Research Projects

We aim to better understand current challenges in agile management on the individual, team, and organizational level. To this end, success factors and framework conditions based on psychological models and theories are explored and tested. Following, recommendations for managing agile teams and process models for agile transformations are developed.

How do you feel today? Asking ten people this question will lead to ten different answers. The perception of what we feel – our affective state in terms of moods and emotions – is omnipresent, highly dynamic, and to a large degree determines our daily behavior.
The central goal of this research project is to determine the relationship between affective states and individual creativity.
Does the ‘lightbulb’-moment in creative thinking happen only if we think positively – or do we need pressure and critique from time to time to be truly creative?

This project explores how blockchain technology can create novel forms of decentralized governance, specifically in the context of multilateral environment agreements. In collaboration with several partners, this project researches the socio-technological dimensions of blockchain to understand the benefits and limitations of this nascent technology. Based on this understanding, we define innovative approaches of how the technology can be developed and implemented across the diverse actors of the Paris Climate Agreement.

The effects of modern Health Tech lighting systems on healthcare personnel have been the subject of limited research and have generated inconsistent findings. This study aims to investigate the impact of an innovative Dynamic Light Therapy Device that administers a Light Scheduling Algorithm with high circadian effective irradiances, on the perceived stress among nursing care specialists, as well as their creativity-relevant cognitive performance. This study examines the potential impact of the isolated light ceiling component in workspaces on nursing care specialists due to their prolonged exposure to patient rooms. Exposure to increased irradiance and blue-enriched lighting is expected to positively influence nursing care specialists´ perceived stress and on attention control as a key function for attentional resource regulation during creative processes. The theoretical considerations of workspace lighting design in intensive care units (ICUs) are discussed, with an emphasis on the importance of considering employee needs and avoiding any negative effects from spatial design choices. The study pertains to critical care facilities' endeavors to enhance employee attitudes, behaviors, and patient outcomes. Moreover, it contributes to a broader comprehension of how innovative workspace design affects employees' perception and behavior.

This research project seeks to delve into the intricate cognitive processes underlying creative work in virtual reality (VR) settings, aiming to unravel the unique and nuanced aspects of individual creativity within this immersive digital environment. As the adoption of VR technologies continues to grow, understanding how these environments influence and shape creative cognition is pivotal for both theoretical advancements and practical applications.

Over the past years, the concept of crowdsourcing for innovation has gained significant momentum, especially since many organization have discovered it as an effective problem-solving approach. Despite its growing popularity in practice, limited attention has been paid to the overall configuration and design of such initiatives. Since the design of a crowdsourcing campaign entails multifold interrelated decisions, a thorough understanding of the key design decisions, and more importantly, how these decisions interact to influence the outcome of the project is key. In our research, we empirically explore these design complexities to present a decision-centric framework to conceptualize the design space opportunities available to firms that engage in crowdsourcing for innovation. In addition to the contributions to the extant literature on crowdsourcing, our research has practical ramifications especially in terms of providing an overarching perspective on the different possible campaign configurations, thereby allowing practitioners to make more informed decisions when designing and operationalizing crowdsourcing campaigns.

The number of new digital tools for virtual collaboration has constantly increased over the last years, especially with the introduction of technologies with higher degrees of immersion like augmented (AR), mixed (MR), or virtual reality (VR). The goal of this project is to find out how the technology of AR/MR/VR affects key aspects of virtual collaboration, mainly relationship and trust building, embedded in concrete application areas such as technology transfers and operational innovation initiatives between a pharmaceutical Marketing Authorization Holder and selected contract manufacturing organizations.

The field of innovation management practices in Latin America has received little attention.
In addition, today more than ever, companies are affected by digitization.
The project is developed in the context of international collaboration and aims to medium-sized companies in Chile as the first participants.
Our team measures the company’s innovation performance and the professionalization of its innovation management through the execution of a systematic assessment.
With this, we support the participating firms in to identify areas for development including its digitization capability, and point out the next steps tailored to the own requirements of the firm.

Since the beginning of the 21st century at the latest, counterfeiters have been torpedoing innovation drivers noticeably and steadily increasing, which is evident from the ever-increasing share of counterfeit products in world trade - in 2016 this share was already 6.8% in the EU. This means that people and their surroundings are currently exposed to various dangers caused by counterfeit spare parts in machines, counterfeit medicines that are harmful to health, and poor product and process quality. On “legal sides” there is no doubt in this context that multidimensional strategies, technological protection and further research are urgently needed to deal with the problem - We're working on it!

Convergence in a managerial context relates to the phenomenon of two distinct fields merging to a new one – therefore the birth of an innovative field. For firms, this does not only raise opportunities, but also challenges, such as developing new competencies and rethinking their strategic positioning due to potential new rivals.
In this research project, we want to deepen the understanding of firms’ strategies during the emergence of a convergence field. Especially the early years of development are decisive for the entire evolution. This means having the right strategy might just be what is determining success in the end.

This project focuses on the dynamics between designed space and creativity, looking at functions and consequences of designed space (both physical and virtual) in creative and innovation processes. With a multidisciplinary focus and working closely with practice partners, this project aims to contribute to our understanding of the role of physical and virtual workspaces for creativity and innovation in different contexts.

Intensive care units (ICUs) are typically designed for functionality, not hospitality. A team at Charité – University Medicine Berlin has taken on the challenge to create a more humane environment using visual, acoustic and procedural changes. The hypothesis is that clinical outcomes can be improved through human-centric lighting, lower noise levels, and undisturbed sleep. However, the efficacy of those changes hinges on the acceptance and actual implementation by the ICU staff. Moreover, doctors and nurses act in a complex stakeholder mesh including patients, relatives and hospital management, with assumed reciprocal effects in case of spatial variations. The overarching goal of this research project is to study the staff’s stance and behavior around these changes, variance in usage over time and/or between different hospitals, especially with regard to the effects on the primary objective (clinical outcomes).

The Department of Technology and Innovation Management at TU Berlin, headed by Prof. Dr. Søren Salomo, is developing a serious game as part of the module Fundamentals of Project Management. The game aims for students to playfully test approaches and methods of project management in a simulated project that is as close to reality as possible. The students will act as project managers and team members, face the challenge of completing tasks in the project, experiment with management methods, and experience the results of their decisions live.