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Award  |  12/19/2019

Dietmar Harhoff is Awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1. Class for Services to the Nation

On Thursday, 19 December 2019, Dietmar Harhoff was presented with the Cross of Merit 1. Class of the Federal Republic of Germany for services to the nation in presence of Federal Minister Anja Karliczek at the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Berlin.

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f.l.t.r. Dietmar Harhoff and German Federal Minister of Education and Research Anja Karliczek. Photo: BMBF/Hans-Joachim Rickel.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier awarded Dietmar Harhoff the honor on 2 September 2019 on the suggestion of the Federal Ministry in recognition of Harhoff’s professional work. Since many years, he has offered his expertise to providing independent and scientific advice on research and innovation to the Federal Government. With his commitment, Dietmar Harhoff makes significant contributions to developing innovative ideas, particularly in the realm of digitalization, in order to ensure prosperity and quality of life in Germany.


From 2007 to 2019, Harhoff chaired the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (Expertenkommission Forschung und Innovation - EFI) which provides scientific advice to the German Federal Government and annually delivers reports on research, innovation and technological productivity in Germany. Furthermore, he is member of the steering committee of the Innovation Dialogue of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.


Since 2019, he is chair of the Commission for the establishment of the new German Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SprinD) which is to promote innovations with radically new technologies and a great potential for changing markets with new products, services and value chains.


Furthermore, he chairs the Commission “Lower Saxonia 2030” which is to develop options for action on how the federal state can respond to current major societal and technological challenges.


The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany is the highest tribute the Federal Republic of Germany can pay to individuals for services to the nation and is the only honor that may be awarded in all fields of endeavor. The Order of Merit may be awarded to Germans as well as foreigners for achievements in the political, economic, social or intellectual realm and for all kinds of outstanding services to the nation in the field of social, charitable or philanthropic work. In awarding the Order of Merit the Federal President wishes to draw public attention to achievements that he believes are of particular value to society generally.

Professor Hilty at the award ceremony
Award  |  11/22/2019

Reto M. Hilty Receives Honorary Doctorate from the University of Buenos Aires

Reto M. Hilty receives an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Buenos Aires for his achievements in the field of Intellectual Property and competition law. The award was presented to him on 31 October by the University Rector Alberto Barbieri.

Professor Hilty at the award ceremony
Reto M. Hilty (left) with Alberto Barbieri at the award ceremony. Photo: UBA

The title Doctor honoris causa (h.c.) is the highest award given by the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) in recognition of special merits. "With his clear analyses, Dr. Hilty has influenced the design of public order and helped to organize social and cultural priorities", said Mariano Genovesi, Secretary General of the University, at the award ceremony. Reto M. Hilty subsequently gave a lecture entitled "Potencial de la Propiedad Intelectual en América Latina".


The Swiss legal scholar is one of the leading experts in the field of Intellectual Property Law and an internationally renowned adviser for legislation, especially in young, emerging economies. He has been Director at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in Munich since 2002, as well as Full Professor ad personam at the University of Zurich and Honorary Professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.


As part of the research initiative "Smart IP for Latin America", an eight-member research team under his leadership is currently investigating which protection standards in Latin America are beneficial for economic development. The aim of the various individual projects is to further develop the protection systems to make sure the historical, cultural, social, economic and political framework conditions of the various countries can be taken into account appropriately.


The Universidad de Buenos Aires with currently 122,000 students, is the largest university in Argentina. In the "QS World University Ranking", it is ranked 73rd worldwide in 2019, making it the leading university in Latin America and the world's leading Spanish-speaking university. 


For the Max Planck Society research cooperation in Latin America is one of the focal points. The relevance of the University of Buenos Aires manifested itself in a framework cooperation agreement between the two institutions. In March 2014, the Max Planck Society opened its own representative office for Latin America based in Buenos Aires. The office's mission is to maintain and develop relationships with partner organizations, research institutes and universities in key countries in the region.

EPIP Best Paper Award for Young Researchers for Felix Pöge
Award  |  09/15/2018

EPIP Best Paper Award for Young Researchers for Felix Pöge

Do Scientific Conferences Facilitate Knowledge Transmission to Private Firms?

On Thursday, 6 September 2018, Felix Pöge received the EPIP Best Paper Award for Young Researchers for the paper “A Firm Scientific Community”. The prize is bestowed with 500 Euros and was conferred upon him during the EPIP 2018 Conference at the ESMT Berlin. Felix Pöge is Doctoral Student and Junior Research Fellow at the department Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research.
 

The paper investigates the extent to which firms participate in scientific communities’ activities and whether this facilitates the exchange and transfer of scientific knowledge to firms’ technological activities. The focus is on two modes of interactions of firms with scientific communities: the participation in and the sponsorship of international scientific conferences. In particular, the focus is on the field of computer science. The paper is joint work with Dr. Stefano Baruffaldi, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute.
 

First, the results document that both conference participation and sponsorship by firms is frequent and concentrated at events of the highest quality. Even within individual conferences, firm contributions stand out in quality. Second, firms are significantly more likely to cite in their scientific articles and patents scientific articles presented at a conference which they attended relative to articles presented at comparable conferences.
 

To provide causal evidence, the authors use the fact that academic researchers are more likely to attend conferences whose locations they can access easier by airplane. Thus, at a conference, firms have a higher likelihood to observe research by researchers with a direct flight to that conference.
 

EPIP (European Policy for Intellectual Property) is an international, independent, interdisciplinary, non-profit association of researchers with the objective to be a leading European platform for the analysis and discussion of intellectual property systems and intangible assets. EPIP encourages research regarding economic, legal, managerial, social, political and historical aspects of intellectual property rights at national, European and international levels. It contributes ideas, concepts and discussions that will promote innovation, productivity and growth in Europe and beyond and informs and encourages policy-oriented discussion involving political and administrative bodies and stakeholders in Europe. EPIP cooperates with other associations with similar objectives.

Award  |  08/15/2018

AoM Award for Laurie Ciaramella

The Trade and Relocation of Intellectual Property Rights: Laurie Ciaramella’s thesis contributes to the understanding of markets for patents.

Photo: Laurie Ciaramella, AoM Best Dissertation Award Finalist

On 13 August 2018, Laurie Ciaramella received the AoM Best Dissertation Award Finalists for her thesis “Trade and Relocation of Intellectual Property: Essays on the Markets for Patents” during the Technology and Innovation Management Division Meeting of the Academy of Management in Chicago.


For her thesis, Laurie Ciaramella uses in-depth empirical analysis to explore understudied aspects of the markets for patents, on which firms exchange intangible assets that provide them with a temporary monopoly right on a technology. The main approach is an empirical microeconomic analysis, which is complemented using insights from economic theory, understanding of the law and tax subtleties of the patent system, and knowledge regarding the management of Intellectual Property assets by firms.


The thesis contributes to the understanding of the markets for patents, by highlighting novel motives for their use, by emphasizing firms’ strategies regarding the management of their Intellectual Property assets, and by providing original evidence on the scope and dynamics of these markets, as well as on unexplored sources for their malfunctioning.


Laurie Ciaramella graduated at MINES ParisTech. Her thesis was supervised by Yann Ménière and Catalina Martinez. Since December 2017, Laurie Ciaramella is Senior Research Fellow at the department Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research.

Award  |  08/14/2018

AoM Best Empirical Paper Award for Laura Rosendahl Huber and Laura Bechthold

Yes, I Can! ‒ A Field Experiment on Female Role Model Effects in Entrepreneurship

On 13 August 2018, Laura Rosendahl Huber, Ph.D., and Laura Bechthold received the Best Empirical Paper Award for their paper “Yes, I Can! –A Field Experiment on Female Role Model Effects in Entrepreneurship” during the Entrepreneurship Division Business Meeting of the Academy of Management in Chicago.


The paper examines how exposure to female entrepreneurial role models influences the development of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, attitudes and intentions among female students. Drawing on a field experiment and social learning theory as well as existing research concerning role model effects, the study provides evidence that role model effects do not only occur by chance, but can be purposefully triggered in an educational setting. Hence, exploiting female role model effects may serve as an effective mechanism to foster female entrepreneurship.


The prize, endowed with USD 1,500, is sponsored by the Kennesaw State University.

Niccolo Galli erhält Elena Messina-Preis von  Filippo Alberti (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)
Award  |  11/15/2017

Elena Messina Prize for Niccolò Galli

Niccolò Galli, doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, has been awarded the Elena Messina Prize by the Elena Messina Association for his dissertation “Standard essential patents litigation and abuse of a dominant position – The FRAND defense in the EU competition law context”.

Niccolo Galli erhält Elena Messina-Preis von  Filippo Alberti (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)
Niccolò Galli (Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition), Filippo Alberti (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer). Photo: Dr. Luca Biffaro (Italian Antitrust Authority)

The prize, endowed with EUR 1,000, is conferred annually by a scientific committee composed of five prominent Italian antitrust professionals, three officers and two lawyers, for the best dissertation in the area of competition and consumer law.


The award is just one of the initiatives of the association, all of which are devoted to promoting excellence in antitrust education and practice in the memory of Elena Messina. Messina, a young and promising lawyer who graduated summa cum laude from LUISS University with a dissertation on efficiency and consumer welfare in EU and US anti-monopoly laws, died in 2012 in a road accident. She was working for the Italian Antitrust Authority at the time.


Galli was presented with the prize by the Vice President of the Association, Filippo Alberti, on 28 September 2017 at the seat of the Antitrust Authority in Rome during the conference “Competition issues related to the freedom to connect”.

Award  |  06/21/2017

Fabian Gaessler receives Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society

Fabian Gaessler has been awarded the Otto Hahn Medal for his thesis “Enforcing and Trading Patents – Evidence for Europe” during the 68th General Meeting of the Max Planck Society in Weimar.

Photo: MPG

The Max Planck Society awards the prize, endowed with EUR 7,500, with the intention to motivate talented junior scientists and researchers to pursue a future research career.


Fabian Gaessler’s thesis is dedicated to the empirical study of the enforcement and trade of patent rights in Europe. The means available to an inventor to enforce his exclusive right against others and/or to sell his protected idea represent fundamental preconditions for a functioning patent system, and ultimately for incentivizing innovation. Fabian Gaessler uses quantitative methods to address inter alia the question as to what extent the current institutional design in Germany is conducive to patent enforcement and whether it qualifies as a blueprint for a European unified system.


Since 1978, the Max Planck Society honors up to 30 young scientists and researchers every year with the Otto Hahn Medal for outstanding scientific achievement - to date, more than 940 scientists and researchers.

Award  |  06/13/2017

Michael Moedl receives the Steven Klepper Award for Best Young Scholar Paper at the DRUID17 Conference

Michael Moedl has received the Steven Klepper Award for Best Young Scholar Paper for his paper “Is Wisdom of the Crowd a Positive Signal? Effects of Crowdfinancing on Subsequent Venture Capital Selection“ during the DRUID17 Conference in New York.

f.l.t.r.: Prof. Mark Lorenzen, Prof. Melissa Schilling, Ph.D., Michael Moedl

The paper examines the impact and signaling effects of crowdfinancing on subsequent venture capital funding rounds. Drawing on a choice experimental research design the author finds causal evidence that crowdfunding – relative to other prefunding sources – is often a negative signal for professional venture investors, but that the “crowd” can nonetheless and under certain circumstances send positive signals increasing the likelihood of subsequent financing rounds.

Award  |  03/24/2017

Michael Moedl receives Best Doctoral Paper Award of the Leuphana Conference on Entrepreneurship

Michael Moedl has received the Best Doctoral Paper Award for his paper “Effects of Crowdfunding on Subsequent Venture Capital Selection” during the 7th Leuphana Conference on Entrepreneurship in Lueneburg.

Leuphana Conference on Entrepreneurship

The prize, endowed with 500 Euro, is granted by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology together with the Leuphana Research Center for Entrepreneurship.


The paper examines the impact and signaling effects of crowdfinancing on subsequent venture capital funding rounds. Drawing on a choice experimental research design the author finds causal evidence that crowdfunding – relative to other prefunding sources – is often interpreted as a negative signal by professional venture investors, but that the “crowd” can nonetheless and under certain circumstances send positive signals increasing the likelihood of subsequent financing rounds.

Award  |  12/05/2016

Filipe Fischmann receives Deutscher Studienpreis 2016

Filipe Fischmann, until October 2016 a Senior Research Fellow at the Munich Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, has received the Deutscher Studienpreis 2016, the coveted prize awarded each year by the Körber Foundation, for his dissertation “Reverse Payments als Mittel zur Beilegung von Patentstreitigkeiten – Ein Verstoß gegen das Kartellrecht?”(Reverse Payments as a Means to Settle Patent Disputes – A Breach of Competition Law?).

Filipe Fischmann (Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition), Edelgard Bulmahn (Bundestag Vice-President). Photo: Körber Foundation / David Ausserhofer

The prize is awarded annually under the auspices of the President of the Bundestag Norbert Lammert for the most important dissertation of the year in each of three areas: Humanities, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences and Technology. The prize recognizes excellent dissertations that are also of great current relevance to society.


In the absence of Norbert Lammert, legal scholar Dr. Fischmann was awarded the prize by Vice-President of the Bundestag Edelgard Bulmahn on 8 November 2016 at the Marie-Elisabeth Lüders Building in Berlin.