On January 21, 2020, Institute Director Prof. Thorsten Posselt welcomed two CDU members of parliament for a professional exchange on the research priorities of the Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW at the Institute's headquarters in Leipzig. In addition to Sebastian Gemkow, Saxony's Minister of State for Science, Oliver Fritzsche, Member of the State Parliament of Saxony, accepted the invitation of the Fraunhofer IMW.

A special focus of the meeting was the digital project unit "Data Mining and Value Creation". Project leader Prof. Heiko Gebauer and team leader for "Digital Transformation" Dr. Christian Leyh introduced their research group. The guests were informed about the current status and the importance of the research project, which is funded by the State of Saxony. Prof. Posselt called it the currently "most important project, since it addresses the existential question of prosperity in Europe by re-measuring the value of data." In the course of the following discussion round, the focus shifted towards the challenges digitalization creates for companies. Oliver Fritzsche MdL was particularly interested in the benefits of the project for small and medium-sized enterprises in Saxony and how they could "benefit from digitalization" in cooperation with the project unit "Data Mining and Value Creation". Minister of State Gemkow was impressed by the work of the Fraunhofer IMW, especially by the project unit "Data Mining and Value Creation". His conclusion at the end of the meeting was positive throughout. He particularly emphasized "the benefits for companies" and the "geostrategic aspect" of the research group. For the future, Gemkow and Fritzsche agreed to intensify the dialogue with the Fraunhofer experts in Leipzig in order to work together for Saxony’s companies and the regional development and positioning of Saxony.