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Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Digital technologies are fundamentally changing our society and economy, as they offer new pathways towards economic opportunity while upending many traditional ways of doing business. Digitisation is fast-evolving and makes its presence felt in most parts of the economy, pushing innovation and entrepreneurship researchers to develop and communicate relevant and applicable knowledge at an accelerated pace and through new formats.

The HIIG Innovation & Entrepreneurship Group (IEG) embraces this challenge. Our aim is to understand, inform and co-create innovation and entrepreneurship in a rapidly changing, globally interconnected digital economy.

IEG was founded based on three years of action research within the context of HIIG’s Startup Clinics, followed by several sector-specific research projects. Our current work builds on this legacy, focusing on three work streams that investigate the mechanisms and enablers of digital innovation and entrepreneurship at different levels:

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Value Creation and Capture

How do firms and users create value through digital technologies, and how can individual actors capture their fair share?

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Collaboration and Openness

What challenges and opportunities arise from open innovation in traditional sectors? What are the most effective ways for startups to collaborate with SMEs and corporations?

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Ecosystems and Structures

How do new paradigms of the digital economy, such as platform capitalism and sharing economy, affect traditional economic actors and structures? What are the risks and opportunities?

Research approach

In line with HIIG’s mission, we pioneer interdisciplinary research and promote unconventional approaches that are open to all parts of society. The research group’s goal is to not limit itself to studying innovation and entrepreneurship at arms length; instead we seek to co-create societal and economic value together with businesses, policymakers and the public. To achieve this, we pioneer research approaches that would not fit at traditional academic institutions, adapting to technological change and customising projects to stakeholders’ demands. Our work is participatory and collaborative, ensuring that joint learning and knowledge transfer happen continuously and consistently. This approach helps us keep up with the novelty, complexity and dynamism of the digital economy.

Read our brochure for more information.

Contact

Nicolas Friederici, Dr.

Head of Research Group: Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Recent Blog Posts

Further research programmes

  • Dewmystifying AI
    Society and culture

    Demystifying AI in entrepreneurship

    Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to sustainably change how value is created in all sectors. In order to tab into this potential for...
  • Task Force Plattformökonomie
    Entrepreneurship and innovation

    Task Force: European Platform Economy

    The “Task Force European Platform Economy” is a group of HIIG researchers who study the implications of global platformisation for European actors and institutions....
  • Digitale Innovation im Mittelstand
    Entrepreneurship and innovation · Society and culture

    Digital Innovation in German mid-sized businesses

    Digitalisation brings new opportunities and growth potential, especially for the German Mittelstand. What kind of activities and strategies are pursued when it comes to...
  • Society and culture

    Competing and complementing – The relation of Co-determination and new participatory platforms within companies

    In our project “Competing and complementing – The relation of co-determination and new participatory platforms within companies” we do research on workers participation on...
  • Entrepreneurship and innovation · Science and education

    Open!

    The meaning of Open Source Innovation for the future firm Open Source Innovation (OSI) is an important topic for firms today. At present, most...
  • Gemeinsam digital
    Entrepreneurship and innovation · Society and culture

    Gemeinsam Digital

    _Gemeinsam digital (“together digital”), Berlin’s Mittelstand 4.0-Kompetenzzentrum (Competence Centre SME 4.0), is a central point of contact for all companies in Berlin and across...
  • Innovation Entrepreneurship
    Entrepreneurship and innovation · Science and education

    Entrepreneurship Research Lab

    Our Innovation and Entrepreneurship team is a transdisciplinary group of researchers at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society (HIIG).

Completed research projects

  • Society and culture

    How to collaborate with startups?

    Joint innovation projects by corporates and startups are being supported by ongoing digitalisation. These collaborative approaches consist of different engagement models such as startup...
  • Entrepreneurship and innovation · Society and culture

    User innovation in smart energy technologies

    Interconnected, intelligent energy systems are a highly discussed issue. Such systems are used by customers to control and measure their energy us-age.
  • dwerft
    Media and data

    »dwerft«

    In March 2014, a three-year research project on new technologies for digital moving images will start in Babelsberg: the »dwerft«.

 

Books

Richter, N., Jackson, P., Schildhauer, T. (Eds.) (2018). Entrepreneurial Innovation and Leadership. Preparing for a Digital Future. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave McMillan. Publication details

Journal articles and conference proceedings

Grafenstein, M. v., Jain, A., Thorne, M. , Rogers, J. et al. (2019). Our Friends Electric – Reflections on Advocacy and Design Research for the Voice Enabled Internet. ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, i.E. Publication details

Friederici, N. (2018). Delineating African Innovation Hubs from Business Incubators: A Process Perspective. Research Paper submitted to 4th Biennial Conference of the Africa Academy of Management, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 3rd - 6th January 2018. Publication details

Jackson, P., Dobson, P., & Richter, N. (2017). The situational logic of entrepreneurship: a realist approach to national policy. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 1-24. Publication details

Dopfer, M., Grafenstein v., M., Richter, N., Schildhauer, T., Tech, R., Trifonov, S., & Wrobel, M. (2015). Fördernde und Hindernde Faktoren Für Internet-Enabled Startups (Supporting and Hindering Factors for Internet-Enabled Startups). HIIG Discussion Paper Series, 2015(06). Publication details

Book contributions and chapters

Grafenstein, M.v. (2019). Co-Regulation and the Competitive Advantage in the GDPR: Data protection certification mechanisms, codes of conduct and the “state of the art” of data protection-by-design. In González-Fuster, G., van Brakel, R. and P. De Hert, Research Handbook on Privacy and Data Protection Law. Values, Norms and Global Politics, Edward Elgar Publishing, 1st Ed.. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Publication details

Jackson, P., Richter, N., Schildhauer T. (2018). Meeting the Innovation Challenge: Agile Processes for Established Organisations. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave McMillan. Publication details

Jackson, P., Richter, N., Schildhauer T. (2018). How Established Firms can Profit from Working with Startups. In P. Jackson, N. Richter, T. Schildhauer (Eds.), Entrepreneurial Innovation and Leadership. Preparing for a Digital Future. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave McMillan. Publication details

Dopfer, M. (2018). Why Business Model Innovation Matters to Startups. In P. Jackson, N. Richter, T. Schildhauer (Eds.), Entrepreneurial Innovation and Leadership. Preparing for a Digital Future. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave McMillan. Publication details

Wrobel, M. (2018). Do You Have What It Takes to Become an Internet Entrepreneur? The Key Competencies of Successful Founders. In P. Jackson, N. Richter, T. Schildhauer (Eds.), Entrepreneurial Innovation and Leadership. Preparing for a Digital Future. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave McMillan. Publication details

Richter, N., Volquartz, L., Schildhauer, T., Neumann, K. (2018). What Drives Internet Startups in Berlin? A Qualitative Analysis of the Facilitating and Inhibiting Factors. In N. Richter, Jackson, P., T. Schildhauer (Eds.), Entrepreneurial Innovation and Leadership. Preparing for a Digital Future. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave McMillan. Publication details

Richter, N., Schildhauer, T. (2018). Startup Clinics: Applied Research and “First Aid” for Early Stage Startups. In P. Jackson, N. Richter, T. Schildhauer (Eds.), Entrepreneurial Innovation and Leadership. Preparing for a Digital Future. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave McMillan. Publication details

Meier, P. (2018). Digitale Plattformen als Innovationstreiber. In P. Plugmann (Ed.), Innovationsumgebungen gestalten. Impulse für Start-ups und etablierte Unternehmen im globalen Wettbewerb (pp. 207-2017). Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler. Publication details

Friederici, N. (2018). Innovation Hubs in Africa: Assemblers of Technology Entrepreneurs. In M. Tynnhammar (Ed.), New Waves in Innovation Management Research (ISPIM Insights) (pp. 435-454). Delaware, USA: Vernon Press. Publication details

Schildhauer, T., & Flum, T., & Voss, H. (2018). „Weiterbildung 4.0“ für die Wirtschaft 4.0. In C., Bär, T., Grädler, R. Mayr (Eds.), Digitalisierung im Spannungsfeld von Politik, Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft und Recht (pp. 283-298). Berlin: Springer Gabler. Publication details

Jackson, P., Richter, N., Schildhauer T. (2017). Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Startups: The Case of Germany and the USA. In P. Jackson, N. Richter, T. Schildhauer (Eds.), Entrepreneurial Innovation and Leadership. Preparing for a Digital Future. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave McMillan. Publication details

Sauer, R., Dopfer, M., Schmeiss, J., & Gassmann, O. (2016). Geschäftsmodell als Gral der Digitalisierung. In O. Gassmann & P. Sutter, Digitale Transformation im Unternehmen gestalten (pp. 15-26). München, Deutschland: Hanser Verlag. Publication details

Working paper

Friederici, N., & Graham, M. (2018). The Bounded Opportunities of Digital Enterprises in Global Economic Peripheries. Friederici, N., & Graham, M.. Publication details

Other publications

Schmeiss, J., & Friederici, N. (2019). How much magic lies behind German AI production? HIIG Blog. Publication details

Ogolla, S. (2018). Employee Empowerment or workers’ control? The use case of Enterprise Social Networks. Publication details

Richter, T., & Große, M. (2018). Mehr Energie für die Energie. Publication details

Olk, C. (2018). Die Zukunft der Arbeit? An der Zukunft arbeiten!. Publication details

Wrobel, M., Schildhauer, T., & Preiß, K. (2017). Kooperationen zwischen Startups und Mittelstand. Learn. Match. Partner. Eine Studie des Alexander von Humboldt Instituts für Internet und Gesellschaft. Publication details

Ogolla, S. (2017). Artificial Intelligence at a Crossroads. Publication details

Große, M. (2015). Autarkie und der große Plan – die Energiewende und kleine, konkrete Lösungen. Publication details

 

Lectures and presentations

An exploration for value capture mechanisms in platform-orchestrated networks
International Conference on Design and Technology. Technion, Haifa, Israel: 18.06.2019 Further information

Philip Meier

The Platformization of Everything
Presentation. Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation, Haas Business School, University of California, Berkeley, USA: 22.04.2019 Further information

Philip Meier

Blockchain-enabled value creation between multiple parties: A transaction cost perspective.
World Open Innovation Conference (Session: Digital Transformation). UC Berkeley, Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation. Berkeley Haas, Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation, San Francisco, USA: 13.12.2018 Further information

Jessica Schmeiss, Katharina Hölzle, Robin Tech

"Kooperation zwischen Startups und Mittelstand"
Mittelstand 4.0 Kompetenzzentrum Regionalkonferenz Berlin. Gemeinsam Digital: Mittelstand 4.0-Kompetenzzentrum. Mercure Hotel Berlin Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany: 08.11.2018

Philip Meier

Digital Entrepreneurship in Africa
Management Research Seminar: Lecture on Digital Entrepreneurship in Africa. WU Wien, Vienna, Austria: 06.11.2018 Further information

Friederici, N.

Künstliche Intelligenz und neue Formen der Arbeit
Think Big Camp XXL. Deutsche Kinder- und Jugendstiftung. O2-Tower, Munich, Germany: 19.10.2018 Further information

Shirley Ogolla

Smart Energy in Deutschland – Wie Nutzerinnovationen die Energiewende voranbringen
HEA-Tagung 2018 - Märkte.Partner.Energie (Session: Energie smart nachgefragt). Umweltforum Berlin, Berlin, Germany: 19.09.2018

Matti Große

Determining Datamining - A Marxist perspective
MyData Conference 2018 (Session: Debating Rights and Responsibilities). Open Knowledge Foundation Finland. Kulturittaallo, Helsinki, Finland: 29.08.2018

Christopher Olk

The governance of open business models through blockchain technology
R&D Management Conference 2018 (Session: Digitally-enabled business model innovation). Politecnico di Milano. Politecnico di Milano School of Management, Milan, Italy: 02.07.2018 Further information

Jessica Schmeiss, Robin Tech, Jonas Kahlert

Surviving Social Media In The Workplace: A Kit
re:publica 2018. Station Berlin, Berlin, Germany: 03.05.2018 Further information

Shirley Ogolla

Triggers of collaborative prototyping: A netnographic study of user innovation in open source hardware communities
15th International Open and User Innovation Conference (Session: Communities: User Innovation and Open Source 1). University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria: 12.07.2017

Matti Große

Identification and Classification of User Innovation: Implications for Future Research
15th International Open and User Innovation Conference (Session: Innovation Policy). University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria: 11.07.2017

Jakob J. Korbel, Matti Große

Consequences of digitalization for service innovation theories: conceptual ideas and implications for future research
16th International Schumpeter Society Conference (Session: The Digital Economy). International Schumpeter Society. Hotel Bonaventure, Montéal, Canada: 07.07.2016

Matti Große

Nominations

Jury member: Diamond Star (Handelsblatt-Tagung).

Thomas Schildhauer