Research

     Research for new entrepreneurial incentives

Wholistic Research

We view entrepreneurship research embedded in the overall context of economic and societal interactions.

Practical Relevance

Our scholarly work is aimed at practical applicability of the research results.

International Scope

We derive new and innovative impulses for Germany as a business location from the results of our internationally oriented research work.

     Diversified research at the Entrepreneurship Hub

We deal with a broad range of topics in the start-up-related context.

Entrepreneurship in countrified areas
Entrepreneurship in countrified areas
Stöbich Entrepreneurship Promotion Award
Stöbich Entrepreneurship Promotion Award
Monitoring of Entrepreneurship in Lower Saxony
Monitoring of Entrepreneurship in Lower Saxony

     Examples of current research topics

Systematic transformation of scientific research results into innovative products and services initiates an immediate prosperity effect and strengthens the competitiveness of the industrial sector.

In the research focus on high-tech entrepreneurship, the process of commercialization of scientific results at technical universities and non-university research institutions is analyzed. Through quantitative and qualitative research methods, approaches to the integration of scientific and economic systems are sought and further developed. Special attention is paid to business modeling, technology venture capital and high-tech entrepreneurship governance.

Contact
Prof. Dr. Reza Asghari
Phone: +49 (0) 5331 939 33410
Email: r.asghari@tu-braunschweig.de

Integrated innovation methodology for strengthening the innovative capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises in the region
 
Issue and Motivation

Innovative capability is considered a key success factor for companies in all industries. The factors that determine innovative capability and the measures or methods that can be used to promote innovation in operational practice are often unclear in companies. This is especially true for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), since human resources are very limited and know-how is often highly specialized. These limitations and the insufficient understanding of the levers for increasing innovative capability make it difficult to identify and implement company-specific measures. On the one hand, shorter life cycles, more complex products and the global distribution of value creation processes increase the pressure to act and require SMEs to expand their internal know-how. On the other hand, digital tools make new forms of knowledge exchange and cooperation between companies possible. In the InnoLink joint project, these opportunities and challenges are being addressed in order to develop a methodology for strengthening the innovative capacity of SMEs in the Braunschweig region. Companies and universities act as know-how carriers and provide their specific knowledge about innovation methods and processes or technologies, e.g. in the form of best practices. This is expected to provide essential impulses and a better company-specific awareness for concrete measures to increase innovation capability.

Approach and project objective

Ziel des Verbundprojektes zwischen TU Braunschweig und Ostfalia HaW ist es, Hilfsmittel für das Innovationsmanagement in KMU bereitzustellen. Einerseits soll das Angebot Hilfsmittel zur Identifizierung und Bewertung der Handlungsfelder zur Stärkung der Innovationsfähigkeit bereitstellen. Aufbauend soll das Angebot unternehmensspezifisch anwendbare Maßnahmen und Methoden zur Stärkung der Innovationsfähigkeit bereitstellen. Darüber hinaus soll die Innovationsmethodik die Vernetzung mit Hochschulen und weiteren externen Wissensträgern zur Unterstützung in der Umsetzung von Maßnahmen.

Auf Basis einer Bedarfserhebung bei regionalen KMU und umfassender Recherchen, wurde ein Modell zur Beschreibung der Innovationsfähigkeit von KMU entwickelt. Mit Hilfe des entwickelten Modells wird ermöglicht, die eigene Innovationsfähigkeit auf strategischer und operativer Ebene zu betrachten.

Elemente der integrierten Innovationsmethodik

Ausgehend von einer Bedarfsanalyse bei KMU in der Region wurde eine integrierte Innovationsmethodik ausgearbeitet, die als zukünftige Portallösung unter anderem folgende Elemente umfasst:

  • Bewusstsein schaffen – Innovations-Navigator InnoCheck
    Bewertung der eigenen Innovationsfähigkeit und Identifizierung unternehmensspezifischer Handlungsfelder für die Stärkung der Innovationsfähigkeit.
  • Orientierung bieten – Entscheidungsunterstützung InnoScope
    Unterstützung in der Auswahl konkreter Handlungsfelder und Maßnahmen zur Stärkung der eigenen Innovationsfähigkeit.
  • Wissen bereitstellen – Maßnahmen- und Methoden-Box InnoBox: Bereitstellung praktisch anwendbarer Ansätze, Methoden und Hilfsmittel zur Stärkung der Innovationsfähigkeit
  • Vernetzung fördern – Digitales Wissens- und Kommunikationsportal InnoNet:  Vernetzung mit Hochschulen und weiteren externen Wissensträgern zur Unterstützung in der Umsetzung von Maßnahmen

Kooperationsmöglichkeiten und Mitwirkung

Sie möchten Partner werden, aktuelle Herausforderungen diskutieren, Ihr Wissen über Innovation erweitern sowie konkrete Lösungsansätze erarbeiten? Wir bieten:

  • Workshops zur unternehmensspezifische Analyse der Innovationsfähigkeit und Handlungsfeldern
  • Pilotprojekte zur Anwendung moderner Innovations- und Entwicklungsmethoden
  • Bearbeitung von Problemstellung durch Studierende der TU Braunschweig und der Ostfalia HaW

Kontaktieren Sie uns gern bei Interesse am Verbundprojekt und wenn Sie Ihre Erfahrungen teilen oder konkreten Fragenstellungen einbringen möchten.
Bei Interesse teilen wir mit Ihnen gerne unsere aktuellen Projektergebnisse.

Projektpartner

Institut für Konstruktionstechnik – Technische Universität Braunschweig

Allianz für die Region GmbH
Braunschweig Zukunft GmbH

IHK Braunschweig
Handwerkskammer Braunschweig-Lüneburg-Stade
KIM Kooperationsinitiative Maschinenbau e.V.
Metropolregion Hannover Braunschweig Göttingen Wolfsburg GmbH
PEINER SMAG Lifting Technologies GmbH

Weiterführende Informationen zum Projekt finden Sie unter www.inno-link.de.

Ansprechpartnerin
Dagmar Wilgeroth
Telefon: +49 (0) 5331 939 33530
Email: d.wilgeroth@ostfalia.de

Digital transformation is increasingly emerging as a key term of the 21st century, which essentially refers to the transformation of products, services, processes and business models in the context of increasing digitization.

The dynamic and sustainable change of the ecosystem has structurally and permanently altered many industries and established new rules of competition. Corporate success is less and less attributable to products, services or internal value creation processes; rather, it is innovative business models that act as value drivers. As a consequence, the changed market conditions also require an adaptation of tools and methods for the development of business models in order to meet these new dynamic requirements. This results in the following overarching research objective:

The derivation and evaluation of a requirements-based approach for the development of business models in the context of digital transformation in the form of a serious game.

In light of this overarching research objective, more detailed research questions can be derived:

  • What is the status quo in business model research and which instruments and tools have already become established in theory and practice?
  • What are the weaknesses for users in the application of widespread business model development tools?
  • What new influencing factors and value drivers are crystallizing as a result of digitalization?
  • How do transformation processes influence products, user behavior, value creation and thus entire business models in the context of Digital Darwinism?
  • What new requirements arise from this for approaches to business model development?
  • To what extent are these requirements already taken into account by existing frameworks for business model development?
  • To what extent is a serious game a suitable methodological tool for designing business models in digitally transforming ecosystems?

Contact
Ricarda Schlimbach, M.Sc., MBA
Email: ricarda.schlimbach@tu-braunschweig.de

Innovation is a key factor for the economic success of any company, regardless of size. Disruptive innovation, or creative destruction, is the most powerful form of innovation. The entrepreneurial component in the innovation process is the individual with an entrepreneurial mindset who not only recognizes an innovation idea and the potential associated with it, but also acts on it in an entrepreneurial manner.

The term “entrepreneurial mindset” describes a concept that is as comprehensive as possible in describing the characteristics, attitudes, motives and behavior of the entrepreneurial personality. This concept establishes an action relationship between attitudes and actions that characterizes the path from idea generation to idea implementation. Therefore, the entrepreneurial mindset can be seen as a driving factor for the development of innovation.

Entrepreneurship education has the potential to positively influence the entrepreneurial mindset of engineering students in a systematic way, thus enhancing their ability to identify innovative opportunities and supporting the corresponding innovative action.

The aim of this work is to examine how the concept of entrepreneurship education should be designed in order to systematically influence the entrepreneurial mindset of students in engineering programs.

The question is relevant with regard to the great importance of engineering sciences in the development of innovative technologies. For an economy that claims to be a technological leader, it is therefore necessary to ensure that a positive influence on the entrepreneurial mindset of students already takes place in higher education in the field of engineering.

Contact
Dipl.-Kffr. Dagmar Wilgeroth
Phone: +49 (0) 5331 939 33530
Email: d.wilgeroth@ostfalia.de

Digitization is connoted with great opportunities for the economy and society. Digitalization manifests the current Kondratjev cycle with a further increase in total factor productivity. The industrial sector in particular is benefiting from the efficiency gains of technological progress, and the potential for Germany is thus particularly significant. However, it is not only the efficiency of production systems that can be increased, but also their effectiveness, for example in retaining customers or opening up new market segments. For example, innovations can and must be adapted to the individual needs of customers, and customers can be more strongly retained through network effects.

The German economy depends on industrial SMEs, but this sector in particular is lagging behind in the implementation of digitization. Only very few SMEs are exploiting real potential or designing concrete strategies for dealing with digitization. The tricky thing is that past business success alone is not indicative of future prosperity. On the one hand, the requirements for product and service bundles are changing with the technical possibilities, and on the other hand, monopoly positions are being established more easily and across geographical borders in the digital age. Digital disruption is forcing a rethink and change in the way a company sees itself, a digital transformation.

The digital transformation of a company explores a new development path at the overall organizational level. A company forms the framework of the innovation cycles of its business models. In the research area of social innovation, it is shown that technical innovation cycles include phases of incremental progress and disruptive change. The latter is accompanied by the introduction of a new understanding of which dimensions progress is understood by. Digitization also breaks through outdated trajectories of incremental growth on a company-wide level. It thus requires a social closure in the company for a new development perspective. The current stage of digitization in German SMEs can thus be understood as an imbalance between external changes in the corporate environment and internal guard rails of corporate development.

Against this background, the following research question is answered:

How can epistemic methods in business development support medium-sized companies in the manufacturing industry sector in identifying the potentials of digitalization that are relevant for them?

Furthermore, these subordinate questions are to be answered:

 
  •  
  • Which approach is suitable for sensitizing the business development of medium-sized companies for the long-term anchoring of a new corporate development trajectory?
  • Which methods and approaches can be used to overcome inactivity towards digitalization in medium-sized companies?
  • Why are the potentials of digitalization not implemented by medium-sized companies?
  • What exactly are the potentials of digitization at the business model level?
  • What is the prospect of prosperity for the German economy if the potential for digitization is not fully exploited by medium-sized companies in the manufacturing industry sector?

Consequently, the research field encompasses digitization, change management and social innovation in particular. The following graphic visualizes the key areas of the research field.

The research work pursues the guiding objective of closing the gap between the real opportunities of digitization and its implementation in medium-sized companies in order to contribute to the long-term prosperity of the German economy.

 

Contact
Leonhard Riedel, M.Sc.
Email: leonhard.riedel@ostfalia.de

     National and international Cooperation

We cooperate with various institutions in order to be able to conduct national and international research.
In addition to the opportunities for scholarship-funded work abroad, there are a variety of other opportunities
to conduct research  on novel and interesting problems and challenges in the field of entrepreneurship.
Please feel free to contact us or make an appointment.

     Significance of Entrepreneurship Research

Dagmar Wilgeroth

Dipl.-Kffr.

With our entrepreneurship research, we would like to make a contribution to how influencing factors in the creation of innovation can be acted upon in order to improve innovation capability.

Leonhard Voß

M.Sc.

It is very important for the future viability of the German economy to contribute one's own innovative performance to digitization and not to idly let the diverse changes in the markets run their course.

Ricarda Schlimbach

M.Sc., MBA

Entrepreneurship can be a driving force for bringing research into the business world. And it also helps to stimulate a change in thinking in the business world, i.e. to change the mindset.