Institute News

On behalf of the state government of Lower Saxony, a team of experts chaired by Prof. Dietmar Harhoff, Ph.D., Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, has developed options for action on how the federal state can respond to current major societal challenges. In the next few years, the course will be set for future developments. 

Eleven renowned scientists had agreed to develop recommendations for the future. The commission took up its work as an independent and autonomous body of experts on 1 July 2019. The highly interdisciplinary panel identified five areas in which the state faces particular challenges, but that also affect other states and countries: (1) demographic developments, (2) climate change, (3) globalization, (4) digitalization, and (5) the preservation of social cohesion. Ten fields of action were examined along these challenges, within which general development trends as well as opportunities and risks for the state were identified.

These fields of action comprise the topics (1) demography and generations, (2) immigration and diversity, (3) work, employment and upskilling, (4) health and care, (5) landscape, energy and climate change, (6) agricultural and food economy, (7) mobility, (8) research and innovation, (9) high-tech strategy, robotics and AI, and (10) digitalization.

Finally, the commission presented particularly relevant options for action and core recommendations. These are intended to help ensure that the state can fully exploit its potential for a future-proof, successful development, and will be economically, socially, and ecologically sustainable in 2030.

The commission submitted the final report with its recommendations to the government of Lower Saxony on 25 March 2021. It is available online on the website of the state of Lower Saxony.

In July 2019, the founding commission chaired by Dietmar Harhoff had issued recommendations for the new Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND). Based on these recommendations, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy have appointed the software entrepreneur and open source pioneer Rafael Laguna de la Vera founding director of the new Agency. The SprinD GmbH was founded on 16 December 2019, with headquarters in Leipzig. Sole shareholder is the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

The Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation is closing a gap in the German innovation landscape. SPRIND identifies new, groundbreaking technologies for the major challenges of our time and ensures at the same time that the added value of emerging companies and industries remains in Germany and Europe.

On 22 September, the Supervisory Board of the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation was inaugurated. The board consists of up to ten members who both represent the Federal Government as 100% shareholder and bring expertise from science and industry to the board.

The Members of the Supervisory Board are:

• Yasmin Fahimi, German Bundestag
• Prof. Dietmar Harhoff, Ph.D., Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
• Dr.-Ing. E. h. Peter Leibinger, TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG (Chair of the Supervisory Board)
• Dr. Kristina Klas, Federal Ministry of Finance
• Susanne Klatten, SKion GmbH
• Ronja Kemmer (designated), German Bundestag
• Prof. Dr. Wolf-Dieter Lukas, Federal Ministry of Education and Research
• Dr. Ulrich Nußbaum, Federal Ministry for Economic Affaits and Energy
• Maximilian Viessmann, Viessmann Werke GmbH & Co. KG
• Prof. Dr. Birgitta Wolff, Goethe University Frankfurt (Vice Chair of the Supervisory Board)

Chair of the Supervisory Board is Dr. Ing. E. h. Peter Leibinger, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Vice Chairman of the TRUMPF Group Management Board. He emphasizes, “In Germany, the cooperation between fundamental research, applied science and innovative companies should be expanded. We will be able to tap the full potential of our country if our research leads to marketable products, new jobs, and an international competitive edge in new industries. The Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation can make an effective contribution to this.”

Vice Chair of the Supervisory Board is the President of the Goethe University Frankfurt, Prof. Dr. Birgitta Wolff. She explains, “We spend more than three percent of our gross national product on research and development, which puts us at the top in Europe. With SPRIND, we want to build a solid bridge from science to industry – a meeting place for outstanding minds in our country who not only want to think up the future, but also want to help shape it as researchers and entrepreneurs.”

At the inaugural meeting in Leipzig, the Supervisory Board has already made the decision to found a first project company, which is to drive a radical innovation in the generation of wind energy. The ground-mounted generator of the “Bendix wind turbine” can take full advantage of stronger winds without overloading the generator, which currently limits the performance of conventional wind turbines. “This is not only highly innovative from a technical point of view, but also economically gratifying”, says Raffael Laguna de la Vera.

Further innovation projects are currently in the validation phase. So far, almost 300 project proposals have been submitted and are being reviewed by a committee of experts.

More information:

Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND)

The Innovation & Entrepreneurship Seminar Series – until the end of 2019 under the name Brown Bag Seminar Series – of the Department headed by Dietmar Harhoff was established in 2013. The seminars usually take place once a week and are open to members of the Institute as well as to external researchers and students. Since the start, the series has hosted more then 150 guest speakers from all over Europe, the US, Canada, Africa, and Asia.

To the Seminar Series

Upcoming Events

From 2 to 4 June 2020, the Center for Law & Economics at ETH Zurich, the Chair for Technology and Innovation Management at TUM, the Institute for Strategy, Technology and Organization at LMU Munich and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition will jointly organize the fifth Munich Summer Institute.

The Summer Institute will focus on three areas:

• Digitization, Strategy and Organization
  (chairs: Jörg Claussen and Tobias Kretschmer),
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  (chairs: Dietmar Harhoff, Joachim Henkel and Hanna Hottenrott), and
• Law & Economics of Intellectual Property and Innovation
  (chair: Stefan Bechtold).

The goal of the Munich Summer Institute is to stimulate a rigorous in-depth discussion of a select number of research papers and to strengthen the interdisciplinary international research community in these areas. Researchers in economics, law, management and related fields at all stages of their career (from Ph.D. students to full professors) may attend the Munich Summer Institute as presenters in a plenary or a poster session, as discussants or as attendants. The Munich Summer Institute will feature three keynote lectures, 18 plenary presentations and a daily poster session (including a poster slam). Paper presentations will be grouped by topics, not discipline or method. The Munich Summer Institute will be held at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in the heart of Munich. Participation is by invitation only. The organizers will fund travel and hotel expenses for all plenary speakers and hotel expenses for all poster presenters and invited discussants.

Keynote speakers are:

• Pierre Regibeau (European Commission)
• Reinhilde Veugelers (KU Leuven)
• Christopher Sprigman (NYU)

Paper submission procedure

Researchers who would like to present a paper are invited to submit their paper online until 29 February 2020, at  http://editorialexpress.com/conference/msi2020. The Munich Summer Institute only considers papers which have not been published or accepted for publication at the date of submission. Paper selections will be announced in early April 2020. The program of the Munich Summer Institute will be available in early May 2020. Final papers will be made available to conference participants on a public website, and are due on 1 May 2020. Researchers who would like to attend the Munich Summer Institute without giving a presentation should contact one of the organizers by 1 May 2020.

Further information

More information is available at the MSI website. Any questions concerning the Munich Summer Institute should be directed to Stefan Bechtold, Jörg Claussen, Dietmar Harhoff, Joachim Henkel, Hanna Hottenrott or Tobias Kretschmer.

On behalf of the state government of Lower Saxony, a team of experts chaired by Dietmar Harhoff is to develop options for action on how the federal state can respond to current major societal challenges. In the next few years, the course will be set for future developments. By the end of 2020, twelve renowned experts are to analyze opportunities and challenges.

Harhoff does not want to anticipate possible results. However, the Commission could “point out options for action, reveal weaknesses and make recommendations” – with a long-term perspective. “Those who only think until the end of any given legislative period cannot implement major plans,” says Harhoff. “The period up to the year 2030 is a good medium-term planning horizon for state policy.”

Digitalization

Of all the changes, digitalization is probably the most far-reaching. For example, in the area of mobility, major innovations are likely to change the choices for users. “Many experts anticipate, for example, that forms of autonomous driving in which drivers become passengers but still have to intervene at some point, will become wide-spread by 2030.” In addition to the federal government and local authorities, the federal state also has to prepare for this – for example, by setting regulatory guidelines for autonomous driving or by providing test-beds for the new technology.

Climate Change

According to Harhoff, Lower Saxony, as a coastal state, is particularly affected by climate change – and therefore particularly called upon to commit itself to climate protection. “The state can, for example, use subsidies to set a direction in research and say: This is relevant”. The Commission could also draw the politicians’ attention to good examples according to the best practice principle. The neighboring country, the Netherlands, for example, has been dealing with coastal protection for centuries. Recently, the neighbors  have attracted attention with a speed limit of 100 km/h to reduce nitrogen oxides, and the country is also regarded as a pioneer in the expansion of cycling.

Migration

The issue of migration has now become less dominant in politics – but the Commission will deal with it anyway. “The question of immigration is also a cultural question,” says Harhoff and explains: “In Japan, for example, robotics is being promoted so strongly because, in view of an ageing society, citizens prefer to rely on robots rather than immigrants in nursing care. For Lower Saxony, the main issue is how the integration of immigrants can be supported or how the shortage of skilled workers can be compensated.

The Commission’s Objective

“Scientists are not the better politicians,” Harhoff says. “We can, however, advise politicians on difficult decisions. This will require patience and perseverance. Many of the Commission’s topics are so broad that it will take time until the effects of individual changes become apparent. “By 2025 we can see whether our recommendations will be taken up and whether, for example, there will be intense political discussions in the Lower Saxony Parliament,” says Harhoff. “By 2030, I would hope that some of the measures taken will show initial effects. Especially with regard to nutrition and climate change, the changes take a lot of time, so you have to start early.”

More information (in German):
Pressespiegel
Kommission Niedersachsen 2030

IDV brings together business, science and society to champion Europe as “the valley” for a credible, transparent and value-based digital economy. The aim of the non-profit platform is to protect personal identity, to promote mutual trust and to enable digital innovation. In understanding identity as the nucleus of value-based digitalization, it creates opportunities for a German-European digital economy.

The initiative creates a forum for entrepreneurs, politicians, scientists, and citizens in Europe and wants to promote the trust between man and machine in the age of artificial intelligence. It is about value-based economics, corporate responsibility, a worthy coexistence of man and machine, and identity. Digital identity as well as products and services that respect and protect identities are a critical success factor for the future.

The initiative is supported by several experts from science, industry and society and by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy as well as the Bundesverband KI e.V. (German Federal Association for Artificial Intelligence).

Dietmar Harhoff, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition and head of the department for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research, explains: “We now need to develop new business models that work on the basis of a controlled approach to data while at the same time providing incentives for innovation. This requires new technical and legal requirements. The Identity Valley launches as a new organization committed to a trusted, privacy and personal identity driven data economy, derived from Europe's humanist tradition.”

More information under  identityvalley.org.

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 RISE2 Workshop is Pierre Azoulay, Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Get the program here.
More on the Workshop website RISE2 Workshop.

Please find further information here:

https://www.southcentre.int/call-for-papers-september-2019/