Hi, I’m Moritz, in a nutshell I’m economist, manager, enthusiastic marathon runner and first and foremost dad of two amazing kids. I have a Ph.D. in Economics which I defended successfuly in April 2022 in front of a fantastic doctoral committee, featuring Professors Knut Blind, Nir Kshetri, and Timm Teubner. Besides, I obtained my Master’s degree in Economics with a focus on Innovation Economics from the University of Jena (Germany) with some amazing time abroad at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland), the Universidad de la Frontera (Chile), and later at Georgetown University (Washington D.C.). I also hold a Bachelor in Business and Economics and studied Roman Language and philology for a few semesters.
Currently, I’m a postdoctoral researcher at TU Berlin, Visiting Researcher at Georgetown University, and Manager at EY. At EY, I’m managing projects and studies in the Economic Advisory, specializing on evidence-based policy evaluations and impact assessments, on behalf of various European Commission DGs, and public sector clients in Germany. My focus lays on digitalization, technology and innovation in general, and blockchain technology as well as AI technologies in particular.
Before, I was working as a managing consultant at IBM for 10+ years (from 2012 to 2022). I was part of the business unit AI and Data Platforms and worked on various projects with different technologies, primarily in Europe’s health and insurance sector. Most recently, I was the lead product owner of the Corona response apps in Germany and the EU Digital vaccination certificate. I had other exciting engagements, such as the development of an Open Data Platform at The Nature Conservancy in Washington D.C., or the rollout of the Electronic Health record in Germany.
My research is driven by the passion to unravel the potentials of digital technologies such as blockchain for solving crucial development issues and their contribution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). I am particularly interested in digital innovation’s capabilities to internalize institutional weaknesses and opening avenues for countries for the Global South to leapfrog and subsequently upgrade in Global Value Chains. Moreover, I am curious about different regulatory approaches to the digital economy (e.g., GDPR and AI, or regulatory sandboxes for blockchain-based innovations). Having spent five years as a research associate at the Chair of Innovation Economics, a great part of my hearth lies in academia. I do review services on an ongoing basis, for example for journals such as, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, or the IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine and for conferences such as, the Academy of Management (AOM), or European Conference of Information Systems (ECIS).
I’m passionate about university teaching, science communication, and academic discourse, working together with our students and embrace new teaching methods to induce their critical thinking and creativity. My mission is to communicate scientific discoveries and arguments, informing, educating, and raising awareness of science-related topics in my research area. Therefore, I am glad to have the opportunity to have a regular teaching platform, holding lectures, facilitate seminars and workshops, and supervise Master theses. In the last years, I had the chance to build up my own curriculum for a master-level lecture called Digital Innovation with innovative teaching methods that I facilitate since 2018.
