Interdisciplinary Management Factory Project House (IMF)

 

The goal of the newly created "Interdisciplinary Management Factory", short IMF, project house is to support the transformation of the School of Business and Economics into an internationally competitive institution for interdisciplinary, technology-oriented research.

The IMF is expanding on the success of the IMP project house from the first phase of the Excellence Initiative. Which included the faculty's research program within the Institutional Strategy I.

The results of the previous funding period are now being implemented into four interdisciplinary labs:

 
  1. Sustainable Prosumer Lab
  2. Business & Behavioural Metrics Lab
  3. Business Analytics Lab
  4. Management Technologies

The labs are expected to offer strong incentives for leading researchers to be active as a standing member in the corresponding area or as a visiting researcher. They are searching for collaboration with other faculties and units, for example with the E.ON Energy Research Center, JARA, and the Production Technology Excellence cluster.

All of the labs share the following characteristics and success metrics:

  • The labs apply for funds allocated through competitions. All projects touch upon collaboration with other RWTH Aachen faculties or outstanding international institutions.
  • A new research professorship is being established in each lab, which will determine crucial stimuli in each lab. The professorships will use a collective infrastructure (IMF office).
  • Criteria for the success of a lab include professional publications, the acquisition of research fellowships, attractiveness for (international) visiting researchers, and recognition within the discipline. At least two labs are expected to have attained international visibility and be able to be turned into an integrated interdisciplinary institute at the end of the funding period.

Pathfinder Projects

The IMF Project House is currently funding three so-called pathfinder projects:

MOE - Start-up Funding for a "Business and Behavioral Metrics Lab"

EME - Energy, Mobility and Environment

ORM - Health Care Logistics