Research Project: Value Capital Innovation

The study explores the field of sustainable finance and economic sustainability Value-based finance and investment concepts for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Saxony and should be taken as an innovation-supporting measure within the framework of the State Technology Funding Saxony at the SAB. The background to this study is that the 2030 Agenda clearly calls for SMEs to be promoted and for financial resources to be made available that serve sustainable development (United Nations, 2015). This task and requirement should be examined in the Saxon context. Questions need to be addressed as to which local challenges there are with regard to financial aspects and what these actually look like and which solutions exist for them. And even if we in Saxony (and many industrialized nations) do not have to face the same problems as, for example, women in India,who feed their families with the help of, for example, microcredits for their small business, we also discriminate against women, for example, when it comes to financial instruments for entrepreneurial activity. Generally speaking, the The problem with financial resources and sustainability is that financial instruments (worldwide) are not designed in such a way that they serve an economy that in turn tries to serve sustainable development. The first steps seem to have been prepared, some of which can cover the financing requirements, for example with impact investing for inventions that have already been tried and tested with clear social effects. Interventions in earlier stages, however, will not find a financing solution. It is therefore still necessary to record and scientifically process the status quo from the perspective of many groups of actors, such as those associated with an innovation system. Specifically, there is a need for co-creative financing options (Value Capital Innovations) that are aimed at sustainable inventions in early stages of business model development.

 

Design Science Research

The study is to be completed in 24 months. The duration is divided into three phases, which are based on the design science research process in order to combine the practical context including challenges with the theoretical knowledge base in order to finally design innovative financial instruments and evaluate them with the actors (Hevner, 2007). The specialty of the Design Science Research approach lies in the combination of "rigor and relevance", ie the requirement of a scientific foundation while at the same time observing practical relevance. The stakeholder groups, i.e. SMEs, founders, investors and citizens are integrated into the recording of the challenges and the evaluation of possible concepts and their requirements for sustainable funding.This takes place as a "dialogue", which at the beginning of the study aims to identify the challenges, structures and problems. At the end of the study, he accelerates the discussion of possible financial instruments as well as their improved access and relevant systemic changes that are required for them. Between these dialogue phases with the actors there is the processing and connection with the theoretical knowledge base.

 

Timeline

01.01.22: Start of the project

31.12.23: End of the project

 

Involved

 

Contact person

Anja Herrmann-Fankhänel

 

Advancement

This study is funded as OTHER INNOVATION-SUPPORTING MEASURE within the framework of the State Technology Funding Saxony.

 

 

sustainability of mobility

 

As part of the Smart Rail Connectivity Campus (SRCC) in the Erzgebirge district, the joint project "Sustainable Mobility (NaMo)" examines the users who are at the center of mobility and their needs and attitudes in order to support the successful design of mobility innovations and their integration into existing social structures.

To this end, the focus of the investigation is placed on users and other demand-inducing stakeholders in order to ascertain the underlying causes of mobility, i.e. needs, and thus to answer the question of why people want or need to be mobile in a specific case. The mobility needs and the mutually related attitudes towards mobility ultimately justify the mobility behavior. The latter decides on the use of mobility offers and thus also on the success or failure of new mobility concepts on the market.

From February 2022 to January 2025, the mobility-related needs and attitudes of users in the Erzgebirge district, as well as their behavior, will be analyzed on the basis of comprehensive empirical analyzes and practical deductions will be made from these findings. This increases the sustainability of current and future mobility projects and closes a significant research gap in the field of mobility innovation.

 

Embedding and goal of the project

"NaMo" is embedded in the SRCC as a joint project of Chemnitz University of Technology , which is part of the "WIR! – Change through innovation in the region” is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

                   

 

WIR! supports projects that are intended to initiate sustainable structural change through the formation of regional innovation alliances made up of research institutions, companies and civil society actors in structurally weak regions.

 

In this context, the aim of the SRCC as a neutral institutional and infrastructural platform in the Erzgebirge district is to initiate and promote innovations in the field of digital networking and communication in rail transport, which above all gradually network automated driving on the rails and the integration of rail transport in multimodal Enable mobility offers. This is intended to promote and enable sustainable mobility in the region and to make a contribution to the economic success of the companies involved.

The goals of "NaMo" are therefore the development of a methodology for the design of needs-based and sustainable mobility approaches and the derivation of concrete design recommendations for sustainable mobility in the economic and tourist region of the Ore Mountains.

 

Contact Person

Richard Holzerland

 

JenErgieReal

"Real laboratories of the energy transition" - energy-optimized quarters

Project duration: 01/01/2022 – 12/31/2026

 

short description

The research and transfer project JenErgieReal sees itself as a blueprint for the future holistic supply of electrical and thermal energy and the integration of mobility as a link.

The main drivers of energy consumption in transport, industry, commerce and housing are considered across sectors and the implementation is scientifically accompanied in an exemplary large-scale project.

The overall goal of JenErgieReal is the demonstration of sector coupling through innovative power plant structures for the realization of an affordable energy transition. The central topics of the JenErgieReal project focus on grid utility and aim at grid stabilization without grid expansion. Measures that make this possible include load peak smoothing, load control, also from the upstream network, and reduced feed-in.

In the various work topics, solutions for future quarters from the end consumer to the producer are developed and implemented. Regulatory learning plays an important role in this.

The results will be demonstrated as a real laboratory in the city of Jena.

 

subproject at the chair

Duration: 07/2023-04/2024

Support for the project partners at the Zwickau University of Applied Sciences and the Ernst Abbe University Jena in the planning, conception and organization of the empirical surveys, the theory-based evaluation and the preparation of the results for publication in scientific specialist literature.

 

contact person

Julien Bucher

 

project partner

• City administration of Jena
• Stadtwerke Jena Netze GmbH
• Stadtwerke Energie Jena Pößneck GmbH
• jenawohnen GmbH
• AWO Regionalverband Mitte-West-Thüringen e.V.
• Metrona Union GmbH
• Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau
• Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena
• TU Chemnitz