Technology and Innovation Management

Since the summer semester of 2023, the Junior Professorship for Technology and Innovation Management has been occupied by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Robert Panitz. The research approach of the professorship follows a relational understanding of social and economic action. The research focuses on fundamental questions about social and organizational structures and processes that promote innovation and technology development as well as questions about the organizational and social effects of such developments. Answers to these fundamental questions are sought by means of empirical economic and social research. In particular, social network analysis is applied.

Office hours

Mondays 2 p.m. (prior registration is requested)

Research

The junior professorship pursues three main research areas, which follow previous work and projects.

Technology, innovation and organizational learning

Companies are learning organizations. The research group deals with questions of management and organization of interpersonal and organizational knowledge networks and innovation processes in companies. Different organizational and management forms produce different processes and network structures. At the same time, these structures affect the performance and innovation capacity of employees, organizations and regions. Previous studies dealt, for example, with innovation scouting in multinational companies and with interpersonal knowledge networks in medium-sized companies.

Transformation and digitalization of industries

The second research area focuses on the transformative impact of technologies and regulation on entire industries and markets. It raises numerous research questions at the interface between government regulation and technological change, such as when does regulation promote technological change, how do technological solutions circumvent regulatory constraints, and how do new industries emerge in a regulatory vacuum? Company case studies as well as industry studies are used to answer such questions, e.g., to uncover new business models and technological solutions and to measure their impact. Earlier studies focused e.g. on the image market and the financial industry.

Methods of empirical network and social research

In order to answer research questions adequately, appropriate methods are needed. An essential component of the professorship is its methodological orientation in the field of social network analysis. This method has already been used in the past in basic research, industrial projects and management consulting. Network analysis is mostly used in combination with other qualitative and quantitative methods.