Social, Organisational and Technological Innovation

Innovation research at the IAT analyses innovations in distinct sectors and spatial contexts. Following a broad understanding of innovation, subject of research are social, organisation as well as technological innovations, which are frequently also integral part of all innovation processes. The spectrum of methods applied ranges from secondary data analysis, for example, in form of patent analysis, to process-oriented, quantitative and qualitative survey (e.g. Innovation Biographies). Innovation stakeholders, networks and innovation systems, drivers and barriers of innovation (diffusion) processes, the role of sectorial and spatial contexts are of central interest, just as governance structures and new business models.

Project

Selectivity and Ambiguity in Working Cultures: Resource-based and Potential-oriented Organization of the Working World for Refugees on the Examples of the Sectors of Geriatric Nursing, IT-economy and Building Trade

In order to cope with immigration flows, such as the current refugee immigration, - in the sense of a successful integration - local/regional labour market integration of the target groups is an essential factor in such an endeavor. Strategies for a socially and economically sustainable management of the current refugee immigration are carried out in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in close interconnection of socio-demographic, socio-structural and economic structural change.