Dominik Asam, M.Sc.
Doctoral Student and Junior Research Fellow
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research
+49 89 24246-568
dominik.asam(at)ip.mpg.de
Areas of Interest:
Economics of Artificial Intelligence, Economics of Innovation, Entrepreneurial Finance
Academic Résumé
Since 10/2024
Junior Research Fellow and Doctoral Candidate, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research)
02/2024 – 05/2024
Visiting Researcher, University of Cambridge
08/2022 – 01/2023
Visiting Student in Economics, Bocconi University
10/2021 – 04/2024
Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Management & Technology with majors in Economics and Computer Science, Technical University of Munich (TUM)
09/2019 – 01/2020
Visiting Student, EM Normandie Business School
10/2017 – 03/2021
Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Management & Technology with a minor in Computer Science, Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Work Experience
Since 07/2019
Co-Founder & Managing Director at CompCast
03/2023 – 07/2023
Founder’s Associate Intern at Tanso
10/2021 – 05/2022
Research Assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
06/2021 – 10/2021
Working Student at the Siemens AI Lab
05/2020 – 06/2021
Project Lead at the social startup “Waterfilter” by Enactus Munich
01/2020 – 04/2020
Venture Capital Analyst Intern at Lucatis
Honors, Scholarships, Academic Prizes
07/2024
Bundesbank Research Prize for Outstanding Theses
09/2022 – 09/2023
Deutschlandstipendium (German Federal Scholarship)
Publications
Discussion Papers
(2024). Generative AI and Firm-level Productivity: Evidence from Startup Funding Dynamics. DOI
- New general-purpose technologies have the potential to fundamentally change the dynamics of entrepreneurial firms. This paper provides new evidence on the impact of Generative AI on startup productivity: We argue that valuable but non-exclusive technological innovations can be a source of competitive advantage if entrepreneurs leverage them as complementary assets to their existing skill set. To show this, we exploit the release of GitHub Copilot as a quasi-natural experiment affecting software-developing startups. We find a significant reduction in the time-to-initial-funding, an early-stage productivity indicator, by about 20% relative to comparable startups. These effects are strongest for startups whose founders have more technological or managerial experience. Our analysis highlights the considerable implications of GenAI as a new resource available to decision-makers, shaping startup dynamics and productivity.