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Newsletter #3
2025
Dear readers, the past few weeks have been shaped above all by the official opening of our Institute’s new premises. The preparations were extensive but well worth the effort. On 20 October, we inaugurated our new facilities with a festive opening ceremony attended by numerous representatives from science, politics, the city, and society. The following day was dedicated entirely to science, with an Opening Symposium addressing some of the most pressing issues of our time. You will find reports on both events below.
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With a festive opening ceremony on 20 October, the Institute inaugurated its new premises at Stachus, in the heart of Munich. Representatives from science, politics, the city, and society praised the move as an important milestone. It became clear that research is not only a driving force for innovation and progress, but also that − given current societal developments − it must be anchored more than ever in the center of society.
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In the run-up to the COP 30 World Climate Conference, the ministers for climate protection in the EU Member States have set out a new climate goal. It aims to reduce the EU’s CO2 emissions by 90 percent by 2040 relative to the 1990 levels. Starting in 2031, it will be possible to achieve up to five percent of this reduction using international carbon credits from outside the EU. The target is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 66.25 to 72.5 percent by 2035. Benedict Probst, environmental economist and head of the Net Zero Lab at the Institute, talks about the contribution of CO2 certificates to climate protection and the latest developments. More
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Strong signal for innovation: On Thursday, 6 November 2025, Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz invited to the Federal Chancellery for the inaugural meeting of the Strategy Group for Technology and Innovation (Strategiekreis Technologie und Innovation). Dietmar Harhoff, Director at the Institute and Head of the Economics Department, will contribute his expertise and experience in the field of policy advice to the committee. More
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Heiko Richter, who has been a Research Fellow at the Institute since 2020, has accepted a call from the University of Speyer and has been appointed University Professor at the German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer (DUV). Since 1 October 2025, he holds the newly established Chair of Private Law and Regulation of the Digital Economy and Society. More
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This year, not one but two of our young scientists were invited to the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Economics, which took place from 26 to 30 August 2025 at Lake Constance – a special privilege and a unique experience for Elisabeth Hofmeister and Ulrike Morgalla. Every year, around 30 – 40 Nobel Laureates convene in Lindau to an exchange with the next generation of leading scientists across different generations, cultures, and disciplines. Our Junior Research Fellows returned with a wealth of insights and experiences. More
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In Brief
Award + + + For his doctoral thesis on The Right to Genetic Resources Pedro Henrique D. Batista has been presented two dissertation awards. More
Award + + + Affiliated Research Fellow David Heller was honored at the ENTFIN Conference 2025 for his work on “Generative AI and Firm-Level Productivity” and “Startup Accelerators and International Market Entry,” which originated at the Institute. More
Award + + + Liza Herrmann was granted a writing scholarship by the Max Planck Foundation to work on her doctoral thesis at the Max Planck House on Lake Tegernsee. More
Video Podcast +++ Dietmar Harhoff and Raffael Laguna de la Vera (SPRIND) discuss Europeʼs path to digital sovereignty with expert Cristina Caffarra. More
Podcast +++ Michael E. Rose sheds light on how new knowledge is created and what we can learn from previous industrial revolutions. More
Podcast +++ Benedict Probst explains what emission certificates are and whether CO2 compensations really keep what they promise. More
Podcast +++ Marina Chugunova talks about the question of when we trust artificial intelligence. More
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On Tuesday, 21 October 2025, the second event in the celebrations marking the grand opening of the Institute’s new premises at Stachus took place in the form of a scientific symposium featuring two panel discussions on topics that are shaping innovation research in disruptive times. Over one hundred guests received thought-provoking insights and were able to engage in intensive discussions with colleagues from various disciplines. More |
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On 15 and 16 December 2025, the Institute will host the eighth “Research in Innovation, Science and Entrepreneurship Workshop” from young researchers for young researchers. Participants can expect exciting topics and a stimulating exchange of ideas. Matt Marx, Bruce F. Failing Sr. Professor and Faculty Director of Entrepreneurship, Cornell University, will give the keynote speech on “Connecting Science to Innovation: Open Data and Machine Learning Approaches”. More
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In their latest paper, Josef Drexl and Daria Kim examine the competition law challenges posed by strategic partnerships between big tech companies and smaller AI developers. These alliances promise efficiency and progress, but also pose significant competition risks – especially for innovation competition.
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The internet is undergoing fundamental change. The driving factors are rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence and a series of new regulations such as the Data Act, Digital Markets Act, and Digital Services Act. These developments impact the core of our digital society and raise questions: Who determines the rules on the internet? Will algorithms soon steer the debate? And what role does Big Tech play, those companies that invisibly engineer our digital spaces? The humanet3 research group, a multidisciplinary team including Institute researchers, has developed a comprehensive research agenda to address these questions. More
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A new study warns that consumer rights reforms may fail due to information gaps. The representative survey conducted by the Institute has found that more than half of adults in Germany are not aware of the statutory consumer rights that enable them to benefit from innovative services and IT security. Certain segments of the population, however, are systematically better informed. The study examined two everyday scenarios whose legal framework has been reformed in recent years. In both cases, the European legislator aims to strengthen consumer protection while actively promoting innovation and, ultimately, enhancing competition. More
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A UNESCO report published in the summer of 2025 highlights the often invisible burdens faced by researchers during the war in Ukraine. Anastasiia Lutsenko was the lead author of the study. The report formed the basis for the establishment of an International Coalition to Support Science, Research, and Innovation in Ukraine and the signing of the Rome Declaration of Intent, which officially confirms this initiative. It was presented at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome (2025) and draws on an analysis of open data, statistics, scientific publications, legislation, and the results of a series of group discussions with Ukrainian researchers. It contains eight recommendations on how to improve the situation of Ukrainian researchers in practice. More
Anastasiia Lutsenko, Igor Lyman, Yevhen Nikolaiev, Grygoriy Riy
Resilient Minds: The Unseen Struggles of Scientists in Wartime Ukraine
UNESDOC Digital Libary (2025)
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The proceedings of the Munich Global Data Law Conference highlight the growing global importance of data—economically, socially, and in terms of the common good. International regulatory approaches such as the EU Data Strategy and the African Data Policy Framework underscore the relevance of data processing. International legal experts discussed regulatory approaches, which the book summarizes in a critical analysis and with a forward-looking perspective on meaningful data exchange and international regulation.
Josef Drexl, Moritz Hennemann, Patricia Boshe, Klaus Wiedemann (Eds.)
Comparative Data Law
Springer (2025)
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David Heller, Daehyun Kim, Dietmar Harhoff
Startup Accelerators and International Market Entry: Evidence from the German Accelerator Program
Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition Research Paper No. 25-17
Daehyun Kim, Namil Kim, Haemin Dennis Park
Anti-Labor Environments and Employee Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Right-to-Work Laws
Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, forthcoming
Andrew Macintosh, Gregory Trencher, Benedict Probst, Shanta Barley, Danny Cullenward, Thales A.P. West, Don Butler, Johan Rockström
Carbon Credits Are Failing to Help with Climate Change – Here’s Why
Nature, 2025 (646), 543–546.
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Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
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