Institute News – Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition

[Bitte nach "english" übersetzen:] Dr. Moritz Sutterer. Foto: Tina Weber

Award | 03/19/2025

Moritz Sutterer Awarded the Heinrich Hubmann Prize 2024

Moritz Sutterer receives the Heinrich Hubmann Prize 2024 of VG WORT for his dissertation Das Kollisionsrecht der kollektiven Rechtewahrnehmung (The Conflict of Laws of Collective Rights Management), supervised by Josef Drexl. The work was primarily written at the Institute, where Moritz Sutter worked as a Research Fellow in Josef Drexl's department from 2016 to 2022.

[Bitte nach "english" übersetzen:] Dr. Moritz Sutterer (2.v.l) eingerahmt vom Laudator Prof. Dr. Michael Grünberger, LL.M. (NYU) (1.v.l.), Prof. Dr. Josef Drexl, LL.M. (UC Berkeley) und Dr. Robert Staats, Vorstand VG WORT. Foto: Tina Weber

In his work, Moritz Sutterer develops a conflict of laws concept for the cross-border activities of performing rights societies. Until now, this has been regulated by a large number of reciprocal agreements between the individual collective management organizations. In its statement, the jury emphasized that the work is innovative and future-oriented. Sutterer’s work is particularly important in view of the increasing internationalization of the activities of collective management organizations.

During his time at the Institute, Moritz Sutterer’s research focused on copyright law, antitrust law and private international law. He contributed his knowledge of conflict of laws to the drafting of the International Law Association’s “Kyoto Guidelines” on private international law in the field of intellectual property law. He received his doctorate from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in 2022. Today he works as a lawyer in Munich.

The Heinrich Hubmann Prize is endowed with 5,000 euros and is awarded every two years by VG WORT. The award ceremony on 14 March 2025 took place as part of the symposium of the Institute for Copyright and Media Law on “Media and Copyright Challenges of Artificial Intelligence” in Munich. In awarding the prize, VG WORT commemorates its long-standing board member Professor Dr. Heinrich Hubmann (1915–1989), who, as a university lecturer and author of numerous works, advocated the “law of the creative mind”. He is regarded as an outstanding scholar of German copyright law in the second half of the 20^th century.

Sutterer, Moritz
Das Kollisionsrecht der kollektiven Rechtewahrnehmung
Abhandlungen zum Urheber- und Kommunikationsrecht, 65, Nomos; Stämpfli Verlag; C.H. Beck, Baden-Baden; Bern; München 2024, 555 S.
doi.org/10.5771/9783748943228

Dr. Rudolf Leška congratulates Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Adolf Dietz on being awarded the Jan Löwenbach Prize.

Award | 03/17/2025

ALAI honors Adolf Dietz with the Jan Löwenbach Prize

On 14 March 2025, Adolf Dietz was awarded the Jan Löwenbach Prize of the Czech ALAI regional group for his great services to the German-Czech copyright dialog. He is the first laureate of this newly established prize.

In his laudatory speech, Dr. Rudolf Leška, President of the Czech ALAI, emphasized the great importance of Adolf Dietz’s research for the development of copyright law, particularly in what was then Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic. Dietz expressed his gratitude by pointing out that he had described the new Czech copyright law as a “top European product” in a commemorative publication for Rehbinder.

After studying law in Munich and Paris, Adolf Dietz obtained his doctorate in 1966 at the Ludwig-Maximilians- Universität in Munich, where he also passed his second state examination in law in 1967. From 1966, Adolf Dietz worked as a research assistant at the Institute (then the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Patent, Copyright and Competition Law). From 1972 to 1978, he was head of the department and then research group leader in the copyright department until his retirement in 2001. As an expert on German, European and international copyright law and on intellectual property in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the People's Republic of China, he published numerous books and journal articles in these fields. After his retirement, he remained associated with the Institute as an Affiliated Research Fellow. In addition to numerous other honors, Adolf Dietz received an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Brussels in 1996 and the Grand Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2002.

With the Jan Löwenbach Award, the ALAI Czech National Group commemorates the founder of the first Czechoslovak ALAI group. The copyright lawyer Jan Löwenbach was himself a music composer and also a creative artist. The group he founded in 1926 was dissolved by the German occupying forces in 1939. The ALAI Czech Republic national group was founded in 2013. The sculpture for the Jan Löwenbach Award was created by Czech designer and glass artist Jakub Berdych.

A look at the administration of the Institutes

Miscellaneous | 02/07/2025

Successful Apprenticeship and Career Start at the Institute

Emily Schierle successfully trained as an office management assistant in the Institute’s administration between September 2022 and January 2025, between September 2022 and January 2025 and has been taken on as a member of the administrative team. We talked to her about her journey and experiences at the Institute.

Team of the Administration (Photo: Julia Salzer)

Congratulations on completing your apprenticeship! How do you feel now that you have successfully completed your apprenticeship, and what does this achievement mean to you personally?

I'm doing very well. I'm very happy that I made it. It was very important to me to complete the apprenticeship when I decided to do it. And that's what I've achieved now.

Which experiences or challenges have particularly affected you during your training?

There was one very big thing: in my second year of training, I was able to visit the Art History Institute in Florence for two weeks, which is also a Max Planck Institute. I gained a lot of new impressions there. It was also a challenge personally: alone in a foreign country, in a foreign city, without speaking the language. But it was really very nice and an enriching experience.

What did you like best about your training at the Institute? Do you have any special memories of projects or experiences?

Of course, the already mentioned visit to Florence. I also spent two days at the Harnack House in Berlin, where I provided organizational support for a scientific event. That was also a very nice and interesting experience. In addition, we had an administrative retreat because our administrations are now being merged*. It was a very good opportunity for us to exchange ideas. This is an ongoing project that will probably be with us for some time to come. But it is very interesting.

*Editor's note: The Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition and the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance have had joint administration since they emerged from the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law in 2011. In 2024, the administration of the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy was integrated.

What skills or knowledge did you develop during your apprenticeship that will now help you in your new position in accounting?

I have definitely become more confident and independent, especially with regard to work processes. I have learned a great deal in this regard. Because I have been in many different units, I am familiar with the interrelationships and am sometimes better able to assess how something is to be classified or understood.

Was the position in accounting something you prefered, or was there a vacancy at the moment?

It was my own preference. I liked many areas of the administration, but I most enjoyed working in the accounting team. And then I was lucky enough to be offered a two-year contract.

You are now a permanent member of the administration team. What are your expectations and hopes for your professional future there?

I want to gain work experience and continue learning. We make a very good team here and I hope it stays that way. It makes you feel even better about your job.

What makes the administration of the three Max Planck Institutes a special place to work and be trained?

The field of work is very extensive, especially now that the administrations of the institutes are being merged. We are looking at what we can take from each other's administrative processes and thus improve overall and simplify processes. It is very varied, also because there are a lot of regulations in the public sector that we have to follow.

Are there fundamental differences in the work culture between the two administrations as they grow together, or are they just details that are handled differently?

Some processes are entirely different. We try to combine them so that you end up with a process that has elements from both. However, I noticed that there were significant differences in some areas due to the level of digitization. These were the first to be adjusted.

What advice would you give to young people interested in an apprenticeship as an office management assistant?

Definitely do it! The profession is very extensive and varied. There are many different areas in which you can learn something. You don't always learn in great depth, but you learn the basics in every area. That's a good foundation for your future career.

(The interview was conducted by Hella Schuster.)

Miscellaneous | 01/31/2025

Call for Papers: Fairness as a Principle of European Law

The Max Planck European Law Group invites abstract submissions for the Fourth Max Planck Conference for Early Career European Scholars on 4 and 5 September 2025 in Munich. The conference will bring together researchers interested in European law and policy for an exchange of ideas on longstanding and developing issues of fairness as a guiding principle of European law.

The European Law Group is a Max Planck Law Initiative that brings together scholars (Postdocs and PhDs) of European Law for exchanges, research projects, conferences, and other events. It will focus not merely on European Union law but will take into account also other orders that function in the European legal sphere — especially the European Convention of Human Rights or the European Free Trade Association.

Abstract submission is open until 1 April 2025, and authors will be informed of the selection in May. Further details can be found in the pdf:

Call for Papers as pdf

Bronwyn H. Hall being honored as Distinguished Fellow 2024 by the American Economic Association.

Award | 01/24/2025

The American Economic Association Honors Bronwyn H. Hall

Bronwyn H. Hall, Affiliated Research Fellow of the Institute and in close collaboration with the economics department, has been named Distinguished Fellow 2024 by the American Economic Association (AEA).

Hall is Emerita Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). In addition to her outstanding contributions to innovation economics, the AEA also recognizes her achievements as a policy advisor and mentor.

More information directly in the American Economic Association’s laudatory statement.

Award | 01/16/2025

Special Award of the Deutsche Bundesbank for Outstanding Theses Goes to Dominik Asam

On 16 January 2025, Dominik Asam was honored with a special award from the Deutsche Bundesbank Regional Office in Bavaria for his thesis, which examines the effects of technological shocks on early-stage startup funding dynamics using the example of Generative AI (GenAI).

Reinhold Vollbracht, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank Regional Office in Bavaria with awardee Dominik Asam — Reinhold Vollbracht, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank Regional Office in Bavaria, and Dominik Asam

Since October 2024, Dominik Asam has been a Junior Research Fellow and doctoral candidate in the Economics Department of the Institute. He completed his award-winning master’s thesis at the Chair for Economics of Innovation at the Technical University of Munich under the supervision of Professor Hanna Hottenrott. He continues his research on this topic at the Institute in a joint project with David Heller, Assistant Professor at Politecnico di Milano and Affiliated Research Fellow at the Institute.

Asam and Heller provide novel insights into how technological change impacts firm-level productivity. They highlight the potential of new general-purpose technologies to fundamentally change the dynamics of entrepreneurial firms. Their study focuses on the impact of Generative AI (GenAI) on startup funding dynamics, finding that GenAI significantly increases startup productivity. This is evidenced by a 20% reduction in the average time to funding compared to startups not benefiting from the new technology.

The authors argue that valuable but non-exclusive technological innovations can serve as a source of competitive advantage when entrepreneurs strategically leverage them as complementary assets to their existing skill sets. The effects are particularly pronounced in startups led by founders with greater technological or managerial experience. This underscores the importance of complementary human resources in fully harnessing the value of Generative AI.

The special award from the Deutsche Bundesbank Regional Office in Bavaria recognizes outstanding theses from selected Bavarian universities in areas such as monetary policy, banking regulation, cash and non-cash payment systems, and financial stability. The award ceremony took place at the premises of the Deutsche Bundesbank in Munich and was presented by Reinhold Vollbracht, President of the Regional Office in Bavaria.

More at SSRN:

Asam, Dominik; Heller, David (2024). Generative AI and Firm-level Productivity: Evidence from Startup Funding Dynamics. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4877505

Miscellaneous | 01/14/2025

Call for Papers – Munich Summer Institute 2025

The 9^th Munich Summer Institute, jointly organized with ETH Zurich, Cornell University, LMU, TUM, and the University of Lausanne, will take place from 26 to 28 May 2025. Researchers who would like to present a paper are invited to submit it online until 15 February. A workshop for Ph.D. students will be held again this year, on 26 May.

The Munich Summer Institute 2025 will take place as an in-person event in Munich. The Summer Institute will be preceded by the fourth MSI Ph.D. Workshop on 26 May 2025. A best Ph.D. student paper award will be awarded during the MSI conference dinner.

The Summer Institute will focus on three areas:

Digitalization, Strategy and Organization
(chairs: Tobias Kretschmer and Christian Peukert),
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
(chairs: Dietmar Harhoff, Joachim Henkel and Hanna Hottenrott), and
Law & Economics of Intellectual Property, Innovation & Digitalization
(chair: Stefan Bechtold and Imke Reimers).

The goal of the Munich Summer Institute is to stimulate a rigorous in-depth discussion of a select number of research papers and to strengthen the interdisciplinary international research community in these areas. Researchers in economics, law, management and related fields at all stages of their career (from Ph.D. students to full professors) may attend the Munich Summer Institute as presenters in a plenary or a poster session, as discussants or as attendees. The Munich Summer Institute will feature two keynote lectures, several plenary presentations, as well as poster sessions (including poster slams).

The Munich Summer Institute will be held at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in the heart of Munich. There is no registration fee, but participants are expected to fund their own travel and accommodation. The Munich Summer Institute may provide limited travel scholarships in case of financial hardship.

Keynote Speakers

Michela Giorcelli (University of California – Los Angeles)
Fiona Scott-Morton (Yale University)

Paper submission procedure

Researchers who would like to present a paper are invited to submit their paper online by 15 February 2025. The Munich Summer Institute only considers papers which have not been published or accepted for publication at the date of submission. Paper selections will be announced in late March 2025. The program of the Munich Summer Institute will be available in April 2025. All accepted papers will be made available to all participants in mid-May 2025. Researchers who would like to attend the Munich Summer Institute without giving a presentation should contact one of the organizers by 15 April 2025.

Online Paper Submission

Further information

More information is available at the MSI website. Any questions concerning the Munich Summer Institute should be directed to Stefan Bechtold, Dietmar Harhoff, Joachim Henkel, Hanna Hottenrott, Tobias Kretschmer, Christian Peukert, or Imke Reimers.

Call for Papers and Call for Participants

RISE7 Organizing Team with Alexander Oettl

Event Report | 01/13/2025

RISE7 Workshop 2024 – Two Days of Inspiring Scientific Exchange for Young Researchers

Shortly before Christmas, the 7^th Research in Innovation, Science and Entrepreneurship Workshop took place, which has been organized by young researchers of the Institute for young researchers from all over the world since 2018. Alexander Oettl from the Scheller College of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology was invited to give the keynote speech.

Participants of the RISE7 Workshop. Photo: Myriam Rion

More than 40 international young researchers from over 20 universities around the globe attended the RISE 7 Workshop on 17 and 18 December 2024. For the seventh time now, the two-day event was organized by Ph.D. students from the Department for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research to give young scholars the opportunity to present and discuss their work.

Twelve selected doctoral students and recent graduates presented their work, which was then discussed by experienced researchers. The presentations were divided into seven sessions and provided an exciting program on the topics of Corporate Innovation, Knowledge Generation and Innovation, Green Innovation, Innovation in Young Firms, Science of Science, Innovation in the Life Sciences, and Innovation Beyond Patents and Networks.

A special highlight of the event was the inspiring keynote by Alexander Oettl, Professor of Strategy & Innovation at the Scheller College of Business of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He explored the future of science and spoke on the topic “Building Tomorrow’s Science: The Interplay of Talent, Geography, and AI”. His talk provided ample material for vivid discussions.

See the complete program with all presentations.

We thank all participants, including the fantastic keynote speaker, thorough discussants and great presenters for a truly outstanding RISE7 Workshop 2024. Our special thanks go to everyone who was so involved in the organization, in particular Carolin Formella, Elisabeth Hofmeister, Anastasiia Lutsenko, and Ulrike Morgalla. The workshop was held for the last time at the Institute’s current location on Marstallplatz in Munich. We look forward with great enthusiasm and motivation to the RISE8 Workshop 2025 – then at the new location of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition at Munich’s Stachus.

Niccolò Galli during his acceptance speech on 9 November 2024 at the annual conference of the LIDC in London.

Award | 11/29/2024

Niccolò Galli Receives the Jacques Lassier Prize 2024

On 9 November, Niccolò Galli was awarded the prestigious Jacques Lassier Prize 2024 for his dissertation Patent Aggregation, Innovation and EU Competition Law at the annual conference of the International League of Competition Law (LIDC) in London.

Niccolò Galli worked on his doctoral thesis at the Institute between 2017 and 2020 as part of the EIPIN Joint Doctorate Program , under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Josef Drexl and Dr. Beatriz Conde Gallego. Seine Dissertation wurde im April 2023 gemeinsam an den Universitäten Augsburg und Maastricht verteidigt. A detailed description of the doctoral thesis can be found in the Activity Report 2018–2020. Currently, Niccolò Galli is a postdoctoral researcher at the European University Institute and a lecturer in Intellectual Property Law at the University of Florence.

Jacques Lassier Prize

Established in 1982, the Jacques Lassier Prize is dedicated to the legacy of the former chairman of the LIDC and honors outstanding dissertations in the field of competition law. The 2024 jury was composed of distinguished scholars and practitioners, including Jules Stuyck, Florian Bien, Muriel Chagny, Pinar Akman, and Pranvera Këllezi.

Founded in 1930, the LIDC is a worldwide association with 18 national sections and over 800 members working in academia and the legal profession. It is dedicated to promoting research in the areas of competition law, intellectual property law and unfair competition law.

For more information about the Jacques Lassier Prize and the LIDC's activities, please visit the official website: LIDC Jacques-Lassier-Preis.

Go directly to the doctoral thesis:

Galli, N. (2023). Patent aggregation, innovation and eu competition law. [Doctoral Thesis, Maastricht University, University of Augsburg]. Maastricht University / University of Ausburg.
https://doi.org/10.26481/dis.20230420ng

Miscellaneous | 11/13/2024

The Program Is Available Now! − RISE7 Workshop

On 17 and 18 December 2024, the Institute will host the seventh “Research in Innovation, Science and Entrepreneurship Workshop” from young researchers for young researchers. Participants can expect exciting topics and a stimulating exchange of ideas. Alexander Oettl, Professor at the Scheller College of Business, Georgia Tech, will give the keynote speech on “Building Tomorrow's Science: The Interplay of Talent, Geography, an AI”.

The workshop was first organized by Junior Researchers in 2018, and is aimed at Ph.D. students and Junior Postdocs worldwide. RISE offers them an opportunity to present their work, receive feedback from experienced researchers and connect with peers from other research institutions.

See the Program RISE7 (PDF).

More information on the workshop website RISE7 Workshop.