IST Institute

    The Institute for Strategic Innovation and Technology Management is the competence center for innovation and strategy. Research focuses on Strategic Transformation, Corporate Entrepreneurship, Startups, Ambidextrie, Agility and Digitalization.

    Jona Asbach, M. Sc. 

    asbach@innovationsinstitut.org
    Telefon: +49 (0) 7531 206-368
    Raum: G 340

    Corporate Entrepreneurship

    • More about Jona Asbach

      Career

      Jona Asbach completed his dual Bachelor's degree (Business Administration) at the Technical University of Central Hesse and gained professional experience in international pharmaceutical and industrial groups. He then completed his Master's degree in Business Information Technology at the HTWG and deepened his knowledge of entrepreneurship at the University Malaya in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). He has been a research assistant and doctoral candidate at the IST Institute since 2023.

       

      Working and Research Focuses

      He operates at the intersection of entrepreneurial practice, applied research, and innovation support in the context of startups and established companies.
      In his roles as a startup advisor at Kilometer1, research associate at the IST Institute, and lecturer in innovation marketing, he actively contributes to shaping the regional startup ecosystem.
      His research focuses on corporate entrepreneurship – in particular, the individual competencies of corporate entrepreneurs and their relevance for transformation, innovation, and entrepreneurial action within established structures.
      He is especially interested in exploratory and experimental methods to systematically capture entrepreneurial characteristics such as creativity and risk-taking, and to analyze their impact.

    Isabella Fitzky, M. Eng

    fitzky@innovationsinstitut.org
    Telefon: +49 (0) 7531 206-9099
    Raum: G 340

    Corporate Entrepreneurship

    • More about Isabella Fitzky

      Career

      Isabella Fitzky completed her Bachelor's and Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering at the HTWG with a focus on innovation management. Isabella has been working at the IST Institute since 2019. Initially as a student assistant and employee in the Kilometer1 start-up support program, where she accompanied start-up teams with workshops and advice. She has been a research assistant and doctoral candidate at the IST Institute since 2023.

       

      Work and research focus

      Her work focuses on corporate entrepreneurship, in which she particularly examines the organization of several CE units in companies.

    Christina Lang M.Eng. 

    lang@innovationsinstitut.org
    Phone: +49 (0) 7531 206-9084
    Room: G 340

    Corporate Entrepreneurship & Intrapreneurship, Intrapreneur

    • More about Christina Lang

      Career

      Christina Lang studied industrial engineering at the Esslingen University of Applied Sciences with a bachelor's degree (B. Eng.) and a master's degree (M. Eng.), which she successfully completed with a thesis on intrapreneurship. During her studies she gained insights into companies of different sizes and industries and gained experience in production and new business marketing. Christina has been involved in research projects at the IST Institute since 2018.

      Working and Research Focuses

      Her work focuses on the study of where the challenges of digital transformation come from for SMEs and what established SMEs can learn from the start-up world to master digital transformation.

      In the field of corporate entrepreneurship, Christina examines how the various entrepreneurial innovation units can be successfully managed by established companies in their implementation. She focuses on the question of success in corporate entrepreneurship and how this success can be measured and controlled. On this basis, she aims to develop a management system for corporate entrepreneurship.

    Niklas Schmid, M. Eng.

    schmid@innovationsinstitut.org
    Telefon: +49 (0) 7531 206-9058
    Raum: G 340

    Corporate Entrepreneurship

    • More about Niklas Schmid

      Career

      Niklas Schmid completed his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at the DHBW Stuttgart and then gained professional experience in an international group in the automotive industry. He then completed his Master's degree in Industrial Engineering and Management at the HTWG Konstanz, where he spent part of his studies at Stellenbosch University. He has been a research assistant at the institute since 2024.

      Main areas of work and research

      He deals with the interaction of industrial and start-up ecosystems and investigates how established companies can use innovation impulses from start-ups to drive their transformation. The focus is on strategies for successful collaboration and the management of innovation processes between industry and start-ups.

    Rebecca Off, M. Sc.

    off@innovationsinstitut.org
    Telefon: +49 (0) 7531 206-9058
    Raum: G 340

    Women Entrepreneurship & Startup Performance

    • More about Rebecca Off

      Career

      Rebecca Off completed her Bachelor's degree at the DHBW Ravensburg in Hotel and Catering Management and then gained professional experience both in corporate groups and in the management of small businesses. She then successfully completed her Master's degree in Corporate Management & Economics at Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen.

      She has been researching at the IST Institute since 2020 and is involved in both third-party funded and industry projects. Her cooperative doctorate is supervised by Prof. Dr. Thorsten Posselt at the University of Leipzig.

       

      Main areas of work and research

      Her work focuses on women entrepreneurship, in which she examines characteristics such as motivation and emotions and analyzes how these influence the performance of start-ups.

      By applying quantitative, qualitative and novel methods, Rebecca Off explores different factor constellations (e.g. motivation, team size, emotions) that can potentially contribute to positive business development - such as the survival of a start-up after three years. She focuses in particular on the role of gender stereotypes and on women entrepreneurs as a heterogeneous group. Her aim is to create a deep understanding of different groups of entrepreneurs and to derive well-founded political and practice-oriented recommendations for targeted support for founders.

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