ZEW Researchers Honoured for Outstanding Projects
AwardsZEW Sponsors' Association Prizes Awarded for Seventh Time
On 2 December 2024, the ZEW Sponsors’ Association awarded, already for the seventh time, prizes for outstanding research and economic policy advisory projects. The two awards – each endowed with 5,000 euros – were presented during an event that featured a talk by Professor Monika Schnitzer, German Council of Economic Experts and LMU.
Clusters of excellence can boost innovation activity
This year’s “Prize for the best scientific performance” was awarded to Dr. Bastian Krieger for his paper „Heterogeneous university funding programs and regional firm innovation: An empirical analysis of the German Excellence Initiative“. Krieger is head of the ZEW junior research group “Co-Creation” in the Research Unit “Economics of Innovation and Industrial Dynamics”. The paper was published in the renowned A journal “Research Policy”.
In his study Krieger shows that university funding within the German Excellence Initiative can strengthen the innovation capacity of regional firms. His analyses confirm: Companies are more innovative if there are at least four university clusters of excellence being funded in their region. The study therefore proposes a reorientation of funding, which to date has been distributed broadly across Germany. Krieger recommends to increase the funding volume and strategically concentrate funds in selected regions.
In his laudatory speech, Dr. Ralph Rheinboldt, chairman of ZEW Sponsors’ Association, stated: “Many members of the Sponsors’ Association conduct R&D activities and are actively involved in interdisciplinary research projects and partnerships with universities. Dr. Krieger’s controversial research findings are all the more intriguing as they suggest that a reorientation of the Excellence Initiative can boost entrepreneurial innovation capacity.”
Effective policy advice on VAT rate in restaurant sector
This year, the “Prize for the best economic policy advising project” went to Professor Friedrich Heinemann, Dr. Katharina Nicolay and Dr. Daniela Steinbrenner, members of the “Corporate Taxation and Public Finance” Research Unit. They were honoured for their work on VAT reduction in the restaurant sector.
Under the 2020 Coronavirus Tax Relief Acts, the VAT rate for the restaurant sector was temporarily cut down to seven per cent. In 2023, the ZEW team monitored the debate surrounding the phasing out of this measure. Using evidence-based findings, the researchers showed why returning to the tax rate of 19 per cent would make sense and addressed this topic e.g. in background discussions with members of the Budget Committee of the German Bundestag, as well as in numerous media contributions. Finally, the Bundestag decided that the tax rate should be raised again. As the study was met with great interest by the media, ZEW press officers Pascal Ausäderer and Bastian Thüne were included in the award nomination.
Ann-Kristin Stetefeld, deputy chairwoman and treasurer of the Sponsors’ Association, explained the jury’s decision: “This work meets all our expectations of effective policy advice. It is a prime example of how intensively research at ZEW addresses economic challenges, how quickly it responds to them and how it impacts policy decisions.”
ZEW Sponsors' Association Prizes Awarded for Seventh Time
The ZEW Sponsors’ Association for Science and Practice provides funding for practice-relevant research projects, supports the organisation of ZEW lecture series with top-level speakers from the areas of politics, business and academia, and has been sponsoring prizes for excellent scientific work and policy advice at the institute since 2018.
The association counts 140 large and medium-sized companies as well as private individuals among its members, who, through their commitment, support ZEW Mannheim as a strong economic research institute in Baden-Württemberg. For further information, please visit the ZEW Sponsors’ Association website (in German only).
