Towards an understanding of the role of private foundations in economic regional development in Germany
(2023) SGEM08 20231Department of Human Geography
- Abstract
- Private philanthropic foundations can be funded by the wealth of individu-als. These private foundations can focus on a certain region and its eco-nomic development. Existing Economic Geography literature has no de-fined role for such foundations in their frameworks. This empirically driven thesis aims to contribute to closing this research gap by examining the case of the Dieter Schwarz foundation and the region of Heilbronn, Germany. A focus lies on its role in the city receiving the states grant for the city to pursue the smart specialization strategy to estab-lish an AI research district called Innovationpark AI. Through qualitative analytical methods using secondary publicly available data, this work aims to answer the empirical... (More)
- Private philanthropic foundations can be funded by the wealth of individu-als. These private foundations can focus on a certain region and its eco-nomic development. Existing Economic Geography literature has no de-fined role for such foundations in their frameworks. This empirically driven thesis aims to contribute to closing this research gap by examining the case of the Dieter Schwarz foundation and the region of Heilbronn, Germany. A focus lies on its role in the city receiving the states grant for the city to pursue the smart specialization strategy to estab-lish an AI research district called Innovationpark AI. Through qualitative analytical methods using secondary publicly available data, this work aims to answer the empirical questions of what the founda-tion has previously funded and how this has impacted the region's econom-ic development. This thesis also investigates the way the foundation oper-ates by examining the network the foundation is involved in regarding the Innovationpark AI. This work finds that foundations are a hybrid actor and their workings are likely to have influenced the economic development of the region. The foundation's place-based leadership is most pronounced through the ability to connect local and mobilize stakeholders and fund big-name research institutions. This, coupled with its ability to act quicker and with less pub-lic scrutiny than government organs can largely contribute to improving the chances of a successful implementation of a smart specialization strat-egy. As the DSS is very private with detailed information, this case study does not allow insights into the full extent to which a foundation can impact regional development or how communication between the key actors works. To get that, it is suggested that further studies investigate other foundations as there is reason to believe that the Dieter Schwarz Founda-tion operates particularly secretively. Further research should also investi-gate how large private foundations activities affect neighboring regions. (Less)
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http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9119658
- author
- Lorengel, Thomas LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SGEM08 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9119658
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-08 12:48:33
- date last changed
- 2023-06-08 12:48:33
@misc{9119658,
abstract = {{Private philanthropic foundations can be funded by the wealth of individu-als. These private foundations can focus on a certain region and its eco-nomic development. Existing Economic Geography literature has no de-fined role for such foundations in their frameworks. This empirically driven thesis aims to contribute to closing this research gap by examining the case of the Dieter Schwarz foundation and the region of Heilbronn, Germany. A focus lies on its role in the city receiving the states grant for the city to pursue the smart specialization strategy to estab-lish an AI research district called Innovationpark AI. Through qualitative analytical methods using secondary publicly available data, this work aims to answer the empirical questions of what the founda-tion has previously funded and how this has impacted the region's econom-ic development. This thesis also investigates the way the foundation oper-ates by examining the network the foundation is involved in regarding the Innovationpark AI. This work finds that foundations are a hybrid actor and their workings are likely to have influenced the economic development of the region. The foundation's place-based leadership is most pronounced through the ability to connect local and mobilize stakeholders and fund big-name research institutions. This, coupled with its ability to act quicker and with less pub-lic scrutiny than government organs can largely contribute to improving the chances of a successful implementation of a smart specialization strat-egy. As the DSS is very private with detailed information, this case study does not allow insights into the full extent to which a foundation can impact regional development or how communication between the key actors works. To get that, it is suggested that further studies investigate other foundations as there is reason to believe that the Dieter Schwarz Founda-tion operates particularly secretively. Further research should also investi-gate how large private foundations activities affect neighboring regions.}},
author = {{Lorengel, Thomas}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Towards an understanding of the role of private foundations in economic regional development in Germany}},
year = {{2023}},
}