national and federal state level.
In his speech, Prof. Dr. Josef Drexl expressed in particular appreciation for the colleague, scientist, and person Dietmar Harhoff.
Very refreshing and impressive were the subsequent “elevator pitches”, short presentations by young researchers from both the economics and law departments of the Institute, which ranged from core innovation and patent research to gender issues in innovation and entrepreneurship, digital markets, platforms and artificial intelligence to green tech, and showed that the young scientists have grown and settled in interdisciplinary exchange.
In an interactive memory lane game, the Junior Research Fellows Ann-Christin Kreyer and Timm Opitz then presented surprising, interesting, and amusing facts and figures that required the knowledge and judgment of those present.
A special surprise was presented at the end of the afternoon event: In a video greeting, the Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watziger honored the ten-year anniversary of the department for “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research” as well as Dietmar Harhoff personally as a “particularly influential voice for innovation and competition” who was and is heard by policymakers.
At the subsequent reception in the Institute’s Grand Hall, attendees were invited to step into the time machine, and look at the project posters from the first poster session in 2013, which were set up in order to trace the significant changes and developments of the last ten years in terms of both subject matters and persons.
The evening dinner event, which was dedicated to the exchange between the Alumni and Alumnae of the economics department and the current team, was introduced by piano music in the Max Planck Hall of the Akademischer Gesangverein München (Academic Choral Society), which Max Planck joined at the age of 16 – a lesser-known facet of his talents. Dietmar Harhoff was thanked by his team with a special gift based on the idea and initiative of Senior Research Fellow Dr. Marina Chugunova, who researches human-machine interactions, inter alia: an image generated by artificial intelligence fed with prompts from the team. The fact that humans are still indispensable for achieving outstanding creative results was demonstrated by the commitment of Sebastian Erhardt, also known as “SebGPT”, who gave the result an extra boost.
Special thanks for her commitment and creativity in organizing the event went to Junior Research Fellow Svenja Friess.
More:
Video Greeting (in German) of the Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger
LinkedIn Post on the event by Prof. Dr. Claudia Lieske (Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt)

Timmy Pielmeier Receives Faculty Prize for his Dissertation
Following the GRUR Dissertation Prize, Timmy Pielmeier has now also been awarded the Faculty Prize of the LMU’s Faculty of Law for his dissertation on Die Konkurrenz von Urheberrecht und Lauterkeitsrecht im Binnenmarkt (The Competition between Copyright Law and Fair Trading Law in the Single Market). The prizewinner wrote a significant part of his work during his time as a scholarship holder at the Institute.
The Faculty Prize is awarded by the Faculty of Law to all doctoral theses that were consistently awarded the highest grade summa cum laude in all four assessment units. The award is presented in the form of a certificate, which is ceremoniously presented by the Dean during the academic doctoral and graduation ceremony together with the doctoral certificate.
In addition to the certificate, since 2013 doctoral students have also received a trophy specially made for them by the Alumni and Sponsors’ Association. This is presented by the Chairman of the Alumni and Sponsors’ Association at the academic doctoral and graduation ceremony. The trophy consists of a fine silver coin with a purity of 99%. (silver 999). The faculty seal, which differs slightly from the LMU seal, is embossed on the coin.

Founding Commission of the German Agency for Transfer and Innovation Takes up Its Work
The German Agency for Transfer and Innovation (DATI) is to break new ground in the fostering of transfer and innovation. The aim is to bring research results into application and to people more quickly and effectively, and to unleash new innovation potential throughout Germany. Dietmar Harhoff was appointed a member of the DATI founding commission by Federal Minister Stark-Watzinger at the beginning of October 2023. The commission has now taken up its work.
Technological and social innovations increasingly determine the competitiveness of the economy and the future viability of a society. Numerous universities and other research institutions in Germany generate new knowledge and explore new technologies each and every day.
The DATI is set up to bring research results into economic and/or social applications through an effective transfer of ideas, knowledge, and technology. It will operate across all topics and focus on both technological and social innovations. The agency will pursue an innovative and flexible funding approach that is based on the specific needs and competences in the country, and offers transfer from a single source.
The DATI Founding Commission, which convened for its constituent meeting in Berlin on 9 October 2023, has the task of developing proposals for the location and leadership of DATI. It is also tasked with making recommendations on the content and procedural aspects of establishing and expanding DATI. The committee consists of 16 experts from science, industry, associations, start-ups, the federal states, the international sector, and the Parliament.
Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger explained: “In Germany, too many good ideas have so far ended up in a drawer. We want to bring more of them into application, and thus into companies and to people. A key instrument for this is the German Agency for Transfer and Innovation, where we are now taking the next important step with the Founding Commission. The Commission will help us to get the new innovation agency up and running quickly.”
After Dietmar Harhoff had already supported the founding of the German Ferderal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND), whose central task is to find and promote highly innovative ideas with the potential for disruptive innovation, in 2019 as Chairman of the Founding Commission, his expertise is now in demand for the founding of DATI in the area of innovation-oriented transfer.
Dr. Stefan Groß-Selbeck (BCG X, Boston Consulting Group) has assumed the chairmanship of the founding commission. He emphasized: “DATI is an important new element in the German transfer and innovation landscape. As the founding commission, we will closely accompany this process and contribute in particular to important issues such as site selection and the selection of management personnel.”
Further members of the DATI founding commission are:
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Uschi Backes-Gellner (University of Zurich), Prof. Dr. Jörg Bagdahn (Anhalt University of Applied Sciences), Dr. Anna Christmann, MdB, Dr. Achim Dercks (German Chamber of Industry and Commerce), Andrea Frank (Stifterverband), Prof. Dr. Holger Hanselka (Fraunhofer Society). Thomas Jarzombek, MdB, Prof. Dr. Kira Kastell (University of Applied Sciences Hamm), Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart (TU Dresden), Prof. Dr. Birgitt Riegraf (University of Paderborn), Ye-One Rhie, MdB, Prof. Dr. Stephan Seiter, MdB, Prof. Dr. Anja Steinbeck (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf) und Philipp von der Wippel (Project Together).

Comparative Data Law Conference - Program Available, Registration Open
The conference program and registration for the Comparative Data Law conference to take place in Munich on 7 and 8 December 2023 are now available. The event is the final part of a three-part conference series on Global Data Law and part of a larger research agenda related to Global Data Law and Policy and is jointly organized with the University of Passau Research Centre for Law.

41st ATRIP Conference
The 41st ATRIP Conference was held in Tokyo, Japan, from 9 to 12 July. Under the title "The Interface of Intellectual Property Law With Other Legal Disciplines - What Can IP Learn From Its Interactions With Different Fields of Law and Vice Versa", scholars from five continents met and exchanged views on a wide range of current, primarily intradisciplinary topics.
The Institute was represented by five researchers at the main conference and the PhD workshop - also including two speakers at the conference: Matthias Lamping, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute, contributed a session on “Regulation through Litigation - Private Enforcement in the Public Interest”, Peter R. Slowinski, Research Fellow, presented on “Differentiated Liability. What Patent Law Can Learn from Criminal Law”.
In addition, the participants included numerous former employees, scholarship holders and guests of the Institute.

Pin Factory Visit – Science Learns from the Real World
In the spirit of the NBER Pin Factory Visits – company visits conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research since the mid-1990s to promote field research in economics and make site visits an important part of empirical research – the team of the Institute’s Economics Department visited several sites of the TQ Group on 23 June 2023. TQ is highly innovative in the field of electronic products and services.
The idea of pin factory visits goes back to Adam Smith, who at the end of the 18th century used the production of pins to illustrate the increase in productivity through the division of labor.
As one of the largest technology service providers and electronics specialists in Germany, the technology company TQ Group offers tailored and innovative solutions to a wide range of industries, from development, production and other services to product lifecycle management. It is active in the fields of E²MS (Electronic Engineering Manufacturing Services), embedded systems, drives, robotics, automation, medical applications as well as aviation and avionics.
In addition, TQ provides a complete range of its own products, such as embedded modules, base boards, human-machine interface systems, and drive and automation solutions. TQ also combines both as an ODM (Original Design Manufacturer). On the basis of its modular service and solution portfolio, the company develops and produces customer-specific products internationally, relying on “Made in Germany”. It is thus exemplary in the area of innovation in many respects and can provide science with interesting insights into the reality of innovative companies in Germany.
Insights at three sites
The team of the economics department visited three sites in six hours. The first route led to the company headquarters in Gut Delling near Seefeld in Upper Bavaria, where the doctoral students and postdocs, together with Dietmar Harhoff, had the opportunity to exchange ideas with the CEO and TQ founder Rüdiger Stahl and learn about interesting topics related to innovation, technology and development. Stahl spoke about the company's history, evolution – from a 2-man firm in 1994 to an international technology company – and innovation strategy. The framework conditions, challenges and regulatory restrictions for innovative companies in Germany came up again and again:
The global economic situation presents German companies with a variety of challenges. Fragile supply chains, geopolitical crises and protectionist laws such as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act are impacting the ability of German companies to plan and compete. There is a particular need for action in the area of innovation. This also includes traditional sectors such as mechanical engineering and hardware manufacturing, in which continuous innovations must be pursued. Targeted measures are needed to sustainably strengthen innovation in Germany and make German companies competitive on an international level.
At the second site in Inning am Ammersee, Head of Production Julian Hornung gave the group insights into the fabrication of drive systems, from high-performance drives for e-bikes to RoboDrives. Finally, at the third location in Durach, the team took an in-depth look at automation and spoke with Sören Bruckmann, Head of TQ Robotics, Head of Sales Robert Vogel, and Georg Weiß, who heads R&D in Durach. The most debated question was why small and medium-sized companies in Germany lagged so far behind in automation.
In the showroom, a postdoc with research focus on automation and human-machine interactions had the opportunity to test the operation of a so-called cobot, i.e., a collaborative robot that works together with humans and is not separated from them in the production process by protective devices. The final leg of the journey took the team to the Durach production halls, where robots also produce robots.
The Institute’s researchers took away a lot of inspiration and some real-world and practical insights. More pin factory visits are to take place.
To the TQ company website.
Law Department of the Institute receives the Adepi Award 2023
The Spanish Association for the Development of Intellectual Property (Adepi – Associación para el dessarollo de propriedad intellectual) honors the Institute with its prize this year. The award ceremony will take place on 5 July at the Palacete de los Duques de Pastrana in Madrid. It will be chaired by the Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta.
In the statement of reasons for the award, the Adepi cites that the Department of Intellectual Property and Competition Law is “one of the most prestigious and important research centers in the world in this field”.
Since 2019, the Adepi Award recognizes the work of individuals and institutions that work for the protection and development of intellectual property in general and the collective management of rights in particular, from fields such as politics, education, business or law, contributing to the creation of culture in a fair and sustainable way.
Notification on the Adepi website
Update:
At the festive award ceremony on 5 July at the Palacete de los Duques de Pastrana in Madrid, Begoña Gonzalez Otero received the award on behalf of the Institute's Intellectual Property and Competition Law Department from the Spanish Minister of Culture and Sport, Miquel Iceta.