Alumni Reunion and Retirement Celebration
EventsHigh Turnout at Combined ZEW Alumni Day and Retirement Party for Dr. Georg Licht
On 16 June 2023, alumni turned up in record numbers for the yearly reunion at ZEW Mannheim, enjoying the radiant sunshine while simultaneously celebrating the retirement of Dr. Georg Licht, head of ZEW’s “Economics of Innovation and Industrial Dynamics” Research Unit. Around 70 alumni enjoyed seeing and catching up with each other again. The day’s agenda, rich with variety, also contributed to the guests’ high spirits.
Personal greeting from Minister of Education Bettina Stark Watzinger (in German language)
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After the opening remarks from ZEW President Professor Achim Wambach and ZEW Managing Director Thomas Kohl, the Career Talks commenced. Two alumni took the stage to introduce their respective start-ups. Dr. Jan Kinne founded istari.ai UG, an entrepreneurial start-up, which is currently launching a web analysis tool that utilises artificial intelligence (AI). According to Kinne, the city of Mannheim and especially Mannheim’s start-up representative were very helpful during the founding process. Dr. Vigen Nikogosian, founder of Sunvigo GmbH (LLC), amused and motivated the audience with his portrayal of how, at the age of 20, he opened a bakery without a bank loan. Failing after his initial success, he then became an energy supplier during his “second business start-up” because he wanted to contribute to the energy transition.
Tireless commitment and belief in progress
Engelbert Beyer, head of the sub-department “Application-Oriented Research for Innovation” at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, as well as ZEW Research Associate Professor Dirk Czarnitzki from KU Leuven also spoke during the festivities. Each took a personal and professional look back at the last 30 years. Professor Dietmar Harhoff, managing director at Munich’s Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, who worked with Georg Licht to establish the Mannheim Innovation Panel (MIP), also reminisced about ZEW’s exciting inaugural years.
In his laudatory speech, ZEW’s Managing Director Thomas Kohl praised Licht’s unwavering commitment that helped ZEW to become a very renowned institution. He pointed out that Licht’s vision, engagement and steadfast belief in progress surely left a mark on countless researchers. Professor Bettina Peters and Dr. Christian Rammer from the ZEW Research Unit “Innovation and Industrial Dynamics” led a humourous quiz that provided a cheerful atmosphere. Following this they gifted Georg Licht a replica of the gold-plated copper sheet that was aboard the NASA space probe Voyager 1 when it went to space in 1977, containing music by Ludwig van Beethoven and Chuck Berry, among others.
Before the event moved into the informal part, a “First-Hand Information on Economic Policy” was held in Dr. Licht’s honour. The topic was “Enabling Transformation – Preserving Prosperity: What Tasks Lie Ahead for Innovation and Research Policy?”. In addition to him and Professor Irene Bertschek (head of the ZEW Research Unit “Digital Economy”), Engelbert Beyer, Dr. Peter Dröll (director of “Prosperity”, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission), and Dr. Ines Ploss (Chief Procurement Officer for Heidelberg Materials) were on the panel and discussed current geopolitical challenges, corporate resilience and the danger of subsidy races.
