In this thesis, the methods of a feasibility study are applied to analyze whether or not the foundation of an academic based startup focusing on IT-consulting is possible. For this purpose the concept of consulting, the demand for the offering of consulting services as well as the relevant market are analyzed. Furthermore, empirical research through face-to-face interviews with IT-companies located in the region of Koblenz is utilized in order to gain further insight about the feasibility of said business venture. The result of the research is to be presented in a concrete recommendation for further actions.

Analyse der führenden Interessenverbände in der Eisenbahnbranche in Europa – Struktur, Ziele und Einflussnahme auf verkehrspolitische Maßnahmen

The erosion of the closed innovation paradigm in conjunction with increasing competitive pressure has boosted the interest of both researchers and organizations in open innovation. Despite such rising interest, several companies remain reluctant to open their organizational boundaries to practice open innovation. Among the many reasons for such reservation are the pertinent complexity of transitioning toward open innovation and a lack of understanding of the procedures required for such endeavors. Hence, this thesis sets out to investigate how organizations can open their boundaries to successfully transition from closed to open innovation by analyzing the current literature on open innovation. In doing so, the transitional procedures are structured and classified into a model comprising three phases, namely unfreezing, moving, and institutionalizing of changes. Procedures of the unfreezing phase lay the foundation for a successful transition to open innovation, while procedures of the moving phase depict how the change occurs. Finally, procedures of the institutionalizing phase contribute to the sustainability of the transition by employing governance mechanisms and performance measures. Additionally, the individual procedures are characterized along with their corresponding barriers and critical success factors. As a result of this structured depiction of the transition process, a guideline is derived. This guideline includes the commonly employed actions of successful practitioners of open innovation, which may serve as a baseline for interested parties of the paradigm. With the derivation of the guideline and concise depiction of the individual transitional phases, this thesis consequently reduces the overall complexity and increases the comprehensibility of the transition and its implications for organizations.

This scientific paper identifies and describes the incentives for the utilization of knowledge for universities and small and medium-sized companies. In addition, different models " for example the Knott/Wildavsky model " are continuously adapted, created and expanded, which leads to an new integrative model. The main problem is that companies have to integrate knowledge from external sources into their operations. According to the literature, this model of open innovation is considered as inevitable in order to remain competitive. This is especially the case for small and medium-sized companies. The reasons for this are illustrated as the possibilities of a successful collaboration. Germany has a relativley high involvement in knowledge and technology transfer in international comparison. Nevertheless, a number of companies assume their insitution won´t benefit from knowledge utilization. The literature review revealed that there is no existing model, which combines the stages of knowledge utilization with the incentives of universities and companies. This paper closes the identified gap through the created integrative model. The formulated incentive factors can help universities and companies recognizing if a cooperated research is beneficial or not. At the beginning the basic theoretical foundations are defined based on the literature review, followed by a description of the incentive factors of knowledge exploitation. On the one hand there is a distinction between tangible and intangible incentives. On the other hand there is a segmentation of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Both are important regarding to the motivation of employees and scientists. In the end, a knowledge utilization model is presented and adapted to the present case, before proceeding with the extension of the model providing an additional perspective and adding the incentive factors. By the procedure described an integrative model is created. It can be useful to all affected people, universities and their scientists as well as small and medium-sized companies and their employees.

The underlying characteristics of blockchain can facilitate data provenance, data integrity, data security, and data management. It has the potential to transform the healthcare sector. Since the introduction of Bitcoin in the fintech industry, the blcockhain technology has been gaining a lot of traction and its purpose is not just limited to finance. This thesis highlights the inner workings of blockchain technology and its application areas with possible existing solutions. Blockchain could lay the path for a new revolution in conventional healthcare systems. We presented how individual sectors within the healthcare industry could use blockchain and what solution persists. Also, we have presented our own concept to improve the existing paper-based prescription management system which is based on Hyperledger framework. The results of this work suggest that healthcare can benefit from blockchain technology bringing in the new ways patients can be treated.