A snapshot on crowdfunding

This article addresses crowdfunding, a relatively new form of informal financing of pro-jects and ventures. It describes its principle characteristics and the range of players in this market. The different business models of crowdfunding intermediaries are explored and illustrated. A first attempt is made to classify the different forms of funding and business models of crowdfunding intermediaries. Based on the available empirical data the paper discusses the economic relevance of crowdfunding and its applicability to start-up financing and funding creative ventures and research projects. --

Akademische Spin-offs. Erfolgsbedingungen für Ausgründungen aus Forschungseinrichtungen

Nach landläufiger Auffassung sind Spin-offs aus der Wissenschaft besonders innovativ und in der Lage, neues Wissen rasch kommerziell zu vermarkten. Diese Untersuchung, die Entwicklungs- und Erfolgsbedingungen von Ausgründungen systematisch empirisch analysiert hat, meldet Zweifel an, ob das gängige Bild zutrifft. In Fallstudien und schriftlichen Befragungen bei 110 ost- und westdeutschen Spin-offs fanden die Forscher zwar einige erfolgreiche, auch schnell wachsende Firmen, aber im gesamtwirtschaftlichen Maßstab sind es zu wenige. Bei vielen Neugründungen helfen – so die weiteren Befunde – die akademischen Muttereinrichtungen ihren Spin-offs zu wenig. Die Gründer haben zwar oft anspruchsvolle technologische, meistens aber sehr bescheidene wirtschaftliche Ziele; es handelt sich vorwiegend um männliche, hochkarätige Forscher, die allerdings selten hinreichendes kaufmännisches Wissen mitbringen. Häufig starten sie ohne eine ausgereifte Produktidee bzw. mit einem noch nicht marktfähigen Produkt. Die Autoren bewerten die Erfolgs- und Hemmnisfaktoren und ziehen Schlussfolgerungen, welche – ggf. neuen – Instrumente für die Förderung von Spin-offs in Frage kommen

A stepwise, actor-based approach to the establishment of science-industry co-operations

Science–industry cooperations (SIC) have from various perspectives been a major subject of interest for innovation studies during the past decades. In the course of extensive academic discussions it has become commonly accepted that the exchange of knowledge and the transfer of technology between the scientific and the industrial sector is based on an interactive process of personal exchange between many actors from different fields of science and industry. One of the issues not yet comprehensively addressed by existing theoretical and empirical work is the process of the emergence of a cooperation before the first agreement is reached. This chapter will argue that an approach with a comprehensive focus on the key driving actors can better contribute to a understanding of how cooperations develop than a system-based approach or a rational choice approach that disregards personal characteristics. It will argue that neither purely actor-based nor purely institution-based approaches alone make for a good explanation, but that, conceptually, both are required. More precisely, it will attempt to strike a balance by taking the actors decisions as the main foundation of the analysis while considering institutional and organizational factors as mediating framework conditions. To do so, we will briefly review existing conceptual literature and then review case study evidence that Fraunhofer ISI has collected during its practical work in this subject field in the course of the past decade in the light of the conceptual notions following from it. On this basis, a conceptual approach to analyse the early-stages of cooperative agreements will be developed

Sozialhumane Auswirkungen von Bildschirmtext in ausgewaehlten Branchen: Studie d. Fraunhofer-Inst. fuer Systemtechnik u. Innovationsforschung

Available from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, Duesternbrook Weg 120, D-24105 Kiel C 149813 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman