Fraun­ho­fer-Insti­tut für Sys­tem- und Inno­va­ti­ons­for­schung (ISI)

The Fraun­ho­fer-Insti­tut für Sys­tem- und Inno­va­ti­ons­for­schung (ISI) con­ducts appli­ed rese­arch in seven Com­pe­tence Cen­ters with a total of 28 busi­ness units and sees its­elf as an inde­pen­dent insti­tu­te for socie­ty, poli­tics, and indus­try. Its exper­ti­se in the area of inno­va­ti­on rese­arch is based on the syn­er­gy of the tech­ni­cal, eco­no­mic, and social sci­ence know­ledge of the mem­bers. In its work it appli­es not only a broad spec­trum of advan­ced sci­en­ti­fic theo­ries, models, methods, and social-sci­ence mea­su­re­ment instru­ments, but con­ti­nu­al­ly deve­lop them fur­ther, uti­li­zing the empi­ri­cal fin­dings from the con­duc­ted rese­arch pro­jects.

The Com­pe­tence Cen­ter Emer­ging Tech­no­lo­gies deals with the iden­ti­fi­ca­ti­on, eva­lua­ti­on, and design of new tech­no­lo­gi­cal deve­lo­p­ments and socio-tech­ni­cal trans­for­ma­ti­ons. The topics include digi­tiza­ti­on, bio­e­co­no­mics, new mate­ri­als, and pro­duc­tion pro­ces­ses, Quan­tum Tech­no­lo­gies, ener­gy sto­rage tech­no­lo­gies, inno­va­tions in the health sys­tem as well as tech­no­lo­gy assess­ment and Respon­si­ble Rese­arch and Inno­va­ti­on (RRI).

Fraun­ho­fer ISI exami­nes the chan­ges resul­ting from the inter­play of tech­no­lo­gies, inno­va­tions, and socie­ty. In this con­text the focus on social chal­lenges and the sus­tainable design of trans­for­ma­ti­ons are cru­cial. It inves­ti­ga­tes the frame­work con­di­ti­ons and the gover­nan­ce of inno­va­tions and eva­lua­te the impacts of inno­va­tions.

The inter­di­sci­pli­na­ry approach plays a decisi­ve role in its work. This includes invol­ving all stake­hol­ders and being well con­nec­ted. It sees Its­elf as a bridge-buil­der bet­ween tech­no­lo­gy per­spec­ti­ves, mar­kets, poli­tics, and socie­ty.

The results of its work cul­mi­na­te in recom­men­da­ti­ons for tech­no­lo­gy design and use, in high­light­ing design opti­ons, in advi­sing stake­hol­ders and in sup­port­ing and eva­lua­ting agen­da set­ting in inno­va­ti­on poli­cy. It wants to con­tri­bu­te the know­ledge gene­ra­ted by its work to the respec­ti­ve sci­en­ti­fic dis­cour­ses.