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Entrepreneurship and innovation in the disruption age – the three dimensions of a public policy

Productive entrepreneurship (expression that covers independent inventors and innovators) is an essential factor in productivity growth for reasons that mainly involve its central role in producing radical (as opposed to incremental) innovations. It is thus important to identify the public policy that should be dedicated to it, particularly in the age of digitalisation when so many new technological opportunities present themselves to potential entrepreneurs. We think that an ideal comprehensive policy should have three dimensions. Read more


Dear contributors to our blog

Thanks a lot for your replies and contributions (see comments on my last blog post). They succeeded in turning my short argument into a rich and useful discussion. - I found the comments by Roger E. very interesting. He provides a fascinating case of citizen science (Hammerdirt) and also shows very well that being fully part of modern AND open science is not an easy thing to do (“most people will abandon the project”) and I agree that we can expect that those who will stay are really good.

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Citizen science and open science: a complex relationship!

The majority of cases of citizen science studied are based, on the one hand, on the capacities and commitment of citizens and, on the other, on recognition by the scientist and researcher of the potential value of the knowledge that these citizens can produce or possess. We can identify two degrees of the commitment, mobilisation and impact of citizens. The first degree concerns the mobilisation and commitment of hundreds or thousands of data collectors. Professional researchers understand that these citizen communities permit the attainment of a critical mass of observations that would be impossible to achieve if the source were restricted to only scientists. The observations of butterflies, stars or fish are famous examples producing significant results. This first degree of commitment is not trivial. For most citizens, it will admittedly be a hobby, but a “serious” hobby involving a task of systematic and continuous observation and information processing and thus adherence to an epistemic scientific culture.

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Disruption by re-positioning

Die inzwischen ermüdende Weisheit, dass kein Schatten ohne Licht und keine Wirkung ohne Nebenwirkung ist, letztere hauptsächlich bei Pillen und Kräutern, könnte zu einem formidablen Geschäftsmodell werden.

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Towards flourishing Citizen Science

Citizen science, the active participation of non-professional scientists in academic research, is gaining momentum worldwide. Lay people work together with scientist to classify galaxies1, to explore the origins and diversity of languages2, keep tabs on flu outbreaks3 and determine conditions for health aging4. Citizen science not only quenches man's natural thirst for knowledge, but also helps advancing general scientific literacy and bridges the gap between an increasingly critical public and academic research. In this way, it reflects science's overall change towards more openness, transparency and societal responsibility. Read more


To the Reader

…reads the title of the famous poem by Baudelaire, angry, cynical, and depressive. Hence, that may not be the right way to welcome you, dear reader. How and whom shall we welcome in a blog? This new type of IT-based medium creates a new type of “counterpart” as well: the reader-writer or writer-reader. So, let me warmly welcome you again, writer-reader and seduce you to participate.Read more


Holiday experiences

In my welcome note to this blog I focused on an audience, which is more from politics and management. But, there is a flip side to the coin. Only if there is a deep societal trust and interest in science, politicians and managers may base and justify their visions and decisions on scientific evidence. One way to foster interest and trust of citizens into science is to support “citizen science”. While there will be more blog posts on that topic soon, as well as upcoming reports let me shortly spend some time on how this blog will contribute:

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