ZEW Researcher Appointed Professor at the University of Giessen

Professor Irene Bertschek, head of the Research Department “Digital Economy” at the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, was appointed as a professor in the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies at the Justus Liebig University (JLU) Giessen on 1 December 2017. The joint appointment of Bertschek by the University of Giessen and ZEW will help to strengthen the already close connection between the two institutions.

Irene Bertschek gained her doctoral degree as part of the European Doctoral Program at the Université catholique de Louvain and has been head of the ZEW Research Department “Digital Economy” since 2001. Between 2011 and 2017 she was also a professor of economics with a focus on applied empirical economic research at the University of Mannheim. Her research primarily focuses on the effects of digitalisation on productivity, innovation behaviour and the organisation of labour within firms. In terms of her research methods, she has expertise in applied microeconometrics and analysing firm-level data. “I am thrilled that our connection with the University of Giessen will now be even stronger, particularly given that Professor Bertschek’s field of research, digital economy, is so full of promise,” explains ZEW Director Thomas Kohl.

ZEW continues to expand its research network

ZEW and the University of Giessen have collaborated on a number of third-party funded projects, including most recently the project “Text Data Based Output Indicators as Base of a New Innovation Metric (TOBI)”, financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Beginning in November 2017, the project aims to develop new indicators for corporate innovation through an online method of analysis. Both the Chair of Statistics and Econometrics (headed by Professor Peter Winker) and the Chair of Technology, Innovation and Start-up Management (headed by Professor Monika Schuhmacher) at the University of Giessen are involved in the project. There are plans to further strengthen the cooperation between ZEW and the University of Giessen by jointly using of ZEW’s datasets and offering joint doctoral programmes.

“I am very pleased about the joint appointment of Professor Bertschek as this will bring new insights into a highly current field of research to the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies,” says JLU President Professor Joybrato Mukherjee. “Beyond the field of research itself, our students will particularly benefit from being able to write project-based final papers and gain valuable experience by working on actual research projects.” Irene Bertschek will broaden the type of courses on offer at the Faculty of Economics and Business Studies by giving lectures and classes in her own field of expertise, digital economy.

Professor Bertschek’s appointment in December 2017 also represents an expansion of ZEW’s research network. A number of the institute’s researchers have also been jointly appointed as professors by ZEW and the universities of Mannheim, Heidelberg, Luxembourg and Cologne.