Entrepreneurship Research Lab

We do research on Creativity, Communication and Community in the entrepreneurial world

Our research projects focus on relevant factors for the functioning of these ecosystems. These include #community, #creativity and #communication. The starting point of the research projects will be the focus on success factors of entrepreneurial practice.

About us

The ERLab is a community of researchers at the European University Viadrina investigating on central aspects of entrepreneurial activities in organisations and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Our research projects focus on relevant factors for the functioning of these ecosystems. These include #community, #creativity and #communication. The starting point of the research projects will be the focus on success factors of entrepreneurial practice. The projects are developed by young researchers such as Eza Zaheer, Carlos Alberto Prieto Valero and Paul Vetter and carried out as part of their doctorates. Thanks to the cooperation with Campus Founders gGmbH, as our practice partner, we gain access to an attractive and growing startup and innovation ecosystem in Heilbronn-Franken, which, according to Wirtschaftswoche, is one of the most dynamic regions in Germany, offer relevant benefits for entrepreneurs and ecosystems and stimulate the exchange between science and practice. Our research project is funded by one of the largest German non-profit organizations, Dieter Schwarz Foundation.

Our Mission.

Active Contribution.

The ERLab research projects will make an excellent and internationally visible contribution to current research. Our vision is to visibly expand entrepreneurship research internationally and strengthen the science locations of Heilbronn and Frankfurt (Oder) in the long term. The projects are developed by young researchers such as Eza Zaheer, Carlos Alberto Prieto Valero and Paul Vetter and carried out as part of their doctorates. As the ERLab community we feel committed to make an active contribution to strengthening networking with the projects and partners funded just like us by the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, generating synergies in the Heilbronn-Franken ecosystem and stimulating exchange with the Berlin/Brandenburg region.

meet the team

Eza

zaheer@europa-uni.de

Eza Zaheer is a Doctoral Researcher at The ER LAB and is currently persuing her PhD at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder).The area of her research is Entrepreneurship, with a specific focus on communication. She is interested in exploring communication strategies, negotiation skills and the role of communication in enabling or restricting the level of success achieved by entrepreneurs at both the micro and meso-levels. Overall, her research aims to gain a better understanding of how effective communication can impact the success of entrepreneurs.

Carlos

prieto-valero@europa-uni.de

Carlos Alberto Prieto Valero is a Doctoral Researcher in the field of Entrepreneurship with a focus on entrepreneurial ecosystems/communities at European University Viadrina. His research interest includes Open Innovation, Economic Development, Innovation Ecosystems, and Economic Policy.

Paul

vetter@europa-uni.de

Paul Vetter is a Doctoral Researcher in the field of entrepreneurship with a focus on creativity. His current research interest includes creativity as a process, entrepreneurial decision-making, ideation & imagining, effectuation, dynamic ecosystems and creativity as practice.

Miriam

buexenstein@europa-uni.de

Miriam Büxenstein is the ERLab Program and Community Manager at European University Viadrina. She operates at the interface of researchers, teachers and students and integrates Viadrina’s transfer and start-up ideas. As an Entrepreneur in rural Brandenburg and former PhD student, she is passionate about the interrelations between research and practice.

Yanis

hamdali@europa-uni.de

Yanis Hamdali is a Research Associate at the Chair of International Management at European University Viadrina. His current research qualitatively and conceptually addresses futures and temporal aspects of innovation- and strategy processes. He studies these from a practice-based perspectve.

Lorenzo

skade@europa-uni.de

Lorenzo Skade is a Research Associate at the Chair of Management and Organization at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. His current research interests include time and temporality, strategic and organizational paradoxes, and strategy-as-practice. He is particularly interested in a process and practice-based perspective of these topics and approach these interests with various qualitative methods such as critical discourse analysis and ethnographic case studies, among others.

Albrecht

soellner@europa-uni.de

Albrecht Söllner is the Professor of International Management at the European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder). His research interests include the New Institutional Economics & Institutional Distance, Inclusion & Diversity, Path Dependence, Change & Dynamic Capabilities, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Globalization & Responsibility.

Jochen

koch@europa-uni.de

Jochen Koch is Professor of Management and Organization and Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship Research at the European University Viadrina. His research activities focus on strategic practices and communication, organizational and entrepreneurial creativity, the relationship between organizations and (emerging) markets and the theory of strategic and organizational path dependence.

Oliver

oliver@campusfounders.de

Oliver Hanisch is an entrepreneur, business angel and the CEO of Campus Founders. He is an expert in startups and startup ecosystems and a sought-after advisor, mentor, and investor. Oliver Hanisch has successfully founded and sold numerous startups and companies and in his 14 years in Silicon Valley, he was, among other engagements, co-founder of the German Accelerator. Since 2019, he is leading Startup Foundry CAMPUS FOUNDERS and shaping the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs.

Looking for you!

@campusfounders.de

All profile pics are results from the ERLab Days 2024, Photographer: Sebastian Pape