ZEW Annual Report 2017 Published – The Institute Gets Approval for Its Strategic Expansion

The business year 2017 saw a critical decision being made with respect to the future trajectory of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim. The institute may now embark on a strategic expansion into a competence centre for market and institutional design. “To get approval for this new plan was a considerable achievement of the entire institute. Both the Leibniz Association and the German Council of Science and Humanities have voiced their support for our proposal to expand ZEW’s research agenda from 2019 onwards to include the study of the design of effective markets and institutions,” explains ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach.

The planned expansion of ZEW’s research agenda is a response to the observation that many markets in Germany and Europe do not function satisfactorily. This leads to a number of problems which can be felt by citizens both in their everyday lives and as tax payers or consumers. The market design approach can help to get these problems in a number of highly relevant economic and political areas and on a variety of different markets more effectively under control than has previously been possible. The spectrum of possible applications of market design ranges from structuring Germany’s broadband expansion or electricity markets in the face of the energy transition to the improved organisation of organ donations, the allocation of nursery or university places or the regional distribution of refugees. In the future, ZEW hopes to help identify weaknesses in such systems and design and implement mechanisms to eliminate them.

ZEW research projects also touched on a number of other highly topical issues over the previous year, in particular, digitalisation and its accompanying positive and negative effects for the economy and society. For example, the ZEW Research Department “Digital Economy” presented the Monitoring Report “DIGITAL Economy 2017 – Compact” to the German Federal Government at the 2017 Digital Summit. The report has been highly influential and was presented again, with ZEW’s involvement, in 2018 with a focus on artificial intelligence.

Research achievements

“The considerable demand for ZEW’s research-based expertise in the business year 2017 is clear to see from the many successful advisory projects the institute has been involved in,” says ZEW Director Thomas Kohl. The institute’s most significant clients included German and foreign government agencies as well as the institutions of the European Union.

ZEW’s success in numbers: In 2017, twelve ZEW researchers completed their doctorates, more than 430 talks and lectures were given by ZEW staff at academic conferences both in Germany and abroad, while the institute itself played host to over 44 conferences and workshops with mostly participants from all over the world.

Promoting the next generation of economists

In terms of inspiring the economists of tomorrow, the year 2017 saw ZEW participate in the YES! – Young Economic Summit, Germany’s biggest competition for high school students, for the first time, with ZEW researchers mentoring eight teams of high school students. Much to the institute’s delight, one of these teams was crowned the winner of the entire competition. Such success on the institute’s first run has given ZEW ample incentive to continue its involvement with YES! and encourage more young people to take an interest in economics.

If you would like to receive a printed version of the ZEW Annual Report 2017, please send a request via e-mail to Lucie Berger, lucie.berger@zew.de