Ingo Leisten

Scientific Cooperation Engineering in the Cluster of Excellence Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries at RWTH Aachen University

Interdisciplinary scientific cooperation plays a decisive role for the generation of new knowledge. The augmenting dynamic and complexity of scientific forms of cooperation require new approaches for interlinking people and knowledge from different disciplines to enable people for succeeding in interdisciplinary cooperation. Concerning the case of the cluster of excellence Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries at RWTH Aachen University this challenge is addressed by cross sectional processes (CSP). CSP are supporting networking processes and strategic cluster development by means of learning and knowledge management. Through cross-sectional activities, a new method for knowledge and organizational development was identified – scientific cooperation engineering. It aspires to support the transfer of highly complex, dynamic and interdisciplinary research cooperation into sustainable and robust structures. The design of scientific cooperation engineering will be outlined in this position paper.

Making Scientific Performance Measurable - Experiences From a German Cluster of Excellence

New organizational forms of highly complex and interdisciplinary cooperation like clusters of excellence constitute a new challenge in terms of cluster management and controlling. With regard to the requirements for adequate means of operationalization and evaluation, conventional performance measurement approaches and indicators are not sufficient, because they focus mostly on monetary aspects. Within the cluster of excellence “Tailor-Made Fuels from Biomass” a performance measurement approach is implemented, focusing on quantitative as well as qualitative performance indicators. The approach bases on a Balanced Scorecard that is specified to the needs of interdisciplinary research cooperation. A mean of making various performance indicators measurable thus depicts a yearly survey among all hierarchical levels of cluster members to reflect the progress of the scientific output. The results are used as a basis of decision-making for the cluster management board. With regard to this, an operationalization and evaluation of performance indicators supports a continuous improvement process within the entire interdisciplinary cooperation. A further development of the measurement approach considers an integration of concepts like benchmarking and intellectual capital reporting to allow a more holistic form of scientific performance measurement.

Knowledge engineering in interdisciplinary research clusters

This paper proposes an innovative knowledge engineering approach for interdisciplinary research clusters. In science, different competences, knowledge, scientific experience and cultures converge. To cope with this challenge it is necessary to combine several dimensions of human, organization and technology within a holistic knowledge engineering approach. Cooperation structures have to be adapted accordingly. The authors present prototypes of an application oriented research to promote interdisciplinary knowledge production.

CLUSTER TERMINOLOGIES FOR PROMOTING INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION IN CLUSTERS OF EXCELLENCE

Scientific collaboration is getting more and more complex and interdisciplinary, which is even demanded by many research funding sources (Bryson, Studies for Innovation in a Modern Working Environment. International Monitoring, 2009). Good examples are the clusters of excellence supported by the German Research Foundation, consisting of many local institutions investigating a common research question from multidisciplinary perspectives. In such networks it is important to have structures that support the cooperation of researchers and the information exchange among them to reveal potential synergies and help exploiting those (Sydow, Management von Netzwerkorganisationen. Beitrage aus der „Managementforschung“, 2010). There are already a variety of tools available to assist collaboration in large businesses. However, there exists a lack of software, which is tailored to the specific needs of scientific cooperation structures. This demand is met by our Scientific Cooperation Platform (SCP). As part of the SCP the Cluster Terminologies application tackles the understanding between different scientific fields, i.e. differing terminologies. Our first goal is to capture the current state of terminologies in the cluster by gathering and visualizing information about which terms are used with what definition by whom in the cluster. This will raise awareness of where cooperation like interdisciplinary publications can lead to misunderstandings or the necessity to clarify a common terminology beforehand. The second step is to foster discussions about the terminology among the cluster members both in an informal manner as well as in specific workshops. Definitions for some terms will become clearer in this process, which can even lead to an ‘official’ cluster-wide definition. For other terms maybe at least an agreement among members from the same field can be achieved. However, for terms, which simply have significantly different meanings in different research fields, the main benefit in the SCP lies in the advanced understanding of the differing terminologies.

On-professional competences in engineering education for XL-Classes

Far reaching changes in university higher education have taken place in the last ten years. Different factors, e.g. necessity of on-professional competences in engineering education, rising or vast student numbers and new technical possibilities, have influenced the academic teaching and learning process. Therefore interdependence between requirements and didactical-educational possibilities is given. Because of changed circumstances an adaption of teaching methods and concepts is required. At the same time Bologna arrogates students to be placed in the centre of the teaching and learning process and claims on-professional competences for todays students. Especially for XL-Classes this is a specific challenge. One of the questions ensuing is how to increase learning success by the use of specific didactical methods? With a research approach connecting different proven didactical concepts and considering the previously shown conditions, the concept of the lecture “communication and organizational development” (KOE) at RWTH Aachen University has been redesigned. This lecture, organized by the Institute Cluster IMA/ZLW & IfU at RWTH Aachen University, is mainly frequented by up to nearly 1.300 students of the faculty of mechanical engineering and inherent part of the bachelor-curriculum. The following practical example prospects the multi-angulation of didactical concepts and shows up innovative educational teaching.

Scientific Performance Indicators – Empirical Results from Collaborative Research Centers and Clusters of Excellence in Germany

Collaborative research centers and clusters of excellence constitute public funded programs aspiring to advance research in interdisciplinary forms of collaboration throughout Germany. Due to emerging funding volumes and increasing expectations in results, concepts for performance measurement and management gain in importance. Results of an empirical study among all actively funded collaborative research centers and clusters of excellence make obvious that key performance indicators – such as the quota of publications or the number of international visiting researchers – are central. Nevertheless, holistic methods and concepts of performance measurement seem still not to be widespread among respective speakers and chief executive officers.

Fostering interdisciplinary integration in engineering management

Research in the challenging field of industrial engineering and engineering management often needs the expertise from more than one discipline. Various disciplinary competences have to be combined to answer research questions and to solve specific (engineering) problems at the interfaces of different professional disciplines. The disciplines being part of the research and problem solving process have to be consequently integrated to form an efficiently performing interdisciplinary consortium. Current research states that this interdisciplinary integration process has to include various dimensions. This paper introduces three sets of interdisciplinary integration methods. Together they cover all of the dimensions explained before and lead to an enhanced interdisciplinary integration. Having just implemented a set of integration methods, measurement methods are adjusted to evaluate and optimize them continually.

Innovationsförderliches Knowledge Engineering in inter- und transdisziplinären Forschungsverbünden

Wissen ist neben den klassischen Produktionsfaktoren Land, Arbeit und Kapital zum wichtigsten Produktionsfaktor des gegenwartigen Jahrhunderts in hoch entwickelten Volkswirtschaften geworden. Der innovationspolitische Trend der vergangenen Jahre, verstarkt inter- und transdisziplinare Forschungsverbunde zu fordern, weist darauf hin, dass monodisziplinares Wissen als Ressource zur Problemlosung und Weiterentwicklung moderner Volkswirtschaften nicht mehr ausreicht, sondern die Wissensbestande mehrerer Disziplinen vonnoten sind, um die komplexen Problemstellungen zu bewaltigen.

Langfristiges Verstehen durch kurzfristiges Missverstehen. Die Bedeutung der interaktiv-transkriptiven Störungsbearbeitung für den Transfer von Wissen

Der Artikel stellt die Problematik des Wissenstransfers im Bereich anwendungsorientierter Forschungsprogramme als Konsequenz einer universellen Ausdifferenzierung von Wissensgebieten und Sprachspielen dar. Aus konstruktivistischer Perspektive werden Losungsvorschlage abgeleitet, die auf die gemeinschaftliche Bearbeitung kommunikativer Storungen durch die Transferpartner abzielen. Hierin wird der Schlussel zur Uberwindung von Wissens- und Sprachspielgrenzen sowie zur Generierung und zum Transfer von Wissen vermutet. Am Beispiel des Forschungs- und Entwicklungsprogramms des Bundesministeriums fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) „Arbeiten – Lernen – Kompetenzen entwickeln. Innovationsfahigkeit in einer modernen Arbeitswelt“ werden Masnahmen aufgezeigt, um das den kommunikativen Storungen innewohnende Potenzial zur Kompensierung der Transferproblematik auszuschopfen.

A Virtual Collaboration Platform to Enhance Scientific Performance within Transdisciplinary Research Networks

Scientific collaborations are getting more and more complex and transdisciplinary, as even demanded by many research funding sources. An example is the funding priority “Innovative capability in demographic change” initiated by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Several collaborative projects investigate different parts of an overall research problem. These transdisciplinary research networks bring together very different institutions from academia and practice leading to many heterogeneous consortia investigating complex research questions. To discover potential synergies in such research networks means of supporting (physical as well as virtual) networking and collaboration are needed. There is no need to unify the inherent heterogeneity within these collaborations, but researchers must be enabled to learn and benefit from the given diversity. To meet this challenge a variety of different methods is used to enhance learning opportunities for the funding priority in the physical and above all in the virtual world. This paper describes the efforts to support the communication and cooperation within the funding priority and beyond. These efforts especially manifest in the virtual learning and cooperation platform designed for this very purpose.