Event Report  |  01/14/2022

RISE4 Workshop 2021 – Two Days of Intense Scientific Exchange for Young Scholars

On 6 and 7 December 2021, more than 40 international young researchers from over 30 universities around the globe attended the 4th Research in Innovation, Science and Entrepreneurship Workshop (RISE4).

The two-day event was again organized by doctoral students of the Department for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research headed by Dietmar Harhoff to give young scholars the opportunity to present and discuss their work.


In light of the continuing global health crisis, the workshop took place online. However, this was no obstacle to putting together an exciting program. Eleven doctoral students presented their papers on the Economics of Innovation, Science and Entrepreneurship. Their work was then discussed by experienced researchers. A special highlight of the event was the inspiring keynote speech by Catherine Tucker, the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management Science and Marketing at the MIT Sloan School of Management.


The workshop was kicked off with a session on Entrepreneurship. The first speaker of the day presented research on high-growth entrepreneurship education in the context of a developing country. The second presentation addressed the understanding of probabilistic reasoning in entrepreneurship by studying the effects of applying a scientific way of decision-making in an entrepreneurial and uncertain context.


The highlight of the first day was the keynote speech by Catherine Tucker who presented research on Data and Inequality. An interactive discussion emerged on how data can lead to inequality and how it can on the other hand be used to reduce inequality.


A session on Global Science followed, where researchers first presented their work on the impact of a large-scale scientist recruitment program on Chinese research productivity. Another interesting topic in the context of global science was a life cycle analysis of researcher migration and changes in research interest.


The second day started with insights into Determinants of Firm Innovation. Kicking off the workshop day, young scholars talked about startups, unicorns and local inventor supply ‒ showing that high-growth entrepreneurship depends on the availability of high-skilled inventors’ human capital. A second presentation addressed the question of how metrics shape the rate and direction of innovation in firms based on the example of automotive safety and data from the US automotive industry.


The next session investigated Privacy and Innovation. Evidence from mobile gaming shed light on the question whether user privacy stifles innovation in platform ecosystems. The workshop continued with the topics Data-Driven Search and Innovation, and the consequences of machines ‘blackboxing’ knowledge production. Last but not least, researchers addressed the Determinants of Idea Creation and Innovation by presenting evidence on the role of ownership empowerment for promoting novelty creation, and by asking whether experts acquire knowledge through reviewing research projects.


See the complete program with all topics here and check out the coverage on Twitter under #RISE4Workshop.


The RISE workshop series aims at stimulating a rigorous in-depth discussion of a selected number of research papers by Ph.D. students and Junior Postdocs, providing feedback and connecting with peers from other research institutions. Accordingly, the workshop brings together young researchers from all over Europe, Asia, and North America with researchers from the Munich Innovation Community.


We thank all organizing parties involved and all participants, including the fantastic keynote speaker, thorough discussants and great presenters for a truly outstanding RISE4 Workshop 2021. Our special thanks go to everyone who worked so hard on the organization, especially Svenja Frieß, Klaus KellerKathrin Wernsdorf and Ann-Christin Kreyer. With great enthusiasm and motivation, we look forward to the RISE5 Workshop 2022 ‒ then hopefully again in person at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich.