The activities of the research department base on the assumption that societal change, its dynamics and spatial selectivity should be understood as being increasingly a result of the learning and creation abilities of the actors involved. In consequence, research objects are central actors of societal change such as firms, universities, associations and political-administrative units.
The department studies innovation strategies of particular actors and related interplays in the context of their cultural embeddedness. The overall context of innovation, constituted by the environment, interactions, structures, cultures, morphology, milieus, etc., is summarized with the notion of «innovative spaces».

(1) How do innovation strategies and processes change and which role plays the generation, application and diffusion of knowledge in this context?

Against this background both firm-based technological/economic innovations as well as social and political innovations are of interest. As regards social innovation, research interest lays on organizational strategies and acting in networked contexts. Governance structures setting up environments and stimulating innovation, as well as moderating related conflicts are at centre with respect to political innovations.

(2) Which role plays the cultural embeddedness of actors involved in innovation?

Related research activities focus on regionally and sectorally distinctive cultures in the sense of traditions, conventions, beliefs and values. Cultures are understood as paths providing an orientation frame for innovative activities and help in reducing uncertainties. At the same time, there exists the risk that these cultures delimit or exclude new developments. From a spatial perspective, it is decisive how culture impacts on the strategies of actors, their way of acting in networks and on the development of a common orientation frame; thereby contributing on the one hand to the selectivity of spatial development and on the other being a barrier to it.

(3) Which role does the spatial context play for the ability to innovate?

We study the effects of the environment, related governance structures and cultures that have influenced individual and collective human action in specific spaces. Furthermore, we examine the question of how to shape and design innovative spaces. The objective is to utilize the societal value of innovation research and to apply it in terms of a strategic resource towards improving the ability to learn and quality of life.
Quality of life and the ability to learn are elemental foundations of innovative spaces and as such central reference points for the conceptual-strategic orientation of the research department. On the one hand it is about preventing regional crises and connected destruction of chances that minimize possibilities of an active participation in societal life. On the other, we seek to promote processes of learning and creativity within an open and culturally diversified context in order to make possible sustainable innovative spaces.
Seen from the society as a whole, it is not the individual space that is of interest, but a spatial structure basing on the balance of selectivity and coherence. This is a question of increasing importance and explicitly studied in light of the activities of the new research area Spatial Capital.

The activities along the lines of the three research questions include:

• Theoretical work with respect to the relationship of innovation, space and culture;
• Empirical analysis of particular value chains, regions and processes of innovation;
• Comparative analysis of value chains and regions, especially on international level;
• Evaluations (consultancy as a reflexive process)
• Support of learning processes (coaching and strategy development)
• Foundation and accompaniment of concept and mission statement developments.

Work of the research department is interdisciplinary and bases on different theoretical accession points. A comprehension of societal change as a continuous long-term process calls for the application of evolutionary and process-analytical approaches. These are complemented through approaches of spatial theory (spacing, framing), spatial planning (spatial types, distinctiveness), approaches of the sociology of knowledge and theory of science (communities of practice), management and economic approaches (knowledge sharing, open innovation, effectual logic), theories of governance (multi-level governance), economic geography (clusters, agglomerations, milieus), as well as approaches of communication sciences (branding, symbolic capital).

In line with the interdisciplinary research approach, the team is constituted by members from different disciplines: social sciences (political sciences, sociology), spatial planning, geography, information sciences, communication sciences, management and economics.
Research fellows from different societal and disciplinary fields contribute towards complementing the breadth of competences of the research department.
Centrality in regional and European research and practitioner’s networks guarantees a continuous interdisciplinary exchange and broadens the scope for diffusing research results.