Annual Report

Dear readers,

We are pleased to share with you the Annual Report 2020-22 of the Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW. In this double issue, we invite you to take a look at our socio- and techno-economic research projects and the institute's development during the years of the Corona pandemic.

These past few years have been marked by high transformation pressures on the economy and society. In addition to advancing digitization and the goal of climate neutrality, the acute crises increase the pressure to rapidly bring new technologies, production processes and resource flows into application. As a research partner, we support you in your transformation efforts. With customized strategies, processes and instruments of knowledge and technology transfer, we help to accelerate your innovation processes and reduce risks at an early stage.

We have worked with companies to investigate the resilience of business models and developed tools to strengthen corporate resilience. Our anthology published in 2022 brings together the latest findings on resilience research to illustrate what companies can do to overcome crises more resiliently in the future.

The year 2022 also saw the conclusion of one of our major projects, Data Mining and Value Creation. The joint project of Fraunhofer IMW and the University of Leipzig investigated data-based value creation for companies, especially for SMEs in Saxony, and tested new forms of digital value creation in pilot projects together with companies. In this annual report, we share the key findings with you in detail.

Regions are also subject to high transformation pressure – another focus of our research. In recent years, our researchers have analyzed and developed instruments for shaping regional structural transformation processes – and demonstrated in several research projects how cooperation between companies, regional actors and research institutions can succeed. The development of an economically viable hydrogen economy in Central Germany is one of the current focal points of our research.

During the pandemic years, we also celebrated our fifteenth anniversary as an institute. Since our foundation in 2006, we have continuously advanced, carried out numerous national and international projects and released our results in publications. We have achieved a lot in the last 15 years, also thanks to the cooperation with you, our partners, our clients, and we are proud of the work of our research teams. Since fall of 2021, we have dedicated ourselves to the further development and sharpening of our service portfolio as part of a strategy process. In the four research fields of foresight, environment analysis and assessment, strategy and business model development, and impact measurement, we are aligning our service offerings to accelerate your innovation processes and reduce risks. We will continue to do our best in the future and look forward to being your companion for strategic transformation processes and transfer measures.

We hope you enjoy a knowledge-intensive read and look forward to your feedback on our research, your questions, impulses and ideas and invite you to pick up the threads again.

Yours sincerly
Thorsten Posselt und Christian Growitsch
Head of Institute Fraunhofer IMW

Joseph von Fraunhofer studied the phenomena of light. The reflections on the cover and chapter dividers of the Annual Report pick up on this legacy. By experimenting with light and shadow, we aim to create visual moments that reveal new, unexpected image levels and patterns. Our researchers also often relate different perspectives to each other in their work, thereby helping to accelerate innovation processes and minimize risks.

Our researchers support companies, regions and networks in identifying major technological, economic and social changes at an early stage and assessing their potential impact on a scientifically sound basis. They enable clients to assess current and future developments of markets, technologies, scientific and regional potentials and to draw conclusions for future actions. They also derive concrete options for the future strategy and value generation of companies, regions or networks. Last but not least, our researchers help to evaluate and adapt corporate, innovation, technology or transfer strategies in order to better achieve the desired goals.

The Management Staff of the Institute, the Organizational Development and Quality Management Unit, the Administration Department and the Marketing and Communication Division support the scientific work as service units.

Here you will find a selection of scientific publications by the institute and its researchers from the years 2020 to 2022.