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:
 | Value Creation and CaptureHow do firms and users create value through digital technologies, and how can individual actors capture their fair share? |
 | Collaboration and OpennessWhat challenges and opportunities arise from open innovation in traditional sectors? What are the most effective ways for startups to collaborate with SMEs and corporations? |
 | Ecosystems and StructuresHow 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.
Further research programmes
Entrepreneurship and InnovationLearn. Match. Partner.
Digitization trends present different challenges for each business area. There is no single, universal model solution for all companies. Established companies usually know about...
Entrepreneurship and Innovation · Society and cultureArtificial Intelligence & Knowledge Work – Implications, Opportunities And Risks
The research project focuses on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in the intraorganizational workplace of knowledge workers. The project investigates with which...
Society and cultureDemystifying 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...
Entrepreneurship and innovationTask 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....
Society and cultureCompeting 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 educationOpen!
The meaning of Open Source Innovation for the future firm Open Source Innovation (OSI) is an important topic for firms today. At present, most...
Entrepreneurship and innovation · Society and cultureGemeinsam 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...
Entrepreneurship and innovation · Science and educationEntrepreneurship Research Lab
Our Innovation and Entrepreneurship team is a transdisciplinary group of researchers at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society (HIIG).
Entrepreneurship and innovation · Entrepreneurship and Innovation · Society and cultureDigital 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 cultureHow 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 cultureUser 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.
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«.
Alexander T. Nicolai, Prof. Dr.Associated Researcher: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Christoph GerlingResearcher: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Hendrik Send, Prof. Dr.Associated Researcher: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Janis StöckleStudent Assistant: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Jessica SchmeissAssociate Researcher: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Juliane HennStudent assistant: Innovation and entrepreneurship
Martin Wrobel, Prof. Dr.Associated Researcher: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Matti GrosseResearch associate: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Maximilian von Grafenstein, Prof. Dr.Associate Researcher, Co-Head of Research Programme
Miriam Wolf, Dr.Head of Research Project: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Nancy Richter, Dr.Associated Researcher: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Nicolas Friederici, Dr.Head of Research Group: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Philip MeierResearcher: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Shirley OgollaResearcher: The evolving digital society
Sina BecksteinAssociate researcher: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Thomas RichterAssociated Researcher: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Thomas Schildhauer, Prof. Dr. Dr.
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? Digital Society Blog. Publication details
Ogolla, S. (2018). Employee Empowerment or workers’ control? The use case of Enterprise Social Networks. Connected Life Conference. 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
Digital Entrepreneurship in Africa. BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway: 13.09.2019Nicolas Friederici
An exploration for value capture mechanisms in platform-orchestrated networksInternational Conference on Design and Technology. Technion, Haifa, Israel: 18.06.2019 Further information
Philip Meier
Knowledge Talk "Digital Entrepreneurship in Africa: Escaping from Silicon Valley’s Long Shadow". World Bank Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation Global Practice, Washington, D.C., USA: 21.05.2019Nicolas Friederici
Digital Entrepreneurship in Africa: How a Continent Is Escaping from Silicon Valley’s Long Shadow. Quello Center, Michigan State University, Michigan, U.S.A.: 20.05.2019 Further informationNicolas Friederici
The Platformization of EverythingPresentation. Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation, Haas Business School, University of California, Berkeley, USA: 22.04.2019 Further information
Philip Meier
Colloquium Development Geography (Session: Digital Entrepreneurship in Africa: Escaping from Silicon Valley’s Long Shadow). Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany: 01.02.2019Nicolas Friederici
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 AfricaManagement 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 ArbeitThink 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 voranbringenHEA-Tagung 2018 - Märkte.Partner.Energie (Session: Energie smart nachgefragt). Umweltforum Berlin, Berlin, Germany: 19.09.2018
Matti Große
Determining Datamining - A Marxist perspectiveMyData 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 technologyR&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 Kitre: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 communities15th 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 Research15th 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 research16th International Schumpeter Society Conference (Session: The Digital Economy). International Schumpeter Society. Hotel Bonaventure, Montéal, Canada: 07.07.2016
Matti Große
Panels
Kampf der Plattform-Giganten – wie sieht der deutsch-europäische Weg aus?11. Internet Governance Forum Deutschland. Bundeswirtschaftsministerium, Berlin, Germany: 11.09.2019 Further information
Nicolas Friederici
Nominations
Jury member: Diamond Star (Handelsblatt-Tagung).Thomas Schildhauer