On the occasion of the festive opening ceremony for the institute on Wednesday, KU President Prof. Dr. Gabriele Gien emphasized that this was another important pillar in the KU’s research strategy which combined basic research with application-oriented research. “Our aim is to provide room for excellent research with which we can take a position regarding social challenges and which allows us to transfer research findings into society”, says Gien. KU Vice President Prof. Dr. Jens Hogreve, who is one of the four founding members of BESH in his capacity as holder of the Chair of Service Management, praised the city of Ingolstadt as a strong partner in science and research which supported the KU in its growth and collaborated with the university in manifold ways. He named examples such as the ongoing research project on questions of civic involvement or the planned Institute for Ethics which will be located in the Ingolstadt Georgianum from 2022 and thus continue the long-standing tradition of the first Bavarian university.
In his speech, Ingolstadt mayor Dr. Christian Lösel emphasized his hope that research findings of the new institute could improve living conditions of many people in the region and beyond and increase social justice. “This institute will create knowledge which can provide a meaningful contribution for society as a whole”, says Lösel. The institute’s research focus is not only of major importance for society but also reflects KU values. In addition to offering close cooperation on specific topics, the city of Ingolstadt will also provide financial support for BESH by awarding prizes to excellent doctoral candidates and also support a prize for top-level research which will be awarded for the first time in November this year.
Together with Prof. Dr. Jens Hogreve, Prof. Alexander Danzer (Chair of Microeconomics), Prof. Shashi Matta (Chair of Business Administration, Innovation and Creativity) and Prof. Simon Wiederhold (Chair of Macroeconomics) are initiators of the new institute. They explained that BESH was founded to pursue common research interests and methods in the field of business administration and economics. “Usually, professors spend a large amount of their time with their own research. The huge potential offered by BESH lies in the collaboration and networking possibilities it offers – also in an international context”, explains Prof. Matta. This also became evident on the institute’s first annual conference which was held on the same day and was also attended by international researchers. On the occasion of the festive celebration, the institute also named its first research fellows: John Saldana, Ricardo Perez-Truglia, Lisa Brüggen and Ghazala Azmat. With their help, BESH intends to establish and continuously expand on its global network. Furthermore, Prof. Wiederhold emphasized that the institute also wanted to involve early-career researchers by offering career-planning advice for young researchers or by hosting an annual conference for early-career researchers giving them the possibility to exchange ideas and views. “We also want to maintain close cooperation with the industry, politics and society and establish our institute as a fixed point of contact for socially relevant economic research in the academic world”, added Prof. Danzer.
