Kassel/Meseberg. On September 3, 2018, the German government's "Future Conversation" on new forms of employment in the age of digitization took place in the baroque castle of Meseberg near Berlin. One of the participants was Prof. Dr. Jan Marco Leimeister, Head of the Department of Information Systems and Director of the Scientific Center for IT Design at the University of Kassel. As a crowdsourcing expert recognized throughout Germany, Leimeister was invited to give a keynote speech and to be available for discussion with the members of the federal cabinet.

The focus of the discussion about the future, which was also attended by the chairmen of the four largest employers' associations and the chairmen of the four largest trade unions in Germany, was the digitalization of the world of work and crowdsourcing as a new form of work organization. In particular, the focus was on the question of how paid work can be structured in such a way that it is fair for all those involved and also takes into account the long-term effects of such employment relationships. At the same time, their significance for the work of the future and the competitiveness of Germany as the largest economy in Europe and the fourth largest economy in the world was discussed. Professor Leimeister was on hand to answer the ministers' questions with his broad expertise and many years of experience in this topic area.

"Crowd mechanisms are increasingly finding their way into external and internal company processes and are playing a significant role in shaping new forms of digital work," said Leimeister. In order not to fall behind leading economies in this area, such as the USA, it is necessary to deal with the design of this new form of work organization at an early stage, he said. At the same time, possible risks for society and social systems would have to be effectively countered in good time. "I am very pleased to have made my small contribution to success in this regard by advising the German government and the social partners as part of the discussion on the future in Meseberg." 

"It is a great honor for us to have Jan Marco Leimeister, a colleague whose expertise in a topic so important for the future of our country is so highly regarded, as to be invited by the German government to its Future Talk on Digital Change in the World of Work," said Professor Dr. Reiner  Finkeldey, President of the University of Kassel. "It also underlines once again that our university is one of the leading universities in Germany in the field of business informatics," Finkeldey concluded.

About Jan Marco Leimeister:       

Professor Dr. Jan Marco Leimeister (44) is head of the Department of Information Systems and director at the Scientific Center for Information Technology Design (ITeG) at the University of Kassel. He is also a full professor of business informatics and director at the Institute for Business Informatics (IWI HSG) at the University of St.Gallen. His research focuses on digital business, digital transformation, service research, crowdsourcing, digital work, collaboration engineering and IT innovation management. He teaches on these topics in various executive education programs, among others. 

Professor Leimeister studied (Dipl. oec.) and earned his doctorate (Dr. oec.) at the University of Hohenheim (Stuttgart) and habilitated at the Technical University of Munich. Research stays took him to the University of Maryland, Columbia University, University of Queensland, University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University, among others. 

He has received several international awards for his research and teaching achievements, including the TUM Research Excellence Award in 2010 and the AIS Award for Innovation in Teaching in 2016. The "Handelsblatt" has regularly ranked him among the top 1% of the most research-intensive German-speaking business professors (out of more than 2500 participants) since the inception of the research ranking for business administration in 2009. Jan Marco Leimeister is also among the TOP 25 leading researchers in this discipline worldwide based on publications from 2015-2017 in the eight most important Information Systems (Business Informatics) journals according to a Research Scholar ranking communicated by the Association for Information Systems (AIS).

Your interlocutors: 

Sebastian Mense                                     Volkmar Mrass

Press Officer                                       Research Associate

University of Kassel                                   University of Kassel / ITeG

Department of Communication,                     Department of Information Systems

Press and Public Relations       (Prof. Dr. Jan Marco Leimeister)

Mönchebergstraße 19                           Pfannkuchstraße 1

34109 Kassel                                           34121 Kassel

E-mail: mense@uni-kassel.de               volkmar.mrass@uni-kassel.de

Phone: +49 561 804 - 1961                         Phone: +49 561 804 - 6066