Research Institutes

The Institute of Applied Informatics and Formal Description Methods (AIFB) was founded in 1971. The courses taught at the institute include in-depth informatics training tailored to the chosen degree program, as well as the transfer of findings of informatics research, which are essential for the development of innovative products and services. The research conducted at the AIFB institute focuses on the further development and application of informatics concepts and methods for the development, deployment, and evaluation of usable, efficient, secure, and reliable information and communication technologies.

Research, Teaching and Innovation at the ECON Institute follow a strongly quantitative approach. Focus topics include Market Design (including Auctions and Procurement, Network Markets, Innovation Research, Financial Trade and Moral Aspects of Markets), Political Participation, Public Management, Macroeconomics, Computational Economics and Econometrics. Theory and Empirical Research often go hand in hand, for example at our interdisciplinary KD2Lab. We host regular seminars and workshops such as the Econ-Finance Seminars, the behavioural and experimental HeiKaMaX and HeiKaMaxY, the econometric HeiKaMEtrics Workshop, and the BETA-KIT Workshop. Our working paper series is available here. The Institute has strong national and international relations to academic institutions, to industrial partners, policy-makers, and to the media.

The goal of the Institute of Entrepreneurship, Technology Management and Innovation is to enable the active shaping of the future in order to create sustainable benefits for society, economy and science.

We want to work with the stakeholders in the KIT environment to develop the knowledge and skills needed to turn new technological and business opportunities into responsible innovations through entrepreneurial action. This knowledge should be scientifically sound and relevant for entrepreneurial practice.

The focus in the field of entrepreneurship is on identifying potentials for start-ups, their strategic planning and efficient implementation. Innovation and Technology Management focuses on ensuring the sustainable future viability of organizations, identifying, developing and using core competencies in a changing environment with a focus on innovation and competitiveness of stakeholders in the innovation system.

The common focus is to recognize the potential of upcoming market, technical and social changes and making it fruitful for stakeholders through adequate strategic, organizational and methodological approaches.

 

The institute focuses on management issues in three research groups: Human Resource Management, Management Accounting and Strategic Management. Analysis of strategic decisions, financial management information, as well as incentive and motivational mechanisms are core topics.

We have an international network, draw on approaches that are based on theory as well as empirical data, and develop frameworks for guiding management practice. We use mixed methods ranging from game theoretical analysis, empirical studies based on company data and surveys, to behavioral economic experiments. Through close cooperation with companies, our research results are regularly applied in practice.

Our teaching is research-based and combines knowledge of established scientific methods with knowledge that is oriented toward practical applications. Participatory elements such as online polls, case studies and guest lectures by practitioners are an integral part of the education at the institute.

The Institute for Industrial Production (IIP) comprises the Chair of Business Administration, Production and Operations Management and the Chair of Energy Economics. In 1991 the French-German Institute for Environmental Research (DFIU) was annexed to it.

The Chair of Business Administration, Production and Operations Management performs techno-economic analyses of industrial value chains with a focus on risk management, circulatory economic systems, integrated environmental protection measures, production planning and biomass applications.

The Chair of Energy Economics analyses techno-economic questions along the whole energetic value chain, starting with primary energy production through energy conversion and transport, finishing with energy distribution and use.

The French-German Institute for Environmental Research (DFIU) develops solutions for Franco-Germanic research problems in the environmental areas of air, water, land, waste and energy.

The Institute for Operations Research develops and applies mathematical methods for supporting decision and optimization processes. Its key aspects of activity treat the different requirements of such processes. For the collection of data and information, statistical methods of data analysis are developed in an analytics process. The resulting optimization problems can be solved with different focuses: Discrete optimization problems are characterized by their complexity and require problem-specific solution methods. A goal of continuous optimization is the efficient treatment of nonlinear effects. Finally, stochastic optimization considers uncertainties at the time of decision making by suitable concepts.