Interview of Thorsten Eggers, the Head of the Work Design and Services Department of PT-DLR, the leader of EPISIS Work Package 3

Name: Thorsten Eggers

 Short presentation
 

Dr. Thorsten Eggers has been the Head of the Work Design and Services Department of the Project Management Agency of the German Aerospace Center (PT-DLR) since 2009. Previous career stops were PT-DLR and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the field of regional innovation initiatives, as well as the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovations Research (Fraunhofer ISI) in the field of industrial and service innovations.
 

PT-DLR (Project Management Agency at the German Aerospace Center)

PT-DLR is a research funding organization managing an annual budget of 668 million euro provided by the BMBF and other federal institutions. The Work Design and Services Department is involved in innovation topics such as the export of services, integration of products and services, technology and services in the wake of demographic change, productivity of services, etc. BMBF spent a total volume of 135 million euro on financing projects on research and innovations in services between 1998 and 2009.

Service innovation in general

Service innovation is steadily gaining the position it deserves in Europe. What do you consider to be the major challenges to changing the mind-set in order to recognize service businesses and service innovations as a powerful economic force in the EU? How do you recommend tackling these challenges?

For a long time, innovations were only considered in the light of technical aspects; innovations were seen mainly in the production sector. But there is now a growing opinion that innovations involving services and service innovations are among the key areas of the innovation system. These innovations often involve processes, organizational forms, business models, new strategies, ways to integrate customers or approaches to constructing new services.

Service Innovation in Germany

Please briefly describe the significance of service innovations and the related public support programmes/mechanisms in Germany. Why is Germany a forerunner in boosting service innovation?

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research has been providing public funding for service research since the mid-nineties. The "Innovation with Services Programme" was launched in 2006. From the very beginning, the view was put forward that service innovations need a sound research base on the part of science as well as on the part of companies. A further premise is that services research is a cross-sectional task and should therefore not be designed sectorally. Among other things, services research is anchored in the Federal Government's High-Tech Strategy under the Action Plan 2020.

Services are offered in all sectors and there are many overarching topics which have been taken up by services research and where excellent results are available. These areas include service engineering, service standardization, knowledge-intensive services, customer integration, hybrid value creation processes and productivity of services. These topics have been and will be studied in detail in research collaborations involving science and companies funded by the BMBF. The funding programme currently covers four main areas of research with more than 250 research projects.

What has been the role of the public sector and especially the role of PT-DLR in the context of service innovations?

The public sector plays an important role in the research landscape in two respects. First of all, the dialogue with societal stakeholders serves to identify relevant areas of future importance and devise appropriate funding instruments. Secondly, funding provides financial incentives for companies and scientists to become active in new and high risk areas.

PT-DLR is a service organization in the field of research policy working primarily on behalf of the BMBF. It manages and implements central research programmes which are important in connection with the innovativeness of people and companies. Its tasks also include developing new fields of research. Important topics in the field of German services research are sustainability, producing-consuming and the convergence of services and technologies.

What are the lessons to be learnt from the German example (e.g. best practices, tools, instruments)? What are the major obstacles?

The establishment of publicly funded services research has not only made it possible to jointly tackle important areas for science and companies, it has also strengthened services research at universities, research institutions and companies. The overarching, cross-sectional approach of research funding has made a decisive contribution to ensuring active cooperation between many scientific disciplines and the involvement of small and large companies from all fields of commerce. This funding approach has led to a mutual and joint learning process on the topic of services and service innovation based on direct cooperation between science and industry in research collaborations. The great challenge is to disseminate these results. We already have positive experience with specific transfer measures involving a high rate of participation on the part of small and medium-sized companies and central associations – for example, chambers of industry and commerce and their regional representations.

EPISIS

What is the role of PT-DLR in EPISIS?

Working in association with the BMBF, PT-DLR will introduce and allow the partners to share its specific experience, competencies and knowhow in the field of service innovation. Based on our experience with transfer and "services and technology", we will be responsible for processing corresponding work package and task force in EPISIS.

Why did PT-DLR decide to join EPISIS?

EPISIS is an excellent platform for promoting the idea of the growing importance of service innovations. In the past, we have lacked a driver at European level which is also firmly linked to decision-makers and experts of the EU Commission. Furthermore, the consortium also provides a link to relevant European partner organizations and offers a forum for exchanges of experience and knowledge with the aim of coordinating the respective course of action under the umbrella brand name of "Service Innovation" and undertaking joint courses of action. PT-DLR has a great interest in ensuring that the topic of service innovations also receives adequate attention at European level.
 
What does the EPISIS project have to offer Europe?

- A variety of well proven and selected new instruments and courses of action to promote service innovations

- EPISIS itself is a transfer instrument for conveying the significance of service innovations to the Member States of the EU

What does PT-DLR have to offer EPISIS?

Germany is able to contribute a lively, varied and competent services research community to EPSIS. It can introduce its wide-ranging experience and research results into the discussions of the partners in the EPISIS network. Together with our partners, we would like to work towards finding and adopting promising new solutions in the respective countries and bodies of the EU in order to strengthen service innovation and enable it to establish itself as a successful new field of policy.