https://leibniz-irs.de/forschung/forschungsabteilungen/
© Who is Danny/shutterstock.de
Research departmentDYNAMICS OF ECONOMIC SPACES

The research department focuses on the complex interplay between economic activities and learning, on the one hand, and spatial and institutional structures on the other. The department dedicates much of its research to analysing the significance and impact of knowledge and how creative processes are organised. Knowledge enables social action and underlies economic activity, too. This is reflected in the department's empirical research agenda which aims to systematically compare economic innovations. In this context, special attention is given to the processes whereby innovations unfold and to the way such innovations are regionally embedded.

Researchers also analyse new forms of organised creativity, as well as highly volatile types of work. They are particularly interested in how creative endeavours remain adaptable, despite the uncertainty that is inherent to creative processes. The scholars apply the concept of “valuation”, which is widely used in the field of creativity research, allowing them to study the social construction of values and the emergence of markets.

Photo: © Who is Danny/shutterstock.de

Ongoing Lead project

Platform Ecology: Creative Collaboration in the Field of Tension between Virtual and Concrete Spaces in the Case of Fashion Design

The lead project focalizes digital online platforms as well as their relevance for design processes in the fashion industry. Thus, it addresses the question, to what extent creative collaboration can be digitalized. All platforms have in common that they enact specific interfaces between the "concrete" and the "virtual" world, at which human actions are translated into data and vice versa. The lead project analyses how different specialized digital platforms are used in design processes, and which spatial patters and divisions of labour in creative work emerge as a consequence. The advance of digital platforms into a formerly more analogue industry like fashion bears the potential to fundamentally change spatial arrangements of creativity-based value creation, to the benefit or at the expense of established creative centres. more

News
12. February | 2021
EU Training Network looks at Collaborative Workspaces in Rural Areas

Coworking spaces, FabLabs and Maker Spaces have so far been predominantly found in large cities. But such "collaborative workspaces" are increasingly being established in rural areas, where they provide access to digital technologies and other work resources. A new EU-funded Innovative Training Network (ITN) is now studying the effects of such places. The IRS is involved with its research department "Dynamics of Economic Spaces". more info

News
01. September | 2020
First Scientific Survey of University Offshore Campuses Published

Increasingly, universities are offering teaching not only on their home campus or online, but also in international branch locations. These "Offshore Campuses" are often designed as glamorous science cities that are marketed commercially. With the names of well-known universities as brands, they attract students. A scientifically sound overview of the number, location and origin of these institutions at city level has not been available until now. Now, the Junior Research Group "TRANSEDU" of the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS) has presented an overall data collection. more info